We love rugby and condemn violence against women! Georgian rugby players meeting with rural boys

“To us, violence is unacceptable. This is a value shared and cherished by all rugby players.”This was the key message conveyed by Georgian rugby players to boys and young men (aged 7 to 16 years old) at recent meetings in two rural locations in Georgia – the Tserovani settlementon 20 April and Korboulivillage on 21 April.

The Tserovani settlement is located in central Georgia’s Shida Kartli region, and its inhabitants are internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the 2008 war over Georgia-South Ossetia. Korbouli village, in western Georgia’s Zemo Imereti region, is populated by locals and IDPs from the conflicts of the 1990s that resulted in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Rugby player Sandro Nijaradze and the UN Women Sport and Youth Consultant Nodar Andguladze have introduced up to 120 young men and boys to the values of rugby and its “unwritten rules”of engaging in team work, responding to injustice, correcting eachother’s mistakes, condemning abuse and violence, and promoting equality. Sandro and Nodar are founders of the Georgian men’s solidarity movement “CHVEN – Men against Violence”, which unites athletes, writers, artists and men from different spheres who are committed to gender equality and promote zero tolerance towards violence against women and girls among men and boys.“Rugby is very popular in Georgia, and rugby players are greatly respected. It is therefore important to use the authority of the rugby players to promote the right values among youngsters, equal and fair treatment and [an] environment free from violence for all,” Sandro noted.

With the support of UN Women, the meetings have been co-organized by the State Services Development Agency of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and “CHVEN – Men against Violence”. The meeting in Tserovani was also supported by the presence of Mtsheta-Mtianeti’s Governor, Gocha Zeikidze.

“We are extremely happy to meet the rugby players and to talk to them. We love rugby and we have a rugby team, Knights, in Tserovani. We have discussed lots of interesting issues. Violence is unacceptable, especially violence against women and girls. This is the motto of rugby players, and we too share it,”said 16-year-old Giorgi.

Georgian rugby players have been long-standing partners of UN Women in the framework of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality, generously funded by the Government of Sweden and implemented by UNDP, UN Women and UNFPA. This cooperation is aimed at increasing men’s engagement in the fight against violence against women and girls. The Lelos (the nickname for Georgian rugby players) have dedicated number of international matches to the cause of ending violence against women and girls under the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign. They also joined UN Women’s HeForShe campaign soon after its launch in 2014, dedeicating to it the match between Georgia’s and Japan’s national rugby teams.