One of the priority directions for the Public Defender of Georgia is the rights situation of conflict-affected women. In order to study the state of their rights, the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia held meetings in the villages located along the occupation line in 2023, as well as an online meeting with women living in the occupied region of Abkhazia.

The present report is based only on information obtained from meetings with women living in the villages located near the occupation line and in the occupied region of Abkhazia, according to which, women's involvement, their participation in the decision-making process, as well as in peace and security processes, remain problematic. Barriers to women's employment continue to be domestic work and unevenly distributed care burdens within the household. Projects aimed at economic empowerment mainly promote large-scale farming, which limits the possibility of small entrepreneurship.

Access to maternity hospitals and gynecologists is also a problem for women. They do not have access to or information about the number or availability of free antenatal services, as well as about screening programmes;

Internal roads, external lighting and transport are another problem. In some villages there is a problem with drinking and irrigation water.

Security is the most important challenge for women living in occupied Abkhazia. In the hospital of occupied Gali, patients and medical staff do not have access to the medicines and medical supplies provided by the central government. Abortion services are still not available on the territory of occupied Abkhazia.

We hope that the recommendations reflected in the report will help agencies and self-governing municipalities to better plan and implement specific activities to improve the rights situation of women living in the villages located near the occupation line.