Over 60 university students gathered for a daylong conference “Women’s Rights in Conflicts” held in commemoration of the Int'l Women's Day on 14 March 2016 at Tbilisi Laerton Hotel.

The impact of conflict on women, women’s insecurity, conflict-related sexual violence, impunity, and the role of women in peace-building was in focus of the conference.

The event was opened by Levan Aprasidze, President of European law Students Association and  Niels Scott, UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia.

Niels Scott spoke about the issues related to the impact of armed conflict on women and women's capacities to engage in peace-building.

“To ensure that women and girls are better protected from human rights abuses in their daily lives as well as during and after conflict, UN works towards women’s full and equal participation in formal and informal conflict resolution dialogues and peace processes,” Niels Scott said. “We develop women’s negotiating and mediation abilities, and advocate for gender-sensitive policies and programmes.”

He said that as Georgia begins to implement the newly adopted 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development “the focus now has to be on turning gender-related plans, policies and legislation into action to tackle unequal gender relations, and focus our efforts on women’s empowerment.”

 Anna Dolidze, Deputy Minister of Defence, spoke about women leaders and the role of women in the society. She stressed the importance of an expression of solidarity by women toward women saying, "women’s empowerment is very important issue.” 

Maya Kardava, Georgia Red Cross Society representative, expressed her sadness at witnessing  sexual violence in the armed forces. 

The conference was organized by the European Law Students’ Association and the United Nations Information Office (UNO) Tbilisi.

 

For press queries please contact:

Keti Ghioshvili, UN Public Information Officer, +995 32 251126, 599 53 22 68 (mob.)