INTERAGENCY UNITED EFFORTS TO COMBAT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN GEORGIA: LOCAL OR WESTERN

AGENDA?

TBILISI STATE UNIVERSITY2010-2011

Nino Javakhishvili, Lia Tsuladze

Research Team

Nino Javakhishvili Lia Tsuladze Nino Laghidze Tamar Sabedashvili

Dako Bakhturidze Ida Bakhturidze Nana Chabukiani

Lia Dzagania Gvanca Jibladze Magda

Javakhishvili

Professor Associate

professor Project manager

PhD student Master student Master student Master Student Master Student Master Student Master Student

The contents of the presentation Overall

objective and main research questions of the project

Definition of the main terms used in the study

Study 1 – competed

Study 2 – in progress

Overall objective of the project

The role of social capital, in our case professional network, in combating gender based violence in Georgia

Gender based violence and domestic violence – inter-relation of the terms

The network - contingent

Social capital against DV - three main research questions

How effective are the Georgian governmental and non-governmental organizations in combating gender based violence ?

How effective is the networking of Georgian governmental and non-governmental organizations in combating gender based violence in Georgia?

To what extent are agendas of the non-governmental and governmental organizations in Georgia shaped by the donor support from Western funds? In other words, do local organizations and agencies in Georgia simply transfer the “western” activities or glocalize them based on the local reality?

Gender based violence and domestic violence

Domestic violence is violence of any member of a family to any other member of a family. Basically, it is based either on a gender, or on an age of a victim. Gender - A man to a woman or a woman to a man (husband –wife)

Age – An older to a younger, or a younger to an older (a parent – a child)

Gender based violence and domestic violence

Gender based violence is violence based on genderA man to a woman, or A woman to a manThey might not necessarily be family members

Inter-relation of the terms: they partly overlap

Gender based violence and domestic violence

Domestic violence might be a gender based violence and vice versa

DomesticGender

The network - Government

consists of governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations

Government agencies: State Fund to combat Trafficking and DV

Interagency Council to Eliminate Domestic Violence

Ministry of Education Ministry of Health and Social Protection Ministry of internal affairs, police Court – judges Public ombudsmen

The network – non-government organizations

28 Non-governmental organizations that have ever had a project/activity to combat DV in Georgia Church Media

Community Neighbors, parents, friends,

society at large

Study 1 – Media Representation of GBV

Analyzed 7 central newspapers and journals TV programs Period: 2006 – 2010 Findings: Very few articles - 11 in total and very few

programs – 4 in total DV as a problem Public Ombudsmen’s office is mentioned for

2 times 3 non-governmental organizations Church is not mentioned at all

Study 1 – Media Representation of GBV

Although, DV is a problem in Georgia, there is almost no response to the problem and no activity

Only very few organizations address the problem,

no information on networking

No traces of their efforts

Study 1 – Media Representation of GBV

The reasons: DV is not perceived as a serious social problem, rather as a

norm It is an internal issue – society should not interfere – family

frame (Krizsan et. al.) According to Family Frame, DV is a family matter and should be solved within a family

National Research on Domestic Violence against Women in Georgia, UNFPA, 2010

2006, ABA study - 75.7% of interviewed individuals consider that the topic of domestic violence must not be discussed publicly since speaking about family problems is taboo. 26.7%, discussing this issue is not in line with the Georgian mentality; 20.5% think that disclosure of the issue is useless since the problem will still exist within families and it will not affect its elimination

Aladashvili I., Chkheidze, K. (2008). Monitoring of Implementation of the Action Plan on Elimination of Domestic Violence and Protection and Support to its Victims

Study 1 – Media Representation of GBV

The research raises a question: does media product reflect reality?

Collection of data from the organizations helps clarifying the issue

http://www.ucss.ge/library/interdisciplinary/genderStudies.php?bitrix_includ

e_areas=N&bitrix_show_mode=view&clear_cache=Y

Study 2 – Policy making in DV

Policy making in the field of domestic violence: Western European Agenda and Southern European social model

ECPR conference August 2011, Reykjavik

Research questions

What processes have led to the formulation of the current policy against domestic violence in Georgia?

