On 19 October 2019, the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Ministry of Justice of Georgia organised a capacity building workshop for the members of the Inter-agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Kachreti. This Commission coordinates the implementation of policies related to gender equality and the prevention of violence against women in the country.

The aim of the workshop was to familiarise the Commission members, coming from line ministries and state agencies, with the data collection requirements of the Istanbul Convention and their implications. It also allowed to present in greater detail the Convention monitoring mechanism. Ketevan Sarajishvili, representative of the Ministry of Justice, which is co-chairing the Commission, stressed that the workshop was timely as Georgia will undergo the GREVIO monitoring process which is starting in 2020. The Inter-agency Commission, as a co-ordinating body created according to article 10 of the Istanbul Convention, will be responsible for planning and coordinating the preparations of the state report to GREVIO.

The Commission members had an opportunity to exchange views with Rosa Logar, a former member and vice-chair of the Group of Experts on Action Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), including on the standard questionnaire used for GREVIO evaluations. Moreover, the participants learnt from the experience of other countries which have already been monitored by GREVIO.

The workshop was held in the framework of the project ‘’Preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence in Georgia”.