Elimination of Violence against Women
UN Women works jointly with the Government and non-state partners towards the overarching goal of ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) in Georgia. To this end, UN Women provides technical support to the Government to meet its targets under the nationalized Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 5, and to further ensure that national legislation and policies are in compliance with Georgia’s international human rights commitments and obligations. In this regard, UN Women prioritizes support for the harmonization of the Georgian legislation with the CEDAW, its General Recommendations and Concluding Observations; recommendations generated through the Universal Periodic Review process and Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council; the agreed conclusions of the Commission on the Status of Women; and the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.
UN Women works closely with key actors engaged in intersectoral coordination, referral and service provision to the survivors of domestic violence and sexual violence, including but not limited to the Public Defender’s Office, police, prosecutors, lawyers, judges and social workers. Technical support is rendered to national partners in the development and implementation of a socioeconomic rehabilitation programme for survivors of domestic violence, as well as a behavioural correction programme for perpetrators of domestic violence. With the support of UN Women, fully sustainable state-run services for survivors of domestic violence have been established, such as four domestic violence shelters, three crisis centres and a nationwide toll-free hotline (116 006) that also provides services in minority languages. In order to increase awareness of the hotline and services, and to promote zero tolerance for violence against women and girls and domestic violence, UN Women regularly supports national partners in conducting awareness-raising and outreach initiatives involving champions of EVAWG from the fields of sport, media and the arts.
The collection and analysis of data on violence against women and girls is another key area of UN Women’s work to inform the development of evidence-based policies and programmes and to assess progress towards the achievement of the nationalized SDGs relevant to EVAWG. The National Study on Violence against Women carried out in partnership with GEOSTAT in 2017 filled the vacuum of nationally representative data on VAWG, including but not limited to intimate partner violence, violence during pregnancy, sexual harassment, stalking, childhood experiences of violence and gender attitudes.
UN Women together with the Government of Georgia leads the EVAWG Task Force, which consists of the relevant Government and public entities, representatives of local and international civil society organizations, bilateral and multilateral donors and UN agencies. The role of the Task Force is to support the Government in coordinating development efforts for enhanced implementation of its obligations under international and national commitments for preventing and combating violence against women and girls.
UN Women’s efforts to end violence against women and girls in Georgia have primarily been supported by the Government of Sweden since 2010 and the European Union Delegation to Georgia since 2016. In cooperation with UNHCR, UN Women commenced work related to EVAWG in Abkhazia, Georgia in 2017.
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