On June 18, 2018, the Public Defender of Georgia presented a femicide monitoring report. The document provides an analysis of the attempts of gender killing and attempted killing of women committed in 2016 in relation to the commitments undertaken by the country in terms of protecting women from violence and assisting them.

At the opening of the event, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria briefly reviewed the issues outlined in the report, including the alarming statistics, analysis of court judgments, circumstances of the cases of femicide and Public Defender’s recommendations. She noted that despite the increased rate of restraining orders and reporting, unfortunately, the monitoring and evaluation system has only recently been introduced in relation to the cases of killing of women.

"In 2017 alone, investigations were launched in 26 cases of killing of women, 14 out of which included signs of domestic crimes, and in 15 cases of attempted killing of women, 12 out of which included signs of domestic violence. These statistics indicate that most murders of women are related to domestic violence and the main recommendation of the Public Defender in this direction is to define femicide as a separate crime," the Public Defender said.

Erica Kvapilova, UN Women Representative to Georgia, emphasized the active involvement of the Public Defender in solving the problem of femicide. According to Sopo Japaridze, Assistant to Prime Minister for Human Rights and Gender Equality, it is a priority for the state to combat killing of women and domestic violence, and a number of measures, including elaboration of legislative amendments, are being taken to eliminate this problem. Dimitri Tskitishvili, a member of the Gender Equality Council of the Parliament of Georgia, spoke about the importance of raising public awareness though coordination between the civil sector, the Public Defender and the executive branch of government.

According to the femicide monitoring report, the high rate of femicide is closely related to gender inequality in the country, as well as to the policy on violence against women and domestic violence and deficiencies in the victim assistance system. Consequently, it is necessary to take systemic steps.

Representatives of state agencies talked about the state’s vision with regard to the problem.

Website www.femicide.ge, developed for the purpose of raising public awareness, was also presented at the event.

The meeting was attended by international and local experts, representatives of state agencies and NGOs and other stakeholders. Discussion was held at the end of the meeting.

The event was organized with technical and financial support of UN Women.