Gov’t plans to tighten laws to combat, prevent violence against women
Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze on Monday announced tightened legislation to prevent and combat violence against women. Photo: Interior Ministry press office
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The Georgian Government is working on a bill that would tighten legislation on violence against women, Deputy Interior Minister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze told Interpressnews on Monday.
The bill would add use of electronic monitoring devices to existing deterrent mechanisms as a preventive measure against perpetrators in a bid to prevent femicide, the official revealed.
He explained the addition of the mechanism required both expenses - citing over three million dollars in cost - and “effective compensation rules” for ensuring refunds if perpetrators damaged the devices, with an associated cost of “several thousand dollars” for the latter.
Darakhvelidze said the costs had delayed agreement on details for the inclusion of the monitoring devices in prevention measures.
The femicide figures have reached 192 over the past eight years. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
He also told the outlet his body, along with the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Justice, was working on the bill, with the Parliament's Human Rights Committee supervising the process.
Statistics released by the Prosecutor General’s Office last year said 186 women had been killed in Georgia between 2014 and August 2022, with 92 killed in acts committed on “family grounds” and 94 on “other grounds”. The number of victims stood at 19 last year.
In October, the Government approved action plans on measures against femicide and domestic violence, as well as for ensuring women’s engagement in public life.
The Georgian government on Friday said it had joined the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the event marked worldwide since 1991 to raise awareness over the problem.
Students of Telavi State University in eastern Georgia’s Kakheti region and residents of Lagodekhi and Sagarejo municipalities were on Monday invited for a discussion on the state bodies’ work to combat femicide and public participation in the effort, the prosecutor’s office has announced.
Female victims of violence were invited to meet representatives of the Georgian prosecutor general’s office on Wednesday in a meeting hosted as part of the body’s recently launched national campaign against femicide.
Last week the Georgian government approved the 2022-2024 national action plan for combating domestic violence and violence against women and ensuring protection of survivors, as well as the action plan on the implementation of the United Nations resolution on women, peace and security over the same period.
A public campaign involving school-age participants revealed winners of a competition of artwork created to raise awareness around femicide and violence against women, the Prosecution Service of Georgia said on Monday.
Professionals representing the country’s Prosecutor General and Tbilisi Prosecutor’s Offices on Friday met students of universities based in capital Tbilisi to discuss gender-based crime and related legal procedures.
The ambassadors of the European Union and the United States to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński and Robin Dunnigan on Saturday highlighted their work together with the Georgian Government and other relevant authorities to combat gender-based violence in the country on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The Georgian Government on Saturday said it joined the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the event marked worldwide since 1991 to raise awareness over the problem.
The United Nations in Georgia, the European Union Delegation to the country, the OSCE and NATO Liaison Office, as well as the embassies to Georgia, on Saturday called for action “to end violence against women and girls in all its forms”, including sexual harassment and abuse to child marriage and femicide.
The Tbilisi TV tower, one of the iconic sights of the Georgian capital, is on Saturday illuminated in orange by the Tbilisi City Hall, in a symbolic move to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The Human Rights Council of Georgia on Monday said the Government had approved the national referral procedures by its resolution, aimed at the identification, protection, assistance, and rehabilitation of victims of violence against women and domestic violence.