Georgia to conduct nation-wide study on violence against women with EU support
Date:
Violence against women, including domestic violence, remains one of the most prevalent human rights violations in Georgia. While significant progress has been made in recent years to strengthen the legislation and provide better services for survivors, considerable challenges remain.
One of the key challenges continues to be a lack of reliable data to inform the development of evidence-based national policies, legislation and programmes on combating violence against women in Georgia.
In order to fill the vacuum of nationally representative data on violence against women in Georgia, the European Union is supporting UN Women and the National Statistics Office (GEOSTAT) to conduct a National Study on Violence against Women in Georgia. For the first time since 2009, the study will generate nation-wide data on prevalence and consequences of physical, sexual and physiological violence against women, including domestic violence and sexual harassment, and will explore attitudes and awareness of both men and women in Georgia.
The study methodology is being developed in line with globally established methodological and ethical standards and incorporates international and regional human rights and development frameworks such as the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention and the Sustainable Development Goals. In order to ensure a coordinated approach among national stakeholders and national ownership of the study results a National Study Reference Group has been established. The Reference Group will serve as a stakeholder platform to bring together national partners from government, civil society and academia and provide a consultative forum for inputs, ideas and perspectives for the survey implementation.
In addition to helping to fill the national data gap, Ms. Erika Kvapilova, UN Women Georgia Country Representative, remarked during the first meeting of the National Study Reference Group on February 17, that: “Through partnering with GEOSTAT on the implementation of the research, UN Womenand EU further aim to strengthen the national capacity for data collection on violence against women in Georgia.”
Deputy Head of National Statistics Office in Georgia, Mr. Tengiz Tsekvava further emphasized the importance of the study, stressing that the initiative would contribute to the realization of Georgia’s state obligation to ensure that data on violence against women is systematically collected and disseminated under the framework of official statistics. “The initiative will support the Government of Georgia in meeting its international obligations, in particular that of achieving the goal of strengthening the collection of data on the prevalence of violence against women and girls on a periodical basis, so that the changes can be monitored over time,” commented Mr. Tsekvava.
The study is implemented by UN Women within the framework of the EU funded project“Unite to Fight Violence against Women,” which is a part of the wider EU support to Georgia to contribute to elimination of violence against women. It was initiated in early 2017 and is expected to be finalized in March 2018.
UN Women and National Statistics Office of Georgia meet with national partners to discuss national VAW study implementation plans; Photo: UN Women
In order to fill the vacuum of nationally representative data on violence against women in Georgia, the European Union is supporting UN Women and the National Statistics Office (GEOSTAT) to conduct a National Study on Violence against Women in Georgia. For the first time since 2009, the study will generate nation-wide data on prevalence and consequences of physical, sexual and physiological violence against women, including domestic violence and sexual harassment, and will explore attitudes and awareness of both men and women in Georgia.
The study methodology is being developed in line with globally established methodological and ethical standards and incorporates international and regional human rights and development frameworks such as the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention and the Sustainable Development Goals. In order to ensure a coordinated approach among national stakeholders and national ownership of the study results a National Study Reference Group has been established. The Reference Group will serve as a stakeholder platform to bring together national partners from government, civil society and academia and provide a consultative forum for inputs, ideas and perspectives for the survey implementation.
In addition to helping to fill the national data gap, Ms. Erika Kvapilova, UN Women Georgia Country Representative, remarked during the first meeting of the National Study Reference Group on February 17, that: “Through partnering with GEOSTAT on the implementation of the research, UN Womenand EU further aim to strengthen the national capacity for data collection on violence against women in Georgia.”
Deputy Head of National Statistics Office in Georgia, Mr. Tengiz Tsekvava further emphasized the importance of the study, stressing that the initiative would contribute to the realization of Georgia’s state obligation to ensure that data on violence against women is systematically collected and disseminated under the framework of official statistics. “The initiative will support the Government of Georgia in meeting its international obligations, in particular that of achieving the goal of strengthening the collection of data on the prevalence of violence against women and girls on a periodical basis, so that the changes can be monitored over time,” commented Mr. Tsekvava.
The study is implemented by UN Women within the framework of the EU funded project“Unite to Fight Violence against Women,” which is a part of the wider EU support to Georgia to contribute to elimination of violence against women. It was initiated in early 2017 and is expected to be finalized in March 2018.