What influences have shaped it?

Research Method

52 semi-structured interviews with the representatives of governmental and non-governmental organizations working in Georgia

Maximum duration – 2 hours Transcripts Analysis of the background

information – websites and publications of the organizations

Findings: the processes that have led to the formulation of

the current policy a “Western” agenda on the

one hand and the institutional and

social realities of Georgia on the other hand

have resulted in the adoption of hybrid policy instruments that are only partially adequate in the Georgian context

A “Western” agenda

Establishing European Union and NATO standards and values is important for Georgia. The state authorities implement certain activities in this respect: reforms are being realized according to the international recommendations. These reforms are believed to support advancement to the “Strong, Democratic, European and Stable country” (State national Security Concept).

A “Western” agenda

“European and Euro-Atlantic integration” as one of the strategic aims and tasks of the country. Also, “ Successful realization of the Action Plan of European Neighborhood Policy will bring Georgia to the qualitatively new level of cooperation with the EU” (The foreign policy strategy 2008-2010).

A “Western” agenda

According to the survey data of October 2007, out of 3391 respondents interviewed in Georgia 52% supported Georgia’s membership of NATO and only 4,7% didn’t support it (CRRC Data Initiative 2007)

The percentage of supporters increased to 59% after the 2008 Georgian-Russian conflict (Caucasus Barometer 2009) and currently reaches 70% (Caucasus Barometer 2010)

44% of the population of Georgia express their trust towards the EU and 10% say they do not trust it (Caucasus Barometer 2010)

A “Western” agenda

Based on certain researches on domestic violence conducted in the Central and East European countries, a number of theoretical frames are developed to analyze the policies and assess to what extent domestic violence makes a public matter (Krizsan, et al. 2007)

Adapted version: The Frames are aligned on a continuum based on various criteria. One of the criteria is the reason why policies are adopted and implemented. The following frames are placed along this continuum:

Local response - International obligations frames

A “Western” agenda

The NGO publications at least implicitly refer to International Obligations Frame. For instance, These publications emphasize the need for carrying out informational-educational activities within the framework of the Euro-commission campaign against gender based DV and the NGOs are assumed to be the main actors of this process.

Institutional and social realities of Georgia

Women are underrepresented in politics (chapter 7, CEDAW)

Currently: only 6.5% of members of the parliament

of Georgia are women, similar percentage has been maintained through the years from 1992

16% of women in the government, 21% -the highest - was in 2004, 0% -in 2008

10% of women in local governments. Percentage has been steadily decreasing since 1998 elections

Institutional and social realities of Georgia - Politics

Women are underrepresented in consulates of Georgia

Khomeriki, L. Realization of Articles 7 and 8 of CEDAW in Georgia. Study of the realization of the CEDAW in Georgia, 2011

Two attempts in years 2004 and 2008 to raise women representation in decision making bodies failed, quotas are not even discussed in the Parliament of Georgia

Abramishvili, 2011; Javakhishvili, 2008.

Institutional and social realities of Georgia - Legislation

Gender equality Law Anti-trafficking law Anti Domestic Violence Law “In keeping with the country’s endeavor towards

European integration and sharing of universal values, since 1994, Georgia has been a signatory of major international conventions and treaties ….. but the manner in which it was carried out, involving sneer, cynicism and confrontation at the adoption of the Law on Domestic Violence, apart from postponing funds allocation for the enactment of different articles of the laws concerning gender issues, and low participation of women in elected and executive bodies at all levels of governance, gives rise to the assumption that compliance to international documents is simply formal and merely aimed at publicity, and not on achieving progress” (Sumbadze, 2008) 

