Ekaterine Gamakharia, the Head of Women Fund "Sukhumi" Tbilisi Office stressed that: The need to create more support services for abused women. Especially, to prepare them for an independent and dignified life after leaving the shelter. Also, it is necessary to respond to the barriers that prevent their involvement in economic activities (eg: lack of social infrastructure in villages, insufficient child care services, inconsistency of the existing schedule of kindergartens and schools with working hours of employed women, etc.). It is also noteworthy that the municipalities are not informed and unprepared for the new legal changes related to the status of victims of violence.
Council of Europe’s recommendations to combat and prevent violence against women in Georgia discussed in Tbilisi
Council of Europe Office in Georgia and the Governmental Administration hosted on 13 February a conference to present the recommendations provided to Georgia by GREVIO, the independent expert body which monitors the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), as well as by the Committee of the Parties to the Istanbul Convention. At the event, representatives of non-governmental organisations and academia together with the State agencies and Maria-Andriani Kostopoulou, GREVIO member and second vice-president of GREVIO, discussed the steps to take to implement the 16 recommendations approved by the Committee of the Parties to the Convention in December 2022. The recommendations are the most pressing as indicated in the first GREVIO baseline report on Georgia published in November 2022. Georgia is to submit a report on the implementation of the recommendations to the Committee of the Parties by the end of 2025.