08 Nov 2015

Womens Rights Advocates Meet UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women

“Your work, what you are doing at the grassroots’ level, is feeding in into my work and contributes to our joint goal to eliminate violence against women; tackling the perception that it is a private matter and not a public concern,” stated Dr. Dubravka Simonovic, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences. She made the statement at a consultation meeting, organized by UN Women, attended by women’s NGOs and key development partners working on women’s rights and gender equality issues in Georgia.

UN Women's Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Region, Ms. Ingibjorg Gisladottir, in her opening remarks welcomed the participants to the meeting, stressing the importance of civil society and the contribution women’s rights activists make in accelerating the implementation of the gender equality agenda; holding governments accountable for their commitments around women’s rights.

06 Nov 2015

Georgia’s human rights record to be reviewed by Universal Periodic Review

GENEVA (5 November 2015) – Georgia’s human rights record will be examined by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the second time on Tuesday, 10 November 2015 in a meeting that will be webcast live.

Georgia is one of the 14 States to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session taking place from 2 to 13 November.  Georgia’s first UPR took place on 28 January 2011.

The documents on which the reviews are based are: 1) national report - information provided by the State under review 2) information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities; 3) information provided by other stakeholders including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and civil society groups.

30 Oct 2015

Gender sensitive local governments

Strong and healthy communities; local governments able to better respond to the different needs of men and women; improved and more accessible social, health and legal services; and women empowered to influence local planning and budgeting. These were the issues discussed during a two-day meeting of representatives of local government and women’s organizations from eleven municipalities of Georgia, as well as officials from the key development ministries.  The meeting was held in Tbilisi on 29-30 October and was organized by UN Women and its partners, the Women’s Information Centre and Taso Foundation.

Over one hundred and twenty participants exchanged experience, examples of sustainable results and good practice; from bringing services closer to people (One-Stop-Shop) and making local planning and budgeting more gender sensitive (Gender Responsive Working Groups), to creating conditions for more gender equal communities (Local Gender Equality Councils).

22 Oct 2015

International youth conference organized in Georgia as year-long educational outreach campaign comes to an end

Getting support of all stakeholders – government, civil society, academia, communities - could be one of the keys to improving the education system in Georgia, an international  youth conference to round up the UN70 educational outreach campaign in Georgia has been told.

The international youth conference “The Role of Education in Youth Development”  held on October 22 in Batumi was a continuation of a series of activities marking UN@70 in Georgia. It was attended by over 100 law students from the leading universities of 43 European countries, media and NGO representatives.

20 Oct 2015

Womens voices heard in local planning and budgeting

Gender Responsive Budgeting - GRB - is no longer a strange concept for the local municipalities of Marneuli, Tetritskaro, Zugdidi, Gori and Sachkhere. GRB working groups, set up by representatives of local government in these five municipalities, with the support of UN Women, had already started using GRB as a tool to plan local budgets in 2012. 

Between 16th and 30th September 2015, roundtables were held in each of the five municipalities, where priorities identified by the GRB Community Committees were discussed for inclusion in the local 2016 budgets. The Committees were composed of grassroots IDP groups and conflict-affected women's groups (mobilized by UN Women).

 

13 Oct 2015

World Food Day in Georgia

World Food day together with the 70^th anniversary of FAO and 20^th anniversary of Georgia’s membership in FAO was celebrated on October 13, 2015 in Tbilisi. The official part of the event was opened with the welcoming speech by Mamuka Meskhi, Assistant FAO Representative in Georgia, followed by the addresses of Otar Danelia, Minister of Agriculture of Georgia, Gunther Zimmer, Director of the ADC Regional Office and Janos Herman, Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Georgia. After the speeches, audience enjoyed the documentary film presenting FAO activities implemented in Georgia within the ENPARD (European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development) frame. Then Beka Dzadzamia, FAO National Project Manager made the presentation on the pilot Farm Registry System established with the technical assistance of FAO and financial support of ADC. The formal part of the event was finalized with the awarding ceremony of the FAO Commemorative Medals. For their best collaboration and support  to FAO’s work in Georgia, the medals went to: Mr. Otar Danelia, Ministrer of Agriculture of Georgia, Mr Juan-Jose Echanove, Agriculture Attaché,  EU Delegation to Georgia and Mr. Gunther Zimmer, Director of the ADC Regional Office for South Caucasus.

08 Oct 2015

World leaders agree: We must close the gender gap: Historic gathering boosts political commitment for women’s empowerment at the highest levels

New York, United Nations — September 27, 2015 - some 80 world leaders have personally committed to end discrimination against women by 2030 and announce concrete and measurable actions to kick-start rapid change in their countries. The event marks a historic first, with pledges delivered by Heads of State and Government. No other single issue has received this level of political attention at the UN Summit held from 25-27 September to adopt Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals.