Tbilisi. On December 21, 2020, the Public Defender of Georgia established indirect discrimination on the ground of sex, as a female victim of sexual violence had been twice examined by male experts at the Western Georgia Regional Forensics Department of Samkharauli Forensics Bureau due to absence of female experts. The applicant's interests were represented in the Public Defender's Office by the Women's Initiatives Supportive Group (WISG). “According to the Public Defender, even indirectly forcing a victim of sexual violence to be examined by an expert of the opposite sex is a gender-insensitive approach and it should be borne in mind that the above would not be desirable for most of the women who have experienced sexual violence. The applicant referred to the traumatic experience in her written explanations, highlighting her grave emotional state. Based on the above, the Public Defender addressed Levan Samkharauli Forensics Bureau (LEPL) with a recommendation to employ female experts in the Western Georgia Regional Forensics Department; take into account the different needs of persons to be examined in the future,” is noted in the statement. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) publishes a report on a study: Forced marriage - legislation and practice. “The study has revealed that in Georgia, victims of forced marriage are women. The problem is especially acute in the Kvemo Kartli region. This is where investigations into forced marriage related issues are most frequently launched. By introducing a special norm on forced marriage into the Criminal Code and qualifying it as a criminal offence, the requirement of the Istanbul Convention has been met. However, conducting preventive activities related to this issue, carrying out effective awareness-raising works within society and providing result-oriented response to already occurred facts remain to be problematic”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: gyla.ge

Tbilisi. Gender Informational Portal publishes an article by Lela Khomeriki: Modern technology-facilitated gender-based violence - a new form of violence against women and domestic violence. “Women living at risk of violence appeared isolated in the same space with an abuser. During the pandemic, like in other countries, the scale of domestic violence increased in Georgia too. Modern technologies offer new ways of prevention of gender-based violence and response to it. However, at the same time, there has emerged a new problem - use of technologies by abusers to keep victims under surveillance and control. This type of gender-based violence is so prevalent that today, technology-facilitated gender-based violence is considered as one of the forms of abuse along with forms of physical, economic or sexual violence”, - is stated in the article. Read more… Source: ginsc.net

Tbilisi. UN Women has launched a new online campaign: Indifference virus kills. “Within the framework of the online campaign and at the initiative of the UN Women, 6 audio plays have been created, authors of which are Georgian writers Nestan Nene Kvinikadze and Lasha Bugadze. In the plays, various forms of violence against women and domestic violence are presented through scenes and situations as close to reality as possible”. Read more… Source: georgia.unwomen.org

Tbilisi. The winner of the annual Kato Mikeladze award is women's rights activist, the feminist and active advocate for social justice - Mariam Kadjaia. “UN Women is a proud supporter of Kato Mikeladze Award to women human rights defenders and activists established by Women's Fund in Georgia in 2013. We acknowledge women human rights defenders’ contribution to more just and equal societies”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. The Office of the Ombudsman developed a special report within the framework of the femicide monitoring mechanism. The document contains an analysis of crimes committed in 2018. “The purpose of the monitoring is to analyze each case of gender based murder, murder attempt and leading to suicide of women in order to identify shortcomings of the mechanism for protection of victims of violence and those affected so as to further improve and develop these mechanisms. Despite the fact that cases of femicide and femicide attempt, occurred in 2018, were analyzed within the framework of the 5-year monitoring report, and taking into account recent trends, we considered it necessary to issue a special report separately”, - is stated on the website of the Public Defender.  Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. The Public Defender of Georgia joins the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which has been celebrated in 187 countries around the world since 1991 and aims to raise public awareness of the elimination of violence against women and domestic violence. “Timely detection of and effective response to violence against women and domestic violence, as well as lack of support measures, leading to the high rate of femicide - an extreme form of violence, remain to be problematic in Georgia”. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The aim of the day is to raise awareness about violence against women, and talk publicly about the issues and challenges that are often hidden in the society. “We join the celebration of this day by the project "Safe Environment for Women" funded by the Government of Canada. Within the project it is planned to train 80 police officers, 180 school teachers and 20 day-care centers staff on Gender Equality”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. Within the framework of a 16-day campaign against gender-based violence, the Public Defender of Georgia, with the support of UN Women, held an online conference on femicide prevention and monitoring. The purpose of the online conference was to discuss local and international monitoring practices aimed at preventing gender-based killings (femicide) of women. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. During the COVID-19 pandemic, European governments urged their citizens to stay at home by reviewing material prepared under the Women’s Information Center project. European governments urged their citizens to stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Isolation was a necessity to prevent the spread of the virus. It is important to know what this decision meant for many women and children. People experiencing domestic violence paid the highest fees for public health care. European countries responded differently while fighting against the virus, however, most of them decided to impose isolation in March 2020. From that moment on, there have started talks not only about the COVID-19 pandemic but also about the domestic violence pandemic”... Read more…  Source: ginsc.net

