UN Women Transparency Portal

Region:Asia Pacific Current UN Women Plan Period Afghanisthan:2018-2022

World Bank Income Classification:Low Income

Least Developed Country:Yes

Gender Inequality Index:0.575

Gender Development Index:0.723

Population:209,497,025 Male:19,976,265 (9.5%) Female:189,520,760 (90.5%)

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Showing field-based data of 2021

outcome XM-DAC-41146-GEO_D_1.1

By 2025, all people in Georgia enjoy improved good governance, more open, resilient and accountable institutions, rule of law, equal access to justice, human rights, and increased representation and participation of women in decision making (UNSDCF Outcome1)

Significant progress has been made towards achieving of the outcome by increasing the visibility of the problem of sexual harassment in public service through generation of data and creation of protection mechanisms for the victim/survivors of sexual harassment in public sector; The Civil Service Bureau of Georgia conducted Georgia’s first-ever specialized study on workplace sexual harassment in civil service. For the first time in Georgia, the study generated representative data on the prevalence of workplace harassment, as well as attitudes and perceptions of civil servants to sexual harassment and its reporting. Further, the Inter-Agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence has taken significant steps towards prevention and response to workplace sexual harassment in the civil service. Some 11 government agencies have adopted sexual harassment complaints’ mechanisms/procedures in the period of 2019-2021 these are: 1. The Ministry of Defence (2019); 2. The Office of the Resource Officers of Educational Institutions under the Ministry of Education and Science (2020); 3. The Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure (2020); 4. The LEPL Civil Service Bureau (2020); 5. The LEPL State Inspector’s Service (2020); 6. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (2021); 7. The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (2021); 8. The LEPL Sakpatenti (2021); 9. GEOSTAT (2021); 10. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2021); 11. Prosecutor's Office(2021). UN Women provided technical support to Civil Service Bureau while conducting the first ever study on sexual harassment in civil service of Georgia, also, all the sexual harassment complaints’ mechanisms in public entities listed above have been developed with UN Women technical support. To strengthen gender mainstreaming in governance processes and increase accountability for gender sensitive policy making in Georgia, Parliamentary Gender Equality Council (GEC) initiated Parliamentary Thematic Inquiry on Gender Mainstreaming in Governmental Policies. This is the first thematic inquiry on the matter and aims to a) identify if and how gender is mainstreamed into governmental procedures, standards and methodologies on state policy development, monitoring and evaluation and b) identify if and how gender is mainstreamed into governmental strategies and action plans, pertaining to key development objectives of the country (more specifically areas such as social-economic development, labor and employment, education and science and public administration). The thematic inquiry is set out to be finalized in March 2022. UN Women is providing technical support throughout the process. National partners made further advances towards institutionalization of gender impact assessment (GIA) as a part of the law-making and policy-making processes; During the reporting period, UN Women together with UNDP and NDI, supported the Parliamentary Gender Equality Council (GEC) in developing a legislative proposal on institutionalizing GIA as a part of the law-making cycle. The legislative proposal was developed in close consultations with GEC GIA working group. The document was further discussed and validated via consultation meeting with development partners and government organizations on 26 October 2021. The legislative proposal on GIA institutionalization is expected to be initiated for approval in the parliament of Georgia in 2022. Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable. If, as expected, this strategy is successful, then the legislative initiatives, tools and mechanisms put in place by the CO would within a few years start having a real impact on the lives of women and girls in Georgia by making governance systems, state institutions and policy-making more gender sensitive and also enabling for greater participation of women in decision-making processes.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-GEO_D_2.1

By 2025, all people without discrimination benefit from a sustainable, inclusive and resilient economy in Georgia (UNSDCF Outcome 3)

