Shelter and crisis centre for victims launched in Akhaltsikhe

Improved and accessible services for female victims and survivors of violence in Georgia is still a challenging issue in the fight against domestic violence and violence against women. It is also worth noting that women and girls in the country experience various forms of gender-based violence; however, due to persistent, harmful and discriminatory gender stereotypes and social norms, as well as insufficient trust in social support and relevant systems and bodies, some cases of violence remain unreported.

Taking into account the current situation, offering quality services to victim/survivor women and girls is an important domain for UN Women for combating violence. To this end, many efforts have been made over the years in cooperation with donors and partners to expand and improve the network of shelters and crisis centres throughout the country. One of the results of this work is the shelter/crisis centre that was launched in Akhaltsikhe in cooperation with the Democrat Women’s Organization of Samtskhe-Javakheti, with the financial support of the French Embassy.

The shelter/crisis centre offers temporary safe housing, legal counselling, psychological rehabilitation and medical services to the victims and survivors of domestic violence and violence against women. If desired, the women’s minor children can also use the shelter. It is noteworthy that people of different cultures, ethnicities and religions live in Samtskhe-Javakheti. Gender stereotypes and harmful traditional beliefs have a high impact in the region; therefore, the existence of a shelter and crisis centre is of particular importance there.

Kaori Ishikawa, UN Women Country Representative in Georgia, and Sheraz Gasri, the French Ambassador to Georgia, attended the opening of the shelter/crisis centre.

“UN Women continues supporting Georgia in implementing the recommendations of the Council of Europe’s team of experts working on addressing the violence against women and domestic violence,” Ms. Ishikawa remarked at the event. “These recommendations call on the authorities to take all the possible measures to facilitate the expansion of specialized services run by the NGOs, including women’s centres and shelters, which will ensure stable and sustainable financing of services.”

Ms. Gasri added: “Protecting victims of domestic violence is Georgian authorities responsibility according to international and European law. France is proud to help Georgia meet its obligation with the indispensable involvement of Georgian women's rights organisations. It's important that in the future, Georgia priorities women protection all across the country, when it comes to budget allocation or policies (justice, health, education, employment…).”

Along with the launch of the shelter/crisis centre, a discussion was held during which the representatives of local governments, the State Care Agency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office shared their opinions with one another. The purpose of the discussion was to strengthen inter-agency coordination in the region and to improve violence prevention and timely response, victim protection and the provision of necessary services.

The shelter/crisis centre in Akhaltsikhe was launched within the framework of the project “Strengthening Specialized Services for the Victims of Gender-Based Violence”, implemented by UN Women with the generous funding of the French Government.