Tbilisi. On November 5/6 online training was conducted for Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti police staff on the topic GBV, domestic violence and legal mechanisms, led by Mari Meskhi and Nodar saalashvili. The training was conducted within the frame of the project "Safe Environment for Women" which is implemented by the Anti-Violence Network of Geotgia in partnership with Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB). Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an article: Muslim women from highland Adjara: Part II – confronting daily life. “This article is the second part of a study conducted to survey life of Muslim women in Adjara. The first part contained description of importance of Islam for Adjara Muslim women and various ways of expressing their agency. The main focus of the second part of the article is to start both conversation about political-economic aspects of Adjara and description of a multi-layer life of women”, - is stated on the website of the organization. Read more… Source: emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) publishes an article of Mariam Shalvashvili: Muslim women of highland Adjara. “The purpose of this two-part article is, on the one hand, to emphasize that Islam is an integral part of daily life in Adjara and to show its importance. While on the other hand, to prevent conversion of all aspects of life to and their explanation by religion, therefore, dominant discourse challenge, prevalent in the West, is the main line of articles. These articles are an attempt to provide a little more knowledge about the Adjara region and Muslim Adjarians - to describe conditions, in which highland Adjara resident women live: unequal economic situation, tough working conditions, inaccessibility to health and education, as well as isolation characteristic of a geographic and cultural periphery, besides, to show how agency of Muslim women is manifested”. Read more… Source:emc.org.ge

Tbilisi. In September 2020, Sophio Rusetski and Tamar Tskhovrebadze, representatives of the Gender Department of the Public Defender's Office of Georgia, held remote informational meetings with members of the Gender Equality Council of Shida Kartli municipalities (Khashuri, Kareli, Kaspi, Gori). The purpose of the meeting was to get information about the challenges faced by the Gender Equality Councils during the novel corona virus pandemic and the problems that have arisen in the municipalities. Poverty and complicated social situation were named as major challenges. Increase in the cases of domestic violence and the prejudices and stereotypes of the society were also discussed at the meeting. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Shida Kartli. An inter-agency commission on prevention of violence against women and/or domestic violence is going to be established at the City Hall of Gori Municipality. The commission will be headed by Paata Ivanishvili, Deputy Mayor of Gori. The project, which made it possible to implement this idea, is initiated by the Women's Information Center. As Elene Rusetsky, the head of the organization, explains, this is an unprecedented case when a group composed of representatives of various institutions is involved in the process of resolving similar issues at the municipal level. Prior to Gori, an inter-agency commission was set up in Zugdidi. It is intended to facilitate establishment of similar groups in other cities of Georgia as well. Read more… Source: ginsc.net

Tbilisi. With the support of UN Women, Public Defender's Office has conducted online seminars on gender-sensitive reporting and media standards. Participants of the seminar have been introduced to the standards of ethical and non-discriminatory, gender-sensitive reporting including femicide reporting. Journalists have discussed existing challenges in mainstream media related to the gender-sensitive reporting and received recommendations. Read more…  Source: The page in social network

Tbilisi. Sapari succeeded in the case of Nana Gogaladze, a victim of systematic domestic violence, who was brought to trial for wounding her offensive husband. Through the efforts of the organization, there have been revealed circumstances for legitimacy of the necessary repulsion, interrogated a number of witnesses, and carried out certain investigative actions in the case. As a result, the Tbilisi City Court qualified the case as a necessary repulsion and ruled out a decision to acquit Nana Gogaladze. The accusing party appealed against this verdict and demanded to declare Nana Gogaladze guilty as well as to punish her under Article 117 of the Criminal Code. The Tbilisi Court of Appeals rejected the appeal of the Vake-Saburtalo District Prosecutor and left the first-instance decision of acquittal in force. Read more… Source: The website of the organization

Tbilisi. In support of women's empowerment, UN Women has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Agricultural and Rural Development Agency of Georgia.  The overall objective of the Memorandum of Understanding is to provide support to women, especially vulnerable women through special economic empowerment programs developed by the Agricultural and Rural Development Agency.  Read more…  Source: Page in the social network

Tbilisi. A new Handbook on legal issues of domestic violence and violence against women for law students is initiated with USAID/PROLoG’s support. “The aim of drafting the handbook is to create a comprehensive teaching material, to collect all existing legislation on domestic violence and violence against women as well as commentaries theron in order to make it easily accessible for law students”. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network

EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell has issued a statement on gender equality as part of the national campaign “Toloba”, which is the Georgian word for equality. The campaign is an initiative by Mtavari Channel, aimed at raising awareness on gender issues across Georgia.  Watch the video or read the transcript in full.  Read more…  Source: The web-page of the organization

Tbilisi. The Public Defender’s Office has resumed electronic course “For the prevention of sexual harassment”. The course aims to raise awareness of sexual harassment in the workplace and public space. Read more… Source: ombudsman.ge

Tbilisi. Mentoring for Women’s Empowerment – UN Women hosted a workshop with the aim to increase understanding of HR professionals from the Women’s Empowerment Principles signatory companies on how to establish workplace mentoring programmes. Workshop participants gained practical skills on how to develop and roll out mentoring programmes for women’s empowerment in the future. Read more… Source: The organization’s page in the social network