Organized by the Interagency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and with the support of the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, the Summary Workshop on Gender Equality was held.
Much of the meeting was devoted to discussing the monitoring mechanism of the Council of Europe Convention on Combating and Preventing Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and the preparation of the GREVIO report.
A former GREVIO member and Vice President, Executive Director of the Center for Domestic Violence Intervention (Austria) and the founder of the European Network (WAVE), Ms. Rosa Logar led the meeting.
“Georgia is a leader in the region in enforcing the Istanbul Convention. The country has already begun work on the first report to be presented next year. Not many countries have such a strong national mechanism in this regard as Georgia,” Ms. Rosa said.
Representatives of different state agencies summarized 2019 reports and discussed future work plans.
Interagency commission will work on nine objectives according to the Governmental Action Plan on Human Rights (2018-2020) during 2019.
The meeting was headed by Lela Akiashvili, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Georgia on Human rights and Gender Equality Issues. Representatives of the Office of the Prime Minister, Human rights Secretariat of the Administration of the Government of Georgia, Administration of the Government of Georgia, Gender Equality Council of the Parliament of Georgia, Supreme Court of Georgia, Civil Service Bureau, Office of the Public Defender, Ministry of Justice, National Probation Agency, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs, Social Service Agency, Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, Legal Aid Service, State Fund for Protection and Assistance of (Statutory) Victims of Human Trafficking, UN Women and European Council.
Objectives of the interagency commission on gender equality, violence against women and domestic violence for 2020; child marriage and other harmful practices, women economic empowerment, establishment of the mechanism for combating sexual harassment, unified approaches towards data collection regarding gender-based violence, gender mainstreaming, violence against women and domestic violence, implementing UN Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security, gender budgeting, cooperation and coordination with local authorities.