UN Women takes active steps to develop sexual harassment complaints mechanisms
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UN Women continues supporting its partners to develop and implement sexual harassment complaints mechanisms.
One key component of this support was a three-day training held with the initiative of UN Women from 1 to 3 August 2018 in Tbilisi for the representatives of local government agencies, academia, NGOs and the private sector.
During the interactive training led by an international expert, 21 participants enhanced their knowledge about sexual harassment in the workplace, including how to identify it and develop complaints mechanisms.
“There are no comprehensive regulations on sexual harassment in the country,” noted Marietta Akhvlediani, one of the training participants and a chief specialist at the Equality Department of the Office of the Public Defender. “This training was an opportunity to acquire knowledge about how to provide an effective response to sexual harassment considering the current setting, as well as become familiar with the existing international best practices to that effect.”
It is noteworthy that by applying various models, the participants developed sexual harassment complaints mechanisms and effective action plans for their implementation. Post-training, the participants are now expected to introduce the complaints mechanism to their organizations. The international expert will even continue supporting them in this process for a set period of time.
At the end of the meeting Elene Karseladze, Assistant to HR director of Adjara Group, remarked: “The complaints mechanism, which was the main focus of the training, is an important instrument that will help us prevent and control sexual harassment, as well as improve the work environment in general. The training is one more step taken forward for mainstreaming the women’s empowerment principles.”
It is important that after the training, the participants will be able to assist their partner organizations to develop their sexual harassment complaints mechanisms, which will support the prevention, early identification and adequate response to sexual harassment and, ultimately, the establishment of a fair, decent and equitable working environment.
The training was held within the framework of the project “Joint Action for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Georgia”, implemented by UN Women with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.