Child marriage elimination in Georgia in focus of UN Population Fund meeting
Event participants highlighted the importance of raising awareness among adolescents about support services accessible to them for support, and pointed out the necessity for strengthening the coordination mechanism between state institutions to ensure a “holistic approach” to the problem. Photo: UNFPA
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The United Nations Population Fund on Friday held a meeting discussing the importance of accelerating national commitments to eliminate the practice of child marriage in Georgia through empowering adolescents and creating opportunities for their development.
Hosted within the joint UN programme for Gender Equality - funded by Swedish Government - the event was aimed at supporting a dialogue between Georgian Government agencies and civil society representatives on current efforts and gaps to be addressed for the objective, the UNFPA said.
Photo: UNFPA
Mariam Khan, the UNFPA representative in Turkey and Country Director for Azerbaijan and Georgia, led the discussion on the significance of combining efforts to encourage the collaboration of state institutions to eliminate the harmful practice.
The Fund said the rate of child marriage in the country remained at 13.9 percent and noted recent “tragic cases” involving adolescent girls in the country demonstrated “significant gaps” which needed to be addressed “urgently”.
Happening now: @UNFPAGeorgia is hosting a high-level meeting on accelerating national commitments to eliminate #ChildMarriage, aimed to support a dialogue between gov't agencies & CSOs to jointly take steps against the elimination of this harmful practice in ???????? pic.twitter.com/Mf4IC0pKN2
— UNFPA Georgia (@UNFPAGeorgia) December 1, 2023
Event participants highlighted the importance of raising awareness among adolescents about support services accessible to them for support, and pointed out the necessity for strengthening the coordination mechanism between state institutions to ensure a “holistic approach” to the problem.
The meeting also focused on further tightening the legislation to make any form of child marriage illegal, including in family practices of engaging adolescent girls in forced marriages.
Photo: UNFPA
The meeting was opened by Sabine Machl, the UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia, and Erik Illes, the Head of Development Cooperation and Deputy Head of Mission of Sweden to Georgia.
Event participants also included representatives from the Georgian Parliament, officials of ministries, the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, Niko Tatulashvili, the Advisor of the Prime Minister on the Human Rights, and Tozu Gulmamedova, Lawyer, women’s rights activist.
The event was dedicated to the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, a campaign initiative launched in 2008 under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday pledged further legal amendments to respond to the early marriage problem across the country following the murder of a 14-year-old kidnapped and forced into a marriage earlier this month in eastern Georgia.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has launched an information campaign against child marriage in partnership with the local office of the United Nations Population Fund, the Ministry said on Wednesday.
The Georgian Interior Ministry launched investigations into 175 cases of early marriages in 2019, just five cases less than in 2018.
The old fashioned norm of arranged or forced marriages could soon become a illegal if changes to Georgian law are approved, resulting in a maximum penalty of four years imprisonment.