National Action Plans - Georgia

Details/Analysis:

Georgia has a recent experience of conflict, following the 1991 – 1994 civil war and South Ossetia war with Russia in 2008.

250,000 people were displaced by the conflicts in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, the majority of who were women, who faced the burden of serving an economic role typically reserved for men, caring for children, elders and the sick or wounded. Rape was systematic and wide-spread in the Abkhazian conflict, as soldiers from both sides used sexual violence as a tool of ethnic cleansing. The legacy of violence against women remains a significant issue for post-conflict Georgia.

Women have no legally guaranteed protections for political participation, and make up less than 10 per cent of elected officials in Georgia.

Following the conflict periods, many women's organizations have emerged, particularly focusing on the needs and empowerment of internally displaced women. Working at the national level to the grass roots level and in cooperation with international donors and UN agencies, women’s organizations have been instrumental to the development and implementation of the NAP in Georgia.

The legacy of conflict, particularly for internally displaced women, poor political representation of women and Georgia’s role as a peacekeeping and NATO contributor have framed the decision to jointly implement UN Security Council’s Resolutions â„–1325, 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960.

Details/Analysis:

The Georgian National Action Plan is organized by five Priority Areas as follows:

Priority Area I: Participation: participation of women at decision-making level in conflict elimination, prevention and management processes.

Priority Area II: Prevention: Consideration of women’s needs in conflict prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women

Priority Area III: Prevention: Consideration of women’s needs in conflict prevention and eliminating all forms of violence against women, especially sexual and gender based violence

Priority Area IV: Protection: Protecting conflict affected women’s human rights; ensuring their physical, social, economic and political security

Priority Area V: Relief and Recovery – Addressing special needs of women in war/conflict and post-conflict situations

Each Priority Area is then broken down by a Goal, and a set of specified Objectives and Activities, which are linked to an Indicator, responsible agency and the funding source. For example Priority Area III "Prevention: Consideration of women’s needs in conflict prevention and eliminating all forms of violence against women, especially sexual and gender based violence” contains the following elements.

Goal: Preventing sexual and gender based violence against women in the conflict and post-conflict period

Objective: Eliminate sexual and gender based violence; promote zero tolerance towards sexual violence against women and girls

Activities
• Cooperation with international and civil society organizations, study of the mechanisms of prevention of gender-based and sexual violence during armed conflicts/wars, protection of and help to the victims of sexual violence, develop recommendations on elimination of identified deficiencies

• Review of the existing legislation on the crime of sexual violence committed in conflict and post conflict periods from the viewpoint of zero tolerance and develop recommendations, as necessary, on the amendments to relevant legislation;

• Ensure appropriate training of military units, peacekeeping forces and police units on gender issues and on UN Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960, especially on prevention, identification and response to gender based violence against women and girls.

Indicators
• Findings of the study on prevention of gender based and sexual violence during armed conflict/war, protection of and assistance to the victims of sexual violence

• Findings of the study on prevention of gender based and sexual violence during armed conflict/war, protection of and assistance to the victims of sexual violence

• Number of conferences, discussions and information broadcast on zero tolerance towards crimes of sexual violence committed in conflict or post conflict period

• Number of trainings conducted annually on gender issues and UN Security Council resolutions, especially on prevention, identification and response to gender based and other forms of violence against women and girls; number of women and men participants and number of staff trained (data disaggregated by sex, position, etc.)

Most indicators are qualitative in nature only. There is no specified or allocated budget, only notation of the source of funding (i.e. government/ donor organizations).

Details/Analysis:

There is no specified or allocated budget, only notation of the source of funding (i.e. government/ donor organizations).

No indicators or actions are included that formulate strategies for sourcing increased funding, detail what level of funding is required for which specific activities, or what accountability mechanisms will ensure funding is raised and used in implementing the NAP.

Details/Analysis:

The Gender Equality Council is responsible for the National Action Plan’s coordination and the NAP contains a framework of Indicators to monitor progress. Most indicators are qualitative in nature only.

A Coordination Group has been formed to oversee implementation across government. The Coordination Group is to meet once per month, and is comprised of representatives of relevant Ministries, Security Council, Civil Society and the Public Defender Office.

Details/Analysis:

The Georgian NAP was developed through collaboration between the Governmental Working Group (with representatives from all major ministries and the Parliament of Georgia) and relevant Civil Society organizations.

More than 25 NGOs were involved in consultations on NAP formation with multiple meetings convened between the Government and the over 102 organizations which advocate for internally displaced persons and conflict affected women in the regions of Tbilisi, Qvemo Qartli, Shida Qartli, Imereti and Samegrelo.

The Women’s Information Center has been instrumental to coordinating Civil Society and government to push for the development of a NAP in Georgia. The Women’s Information Center participated in the NAP’s development through the Governmental Working Group and is also represented in the Coordination Group responsible for overseeing the NAP’s development.

Georgian women’s Civil Society has worked to collaborate with government and also international donors and UN agencies. Civil Society organizations participated in a review of gender sensitive security sector reform, undertaken by DCAF, UN Women and the EU, which considered the progress of the NAP. The review concluded the following recommendations:

• The need to identify resources (existing and new) for the NAPs implementation, and establish a working group to undertake a resource evaluation
• Civil Society should utilize expertise in monitoring and evaluation to support the governments evaluation process
• The need to establish a streamlined communication mechanism between government entities responsible for NAP and Civil Society to support the role of coordination role of the Gender Equality Council