Significant progress has been made towards achieving the outcome in terms of mobilization of private sector for the cause of gender equality; in 2021, the number of private companies who have joined UN Women and UN Global Compact’s Women’s Empowerment Principles: Equality Means Business (WEPs) reached 102 in Georgia. This vibrant community of partners has been offered diverse capacity development opportunities throughout the year to stimulate in-depth understanding of what are the Women’s Empowerment Principles and how can they, as the employers, advance women’s rights and foster the business environment at the same time. Dedicated discussions addressed also the roles of employers in tackling workplace sexual harassment as well as domestic violence, including to tips and techniques on how to identify an employee who may be facing such a problem and what type of support to provide. The companies that are signatories to the WEPs are setting interesting examples in combatting domestic violence in Georgia. The Adjara Group successfully employs women who have overcome the problem of domestic violence and facilitates their rehabilitation according to the signed memorandum of understanding with the Agency for State Care and Assistance for the Victims of Human Trafficking, while MBC, in addition to awareness-raising trainings within the organization, buys the products it needs from women victims of domestic violence and provides them with legal, psychological and economic assistance, thereby empowering them. As for the TV channel Mtavari Arkhi, another WEPs signatory, it regularly informs the public about the services that victims of domestic violence need and takes care of raising awareness and delivering information. The WEPs signatory companies have rejoined the 16-day campaign against gender-based violence, continuing the initiative that was launched in November 2020. In 2021 the companies have focused on the elimination of sexual harassment in the workplace. The state agency “Enterprise Georgia” has approved its internal Gender Equality Strategy and a three-year action plan developed with UN Women technical support and as an outcome of Participatory Gender Audit conducted in the entity by UN Women in 2020. The Strategy upholds the Agency’s commitment to develop, implement and monitor the agency’s policy on the basis of gender mainstreaming. The three-year strategy and action plan place a special focus on the prevention and elimination of discrimination and sexual harassment. As a part of these commitments, 22 staff members from “Enterprise Georgia” attended the training organized by UN Women on non-discriminatory policies and procedures at the workplace. Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable. If, as expected, this strategy is successful, then the work at the level of policies and legislation, institutions and grassroots’ aimed at economic empowerment of women would within a few years start having a real impact on the lives of women and girls in Georgia by making entrepreneurship and employment policies as well as employers more gender sensitive and women better aware of their economic rights and opportunities.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-GEO_D_3.1

By 2025, all people in Georgia have equitable and inclusive access to quality, resilient and gender-sensitive services delivered in accordance with international human rights standards (UNSDCF Outcome 2)

Significant progress was made towards achieving the outcome in terms of relevant policymaking and capacity development. UN Women continued to provide technical assistance to the Inter-Agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (CGE) to support development of the National Action Plan on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and Measures to be Implemented for the Protection of Victims (survivors) (VAW/DV NAP) for the period of 2022-2024. Most of the state entities members of the CGE submitted their feedback on the draft NAP with the final review of the document with civil society scheduled in the beginning of 2022. To improve the response to sexual violence in Georgia UN Women, the Council of Europe and Equality Now have jointly developed Sexual Violence Investigation Manual. The manual is instrumental for improving the relevant practice and legislation related to sexual violence, ensuring de facto compliance with the standards set forth in the Istanbul Convention and the effective administration of justice. The manual represents an investigative methodology tool, designed primarily for practical application and implementation by investigators, prosecutors, and judges in Georgia. As such, it will cover the relevant procedures starting from the reporting process through the prosecution and punishment stages for acts of sexual violence. Based on its compliance with international human rights standards and commonalities among States concerning sexual violence, the manual will be valuable for post-Soviet countries and worldwide. Based on the manual, specialization of prosecutors and investigators with active support of UN women is underway on sexual violence crimes, as a result of which, only specialized prosecutors and investigators will be allowed to work on these crimes. In close cooperation with the Embassy of France to Georgia and under the RC’s leadership, UN Women Georgia CO held number of bilateral advocacy meetings to steer the interest of the Government of Georgia towards the Generation Equality Action Coalitions. Among others, together with the RC, UNFPA and the French Embassy a few advocacy events were organized locally to promote global Generation Equality Forums (GEF) in Mexico and Paris. As a result, President of Georgia H.E. Salome Zourabichvili took part in the GEF in Paris, spelling out Georgia's commitments under the following two Action Coalitions - Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality (TIGE). Among some of the key commitments of Georgia under the GBV Action Coalition are: a) full alignment of the country’s legislation with the Istanbul Convention including the legal definition of rape; b) commitment to scaling up behavioral correction programmes for domestic violence perpetrators in accordance with the national legislation; c) commitment to implement research-based and evidence-driven campaigns to prevent and eliminate violence against women in politics. In consultation with the Gender Theme Group and state and non-state national partners, UN Women selected sexual violence as the theme for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence 2021. To advocate for a legislative reform of sexual violence crimes and alignment of the legislation with the Istanbul Convention, UN Women organized a high-level advocacy meeting on Increasing Access to Justice to Survivors of Sexual Violence Crimes.[1] Representatives of the legislative and executive branches of the Georgian Government, the diplomatic corps, media and international and local non-governmental organizations attended the meeting. As a result, echoing Georgia’s existing commitment under Gender Based Violence Action Coalition of Generation Equality, political commitment has been reaffirmed to amend the legal definition of rape in the Criminal Code of Georgia making consent central to it (as per the Istanbul Convention requirement). Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable. If, as expected, this strategy is successful, then the harmonization of Georgia’s legislative and policy frameworks with international standards and the country’s commitments will start having real impact on the lives of women and girls in Georgia by outlawing discriminatory practices and improving women’s access to relevant protection and support services. [1] Sexual violence is one of the most hidden offences in Georgia. According to the 2017 National Survey on Violence against Women, 9 per cent of women experienced sexual violence in childhood, although the rate of reporting is low. For instance, in 2020, investigations were started for only 31 cases of rape, while only 22 of the cases have reached the courts. One of the reasons for low reporting, is that the Georgian legislation does not comply with international standards, including the Istanbul Convention. In addition, women’s silence about rape is provoked by existing harmful stereotypes and societal attitudes, which often blame victims for what happened to them.

