On 17, 19 and 26 March 2021, the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia in co-operation with the Council of Europe Office in Georgia, held workshops with representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia and the Georgian Bar Association  to discuss the main findings and recommendations of the study ”The Administration of Justice on Sexual Violence Crimes in Georgia“ prepared by the Office of the Public Defender with the support of the Council of Europe. Participants also commented on how the findings provided in the report will be used in their future work.

“In Georgia, victims of sexual violence have still overwhelmingly limited access to justice. Laws, procedures and practices need to be substantively improved to make sure that perpetrators are hold accountable and justice is administered from a gender-sensitive perspective, focusing on the rights and dignity of survivors. The Istanbul Convention provides a framework for how this can be achieved “, said Tamar Dekanosidze, Council of Europe’s expert and one of the authors of the study.

The Council of Europe continues to support efforts of Georgian state institutions to strengthen the policy and institutional framework for effective implementation of European standards, especially the Council of Europe Istanbul Convention and other gender equality standards.

The online workshops were organised in the framework of the Council of Europe project “Promoting an Integrated Approach to End Violence against Women and Enhancing Gender Equality in Georgia”.