Institutional and social realities of Georgia – Public opinion

58.3% thinks gender equality is not established in Georgia

65.5% thinks women’s rights are not protected enough in a family

58.9% thinks women and men do not have equal positions in the country

Study of the realization of the CEDAW in Georgia, 2011

Institutional and social realities of Georgia – Public

opinion CB 2010, CRRC

Institutional and social realities of Georgia – Public opinion CB 2010, CRRC

Institutional and social realities of Georgia – Public opinion CB 2010, CRRC

Tools for analysis of the Institutional and social realities of Georgia

Adapted version The Frames are aligned on a

continuum based on various criteria. One of the criteria is the reason of DV. The following frames are placed along the two axes:

Gender Equality Frame – Social Norms/women centered - De-gendered Domestic Violence Frame

women centered – children centered Frames

Frames by the reason and the victim

victim

reason

Gender

equality

Social

norms

De-gende

red

women

children

women

Institutional and social realities of Georgia

the victims of DV are predominantly women, the society often considers acceptable a husband’s violence over his wife, and that even the representatives of legal system often think that a victim is guilty in the violence undertaken against her

(a guidebook of DV, the publications by Young Lawyers Association, etc.).

the wider society or the social system are not responsible for these issues.

It is usually in case of an active involvement of an international organization or a Western donor that a publication reflects Gender Equality Frame, which is the outcome of both being influenced by the Western experience and feeling accountable to the donors

(a Columbia/SIPA report about DV and trafficking in Georgia assessing the effectiveness of implementation of the Young Lawyers Association’s project supported by USAID, a training course and a guidebook on DV developed by

International Center for Conflict Negotiation in Tbilisi supported by UNFPA).

Adoption of policy instruments that are only partially adequate

in the Georgian context

The experts agree that the fact that the law against DV exists is already a success, however, they state that:

it has been “imported” in a way that it is not flexible enough and not well adapted to the local reality

it should imply stricter means against DV

many aspects of the law against DV do not work in actual situations

The wider society is not familiar with the law against DV

As a result, the level of DV has not decreased

The Western Influence

The experts state that the society was not ready for the adoption of the law against DV and the state didn’t contribute to it either; it was just international pressure and NGO activities that pushed forward the adoption of the law

“International obligations towards the EU or CEDAW or even NATO... pushed forward the adoption of the law against DV. International community was the main actor in it” (interview with an NGO representative)

Overall, the experts are unaware whether the government directly adopted the international convention or introduced some changes. Only a few said the law against DV was translated word in word

Mentality of those from the government

7 interviews conducted with the representatives of 4 governmental institutions show that in their opinion:

family functions should be equally distributed between males and females, both should participate in making decisions in family and be equally responsible for raising children

that the society should interfere in case of DV and that an oppressor should be punished

that it’s usually women who are the victims of DV and that divorce is a necessary step in case of DV

However, focus group discussions based on indirect questions with the representatives of state organizations reveal a different picture:

Mentality of those occupied in state institutions

the national research on DV in Georgia (UNFPA, 2010) shows that even those protecting the victims of domestic violence on a daily basis have a very vague understanding of what domestic violence is.

“Every woman has and must have the fear that if she does something wrong or something non-traditional...” (from a focus group discussion with the policemen in Tbilisi)

Mentality of those occupied in state institutions

Some service providers think that the things that are perceived as a part of tradition and have been performed for a long time, cannot be considered as gender based violence.

when a woman didn’t have a right to talk first until addressed

Some experts (especially females!) think that a family should by all means have a single head of family, who makes the most important decisions.

Southern European social model

Extended families, the predominance of the male bread-winner model, an emphasis on the crucial role of a mother’s presence and care for children, inter-generational relations perceived largely in terms of obligations, and the importance of Church-oriented values.

Looking for sources currently

Conclusion

Social and institutional realities of Georgia require specific approach to solution of problems.

Actions against DV should be tailored to the local situation

Bringing in the Western experience does not result in efficient policies

Thank you! Questions? Comments?