On 16 November 2021, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia hosted a roundtable discussion “Geneva International Discussions and Women, Peace, and Security” supported by the UN Women and the United Kingdom. The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate dialogue with civil society on the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the involvement of women in peace processes. The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate dialogue with civil society on the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the involvement of women in peace processes.
Eka Gamakharia, the representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" in Tbilisi noted at the meeting the importance of creating and launching consulting platforms with women's organizations and underlined the need for more active cooperation with women's organizations on "Women, Peace, Security" issues by all state ministries. She also stressed the need for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure the involvement of women's organizations in the planning and development of a "Peaceful Conflict Resolution Strategy", including a conflict-affected society (Abkhazia, South Ossetia) and a gender dimension that would make it more viable and effective.
Copyright: Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Reconciliation and Civil Equality.
The project, through which the participants gained a lot of experience, has come to an end.
The project, which had a great success in the history of the Fund "Sukhumi" and its partners - the Fund of Women Entrepreneurs and the Imereti Scientists’ Union "Spectri".
At the end, traditionally, a publication was prepared in Georgian and English. It is demonstration of experience to stakeholders. This is a guideline, which reflects the project results, achievements, lessons learned.
The work was carries out in the framework of the project “A common forum for CSOs from Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi for PAR Roadmap monitoring”.
The project is implemented with the support the European Union - #EU4Georgia
- The pandemic situation has complicated relations between family members, the risks of developing conflicts have increased, therefore, cases of domestic violence have become more frequent. In such conditions, informational meetings with the population, the inclusion of a psychologist are especially important, These are the opinions of the participants of the meetings at in Terjola, Bagdati, Vani, Zugdidi and Senaki Women Support Centers
With the activity of the mobilizers and with the support of the local government social services, the facts of violence were identified and an appropriate response is underway to help the victims.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
Forms of violence, legal mechanisms for the protection of the victim and stopping the rapist, conflict and its management – About 60 young people from the municipalities of Bagdati, Tsalenjikha and Vani were trained on these topics at an nline platform.
The meetings were interactive. The participants were given the opportunity to frankly discuss the issues of violence and conflict. Motivation, interest, active involvement was visible ...
Future activities were planned in order to share the knowledge gained with the teenagers.
The project is implemented with the support of the organization Brot
für die Welt - Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Germany)
The publication “Methodical manual for CSOs – for PAR monitoring at local level” was prepared within the frames of the project “A common forum for CSOs from Guria, Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi for PAR Roadmap monitoring”. The manual contains a collection of training manuals used for the trainings conducted for the target CSOs of the project.
The project is implemented with the support the European Union - #EU4Georgia
On November 11, 2021, the Interagency Human Rights Council held an online meeting of the Inter-Agency Commission of Gender Equality, Violence against Women, and Domestic Violence. The session was attended by representatives of relevant agencies of the central government, and representatives of international and local civil society organizations. The meeting was chaired by Niko Tatulashvili, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Human Rights.
Participants shared the key individual achievements and challenges that accompany the process of working against gender equality, women, and domestic violence.
Representatives of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi office also attended the commission. Ekaterine Gamakharia shared the experience of the Fund "Sukhumi" with the participants during the discussion and, despite the short time, focused on urgent needs. In particular:
On November 5, 2021, in cooperation with the UN Resident Coordinator and representatives of various UN agencies the UN Women in Georgia held an Open Day on Women, Peace, and Security. Open Day promotes dialogue between representatives of the UN system and civil society, women, and young people displaced and affected by the conflict.
The representative of the Women's Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi office was allowed to address the meeting and Marika Megrelidze (Pakhulani-Tskhoushi) and Nona Bukia (Khurcha), leaders of the initiative groups operating in the villages of the dividing line in Zugdidi and Tsalenjikha municipalities, and Marie Narmania (Zugdidi), a young activist.
Representatives of the Fund "Sukhumi" spoke about the challenges in the lives of women and young people in the villages near the border, including economic empowerment and limited employment opportunities; Infrastructure problems of schools and outpatient clinics and lack of appropriate technical equipment; Acute problems of water supply in the villages, IDPs in the dilapidated buildings of the IDP accommodation centers, the lack of proper spaces for the development of youth in the villages, etc.
On November 3, 2021, the representative of the Tbilisi office of the Women Fund "Sukhumi" - Ekaterine Gamakharia participated in a Gender Theme Group (GTG) - Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Task Force Meeting. The Gender Theme Group unites international organizations and embassies accredited in Georgia, as well as civil society organizations. Its purpose is to promote the "Women, Peace and Security" agenda in Georgia and respond effectively to challenges identified by individual group members, develop and plan appropriate actions and interventions.
At the meeting, the representative of the Fund "Sukhumi" together with her colleagues spoke about Resolution 1325, the results of monitoring the implementation of the three-year National Action Plan, and the main findings, where she stressed the challenges and the need to respond to them, such as - the development and implementation of a gender-sensitive early warning system;
An online conference on "Women and Mobility - Gender Aspects of The Women Daily Movement" was organized by the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia and supported by the German Cooperation Society (GIZ). The welcoming speeches were made by: Martina Kolby, Program Director of the German International Cooperation “Mobility for Cities”, Nino Tsilosani, Chairperson of the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament of Georgia, and Niko Tatulashvili, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Human Rights.
Nino Korinteli - a researcher of the Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi Representative Office, was actively involved in the discussion. She participated in the online meeting as an independent consultant and co-author of the research. During the presentation, she highlighted the importance of women's economic empowerment (especially for vulnerable groups) and underlined, that despite the Monitoring Report of Fund "Sukhumi" - "Development of Child Care Services to Promote Women's Employment and Ensure Effective Prevention and Response to Domestic Violence" focuses on barriers to the development of childcare services, these two researches combine the emphasis on factors that promote women's economic empowerment (e.g. education, professional growth and employment)and the obstacles (e.g. according to the Fund “Sukhumi” research, restrictions to movement are considered as a barrier in getting education ).
On April 21, the Head of the Tbilisi Representation - Ekaterine Gamakharia participated in the Public Defender’s - Nino Lomjaria presentation about a special report on Impact of Closure of So-called Checkpoints in 2019-2020 on Rights Situation of Population of Occupied Territories.
According to the Public Defender of Georgia, the formal regime established by the de facto authorities for movement across the occupation line and the establishment of various barriers, such as the unpredictable closures of the so-called checkpoints, illegal arrests, problems with de facto documentation required for movement and other obstacles restrict the freedom of movement of the residents of occupied regions and create unjustified barriers to their access to livelihoods.
In her speech, Ekaterine Gamakharia focused on the possibility of free movement of Georgian citizens in the occupied territories, which this time implies the problem of obtaining the relevant document (residence permit). It still poses a risk that thousands of undocumented people will once again take the risky way of life and health to relocate to Georgian-controlled territory.