Public Debates on Gender and Minority Rights

On March 25, 2015 Public debate “Who is Afraid of Gender Based Quotas?” was held at the office of Heinrich Boell Foundation South Caucasus.

Is it necessary for the modern Georgian state to ensure human rights through collective rights for certain groups? How can identities distinct from the majority be accepted and recognized by the general society? Should this be a state policy objective? These issues were discussed at a public discussion organized by Heinrich Boell Foundation on July 23 in Batumi.

“Gender agenda for the equal involvement of men and women” was the topic that was selected for the discussion held on 28 March 2013 at the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s office.

What's feminism? Why are feminists considered to be a circle creating a crisis? Why do politicians use the data on women as “victims” of Georgian traditions for their own PR?

What problems does Georgia face in regards to protection of ethnic, religious and sexual minorities rights? The problem was discussed at the public discussion on “Georgian Society’s Capacities for Inclusiveness: Cultural and Legal Aspects for Acceptance of Differences” held in Batumi on December 14, 2012.

Mary Titizian – Director of the Hrayr Marukhyan Foundation, member of the Dashnaktutyun party;Karine Bazeyan – Vice director of the Center of Folk Arts after Hovhannes Sharambeyan;Gohar Shahnazaryan – Anthropologist, Yerevan State University. Moderator: Nina Iskandaryan, Caucasus Institute

The literary competition “Saba”, one of the most important events in the Georgian cultural environment, was founded in 2003 and so far has been held 10 times. For the past decade, only 17 out of 85 awards have been issued to women. This was discussed during the event entitled, “The feminine tradition in Georgian literature: new faces and legacies.”

The issue of the needs of people with disabilities was discussed during the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s public event held at Press Café in Batumi on July 10.

In spite of declared equality, the lack of women in Georgian politics and at all levels of government is obvious. This was the main topic of the Heinrich Boell Foundation’s public discussion organized in Batumi.

The public discussion held at the Heinrich Boell Foundation on 16 May was dedicated to the International Day of Fighting against Homophobia and Transphobia, which is denoted on 17 May.

This discussion held in HBF’s office had fewer participants than other discussions. Both the moderator and speakers of the discussion presented their arguments regarding the public’s lack of interest towards human rights. “It seems that our society has a similar attitude towards human rights. Therefore, human rights are protected to the extent to which people pay attention to these issues according to the attitudes towards them. Or maybe public skepticism is so high that nobody believes that human rights will ever be protected here,” said Gogi Gvakharia to open this discussion.

On April 19th, the Batumi Press Café hosted a public discussion entitled “Arguments Surrounding the Mosque of Azizie”, organized by the Heinrich Boell Foundation. Key speakers included Ruslan Baramidze, Professor of History and HBF scholarship holder 2004, Zaza Shashikadze, Professor of Historical Sciences, and historian Sulkhan Okropiridze.

In the past, offenders received a five-year prison sentence for property damage or destruction. Following the amendments to the Criminal Code, if it is determined that hatred towards the victim due to his/her ethnic, religious or other type of minority status motivated the crime, the offender will receive a heavier sentence than in the case of a motive such as revenge on the property owner.

Peace and Security are important not only for women, but wars and unstable environments especially influence women and children. Women and peace, conflicts and safety, gender based violence, human rights, women’s role in conflict prevention and resolution, participation in peace processes, UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Georgia’s National Action Plan

A public debate at the Heinrich Boell Foundation South Caucasus Regional Office held on 30 November 2011 was devoted to the issue ofHIV-Infection/AIDS and Human Rights.

It has been 67 years since Meskhetians were exiled from Georgia by the Soviet Regime.  In November 1944, the entire Muslim population living in Georgia’s south-eastern province of Meskheti, including the Karapapak, Kurds, Gipsy and Turks were forcefully evicted from their homes and were deported to Central Asia.

The first state-financed project of the inclusive education was launched in 2006 by the National Curriculum Center at the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia. At the same period, wide discussion was initiated within the public on the issue of inclusive education.

On 27 September 2011, the Heinrich Boell Foundation South Caucasus Regional Office organized the public debate in Baku. The topic of the discussion was: “Gender as an issue of academic discourse in Azerbaijan”.

Integration of persons with disabilities into the society, stereotypes that exist regarding persons with disabilities, ensuring their equal rights, including access to education and social security, functions and roles of governmental institutions and self-government bodies in protecting rights of persons with disabilities, concrete cases of human rights’ violations – these were main issues discussed at three public debates organized by the HBF in regional towns of Georgia.

What does LGBT mean and what society knows about this term? What is the attitude of Georgian society towards such groups, and to what extent are those attitudes changing over time, according to experts’ observations? Is there a solid cultural basis for homophobia, and where and in which cultures has it emerged early on?

The Public Debate held at the hbs on April 6, 2011 was devoted to the topic  “Hate Speech in Georgia: What is the Borderline between Freedom of Expression and Crime?” Taking into consideration the fact that Georgia does not enjoy a long discourse tradition on this topic,  with active discussion on the hate speech issue having begun only two years ago, the debates caused wide interest within  Georgian society.

“Death export,” unbearable conditions in Georgian prisons, and recommendations that require immediate reaction – those are the issues that the public defender of Georgia Giorgi Tugushi talked about and that are also reflected in the annual Ombudsman’s report of 2011.  The annual report consists of 523 pages and mentions all critical problems that still exist in front of various state institutions as well as societal level and needs urgent cure.

What is domestic violence? What are the reasons behind violence against a woman in the family, and what forms of violence can be distinguished? Does society understand what violence in the family or outside it is? Is a victim able to prevent violence right from the beginning? Could a woman be a provocateur of violence? Who tends to become victims of domestic violence?

The situation in Georgia regarding the representation of women in the country’s political processes is hard to describe as satisfactory today. The picture is even worse in the regions, where the women’s participation is more of the exception rather than the rule – these are the views we most often read in different reports and conclusions stated by various international organizations, NGOs and experts working on the issues of gender problems in Georgia. 

Eka Agdgomelashvili – Women’s Initiative Supporting Group;Paata Sabelashvili – Inclusive Foundation;Nodar Sarjveladze – Psychologist, The head of the Christian-Democratic Institute. Facilitation: Nino Danelia