The present special report reflects findings of the monitoring and study of the existing state services for the victims/survivors of domestic violence and protection mechanisms.

The scale of violence against women in Georgia has also become a concern for the Committee for the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Namely, as a result of the review of the joint fourth and fifth periodic reports of Georgia at its 58th session in 2014, the Committee has urged the Government to take immediate measures to eliminate the increasing number of femicides committed by husbands and partners and other forms of domestic violence.

In 2014, the PDO’s Gender Equality Department has carried out monitoring of the shelters and national hotline for domestic violence victims/survivors with the support by UN Women. The monitoring was aimed at the assessment of the conditions of the three state shelters and of the needs of service users, as well as evaluation of the hotline operation.

The Gender Equality Department of the Public Defender's Office of Georgia conducted two types of study in order to evaluate the effectiveness of protection mechanisms from domestic violence. In 2013 with the support of UN Women the evaluation of effectiveness of restrictive and protective orders was conducted and the method of qualitative research was used. In particular, individual interviews (18) and focus groups (13) were conducted both in Tbilisi as well as in the municipalities of Georgia (Zugdidi, Akhaltsikhe, Batumi, Tetritskharo, and Telavi). In addition the copies of protective and restrictive orders issued by the common courts of Georgia and magistrate judges in 2014 were requested and the statistical study was prepared and tendencies revealed based on the research of these orders.

Special Report Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in Georgia