outcome XM-DAC-41146-GEO_D_4.1

By 2025, conflict affected communities enjoy human rights, enhanced human security and resilience (UNSDCF Outcome 4)

Significant progress was made towards achieving the outcome in terms of ensuring active participation and engagement of IDP and conflict affected women as well as the CSOs working on the Women, Peace and Security issues (WPS) in the drafting of the fourth National Action Plan for Implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (NAP 1325) for the years 2022-2024. Further, activities supporting the regular dialogue between the government and civil society have been integrated in the new NAP 1325, allowing for continued cooperation and coordination between the government and CSOs during the NAPs implementation process. To support gender mainstreaming in the security sector, UN Women completed a Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and initiated another PGA with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). The PGA of the MoD investigates and ensures that internal practices and related support systems for gender mainstreaming are in place and effective and reinforce one another. It further monitors and assesses the relative progress made in gender mainstreaming in the organization in comparison to the PGA conducted in 2014. The findings and recommendations of the PGAs will be integrated into the institutional action plans and policy documents of MoD and MIA and will be used for planning needs-based capacity development activities for the audited institutions. UN Women in partnership with DCAF will continue to support MoD and MIA in following up on the recommendations of the PGAs. The work has progressed towards advancing women’s meaningful participation in the GID process as a result of the continued advocacy of UN Women, grounded in evidence generated by its study on “Benchmarks, Barriers and Bridging the Gaps: Enhancing Women's Meaningful Participation and Contribution to Peace Processes in Georgia”. Namely, in close consultation with the GID Co-Chairs UN Women together with Department of Political and Peace Affairs (DPPA) has embarked on the drafting of a technical proposal / package of recommendations proposing an alternative and innovative pathway / mechanism to inclusive peace from a gender perspective, such as model of informal women’s advisory board to the GID Co-Chairs, tailored to the GID context ensuring women’s meaningful participation and integration of gender perspective in official peace process. Based on the progress made to date, the original strategy and theory of change for this outcome is largely still applicable. If, as expected, this strategy is successful, then support to developing and implementing standalone policies on women, peace and security on one hand and the mainstreaming of women, peace and security agenda in security sector reform on the other will yield improved results for women and girls in Georgia in general and IDP and conflict affected women in particular.

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References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).

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