Georgia’s security sector strengthens sexual harassment response mechanism in the workplace
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UN Women provides technical support to the Ministries of Defence and Internal Affairs of Georgia towards the development and improvement of sexual harassment prevention and response mechanisms.
Within the framework of the 16-day campaign against gender-based violence, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs convened workshops on 29 November and 1 December, respectively, on sexual harassment prevention and response mechanisms. The representatives worked on a victim/survivor-centered approach to preventing and responding to sexual harassment.
The workshop with the Ministry of Defence was opened by the British Ambassador to Georgia, Mark Clayton. He expressed the full support of the British Government to the development of effective mechanisms to respond to sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the security sector.
The Deputy Minister of Defence of Georgia, Grigol Giorgadze, noted that key priorities of the Ministry include ensuring gender equality, supporting equal opportunities, eliminating all forms of discrimination in the workplace and improving the relevant mechanism, adding: “It is important that today’s workshop is held within the framework of a 16-day campaign against gender-based violence. The workshop will result in improving the sexual harassment prevention and response mechanism and its further integration in the Ministry.”
The meeting with the Ministry of Internal Affairs was opened by the UN Women Country Representative in Georgia, Kaori Ishikawa, and the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Alexander Darakhvelidze. The Deputy Minister stressed the importance of strengthening gender mainstreaming within the Ministry and creating a positive environment in the workplace, noting that the introduction of such a mechanism would be an important step forward for the effective protection of employers’ rights and the working environment. “The mechanism is an important component of the policy implemented by the Ministry in the field of gender mainstreaming,” Deputy Minister Darakhvelidze remarked. “It is important for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as a highly responsible agency, to combat against any form of violence and to intensify efforts towards this direction.”
The workshops are part of the UN Women project “Accelerating Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Georgia”, generously funded by the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund of the British Government.