Georgian prosecutors attended the launch of the Council of Europe HELP course to fight violence against women and domestic violence, which took place on 22 February 2018 at the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia. Representatives from the Training Centre of Justice, the Academy of the Internal Affairs of Georgia, and the Human Rights Academy of the Ombudsman of Georgia also participated in the event.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Giorgi Gogadze highlighted the important role of his office and the prosecutors working on such cases and the need for continuing societal awareness as “prosecutors alone cannot prevent this crime”. He also mentioned that this will be the second HELP course launched with prosecutors after the successful experience with the HELP course on anti-discrimination.

Christian Urse, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Tbilisi stressed the good cooperation of the CoE with the Prosecutor’s Office, the Parliament relevant committees and the Public Defender’s Office, particularly following the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) by Georgia in 2017.

The presentation of the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) Programme of the CoE was done by Eva Pastrana while Sara Haapalainen, from the CoE Violence against Women’s Division, provided insights on how to tackle a crime such as VAW that affects more disproportionately women.

The course will be tutored by the Head of the Division of Human Rights Protection of the Prosecutor’s Office, Salome Shengelia, who presented the Georgian context and legal order regarding the criminalisation of violence against women and the need to prosecute perpetrators. Salome had also the HELP course on anti-discrimination. Following the (face-to-face) launch, the prosecutors will continue their training on line for a period of 3 months.

The course, developed by CoE experts from the Violence against Women Division and HELP, aims at improving the quality of the judicial response in VAW cases and support the access to justice for victims while prosecuting perpetrators. It covers in an interactive way the key concepts, the international and European legal framework and the European case law governing the prevention and protection of women and girls from violence, focusing in particular on the Istanbul Convention. The on line course comprises theory, case law and practical exercises.

The more than 20 prosecutors who attended the launch of the course voiced their high expectations as they have to deal with these infamous cases in their daily practice, with the inherent difficulties of violence when it occurs within the home, which can be compounded by the response of authorities to whom women turn for help.
The course consists of the following substantive modules:
• Understanding violence against women and domestic violence
• International and European Legal Framework
• Overcoming barriers / access to Justice
• Criminal Justice Response I – Investigation and pre-trial
• Criminal Justice Response II – Trial and sentencing
• Civil Justice Response
• Alternative Dispute Resolution

The course can be accessed in English at the HELP online platform at this link. The Georgian version will be posted in May 2018, upon completion of the training by the Prosecutor’s Office.
For more information please download this course brief.