Report on Georgia’s implementation of the provisions of the Istanbul Convention published

The Council of Europe Expert Group on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence GREVIO has published its baseline assessment report on Georgia’s implementation of the provisions of the Istanbul Convention.

As stated in the document, the Council of Europe welcomes the legislative steps taken by the Georgian authorities, but the country needs to improve access to support services, and additional preventive measures should be applied against criminals.

“Further legislative changes are needed; More domestic violence shelters and referral centers for sexual violence crises should be established throughout the country; The bureaucratic obstacles associated with obtaining the status of a victim should be removed and immediate measures should be taken to strengthen the equal position of women in Georgian society, where patriarchal principles still prevail,” the assessment says.

The report states that the legislative changes, including the Action Plan to Combat Violence Against Women, represent a very important change.

“In 2019, significant changes were made to the legislation regarding the prohibition of sexual harassment, and great efforts were made to raise awareness of various forms of violence against women. However, the definition of rape and other crimes of sexual violence in the Georgian Criminal Code still needs to be changed to fully reflect the concept of non-consent provided by the Istanbul Convention.

Victims do not have access to fully functional rape or sexual crisis help centers that are geographically adequately distributed throughout Georgia. In addition, there are still very few services available to victims of forced marriage or to women and girls at risk of forced marriage.

Administrative requirements, such as formal recognition of victim status, prevent women from accessing domestic violence shelters. GREVIO also calls on the authorities to improve access to support services and protection mechanisms for women at risk of intersectoral discrimination, such as those belonging to national and/or ethnic minorities, women living in rural areas, women with disabilities and refugees, lesbians, bisexual or transgender women, older women.

Children who witness violence often remain invisible to the system. In addition, the financial resources allocated to government and non-governmental organizations should be increased, and the involvement of the non-governmental sector in the development of legislation and policies to combat violence should be increased,” the document says.

GREVIO says that criminal justice mechanisms to combat sexual violence face serious shortcomings: investigations and prosecutions lack speed, efficiency and sensitivity. The report calls for immediate action to ensure a prompt and adequate response, especially in cases of rape and sexual violence. The factors that contribute to the very high prosecution threshold for rape must be identified and addressed, and secondary victimization of victims must be avoided throughout the process.

“Immediate steps must be taken to ensure that criminal penalties are dissuasive and commensurate with the seriousness of the crime, and that courts take into account all cases of domestic violence when making decisions on custody or visitation rights,” the document says.

In addition, GREVIO calls on the authorities to review the process of issuing restraining orders by the police, to identify and respond to the reasons for the high proportion of orders withdrawn by the courts (about 60% in the period 2018-2021), and to monitor the execution of these orders. Similarly, the reasons for the high rate of violations of restraining and protection orders must be established and adequate sanctions applied for violations of such orders.

“GREVIO notes with great concern that no information was provided on the sanctions applied when initiating investigations into violations of restraining orders in 60 cases in 2018 and 516 cases in 2019,” the report says.

In its report, GREVIO also calls on the Georgian authorities to ensure that women victims of violence in need of protection, regardless of their status or place of residence, are under no circumstances returned to a country where their lives are in danger or where they may be subjected to torture. or inhuman or degrading treatment, treatment or punishment.

“GREVIO notes that Georgian society is still dominated by patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes about gender roles and acceptable behavior. Persistent gender stereotypes and their dissemination by the media require a response. Immediate efforts are needed to raise the equal status of women in society, public discourse and the media,” the document says.