On 5–6 June, members of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, the Department of Human Rights Protection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, as well as selected Georgian prosecutors travelled to Madrid (Spain) for an exchange of views with key Spanish government officials on how to effectively prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence.

The study visit to Spain was organised under the Council of Europe project “Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Georgia”.

Spain has developed a national system with a specialised prosecutor, specialised criminal courts and a specialised police unit for cases of violence against women and domestic violence. The Georgian visitors had the opportunity to learn from the Spanish judicial and law enforcement system on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.

The visit also provided a closer insight into Spanish legislations, policies, data collection and inter-agency co-operation on preventing violence against women. The programme, organised by the Council of Europe, included a meeting with the Spanish Red Cross that runs the Spanish mobile telephone service, ATENPRO, established for care and protection of victims of violence against women and domestic violence.

All the Georgian study visit participants expressed the usefulness of the visit for their ongoing and future work.