The present report is a special report developed by the Public Defender’s Office within the framework of the femicide monitoring mechanism. The report analyzes crimes committed in 2017.

Despite the steps taken in the direction of preventing violence against women and domestic violence, the high number of gender-related killings of women – femicide – remains a challenge. The ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence by the Parliament of Georgia in 2017 is notable due to the institutional and legislative regulation of violence against women and domestic violence it sets out, as well as the establishment of the Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia. This Department was charged with monitoring the administrative case proceedings and investigations into cases of violence against women and discrimination-related crimes.

In the same year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia submitted a legislative package to the Parliament of Georgia, according to which, commission of a crime on the grounds of gender will be regarded as an aggravating circumstance when considering punishment in relation to a number of crimes. The legislative package is currently under consideration and the Public Defender hopes that Parliament will support the amendments.

The Public Defender of Georgia has been monitoring cases of femicide based on a specially developed methodology since 2016. The aim of the monitoring is to analyze each case of gender-related murders of women, murder attempts and actions that pushed women toward attempting or dying by suicide. Additionally, the monitoring will identify shortcomings in the victim protection mechanisms in order to improve and further develop them.