UN Women support leads to expansion of the existing shelter for victims of violence in Tbilisi

Along with the increasing detection of incidents of violence against women and domestic violence in Georgia, there is particular urgency to improve the services needed by victims and expand the network of shelters. It is significant that the country has taken on this obligation by ratifying the Istanbul Convention, and UN Women actively supports the Government of Georgia in the process of fulfilling the relevant obligation.

Part of this support is the expansion of the existing shelter for victims of violence against women and domestic violence in Tbilisi. The newly expanded space opened in Tbilisi on 27 October and operates under the State Care Agency. It is adapted for persons with disabilities and will serve women victims of violence and their dependants.

Kaori Ishikawa, UN Women Country Representative in Georgia; Tamila Barkalaia, Deputy Minister of Health of Georgia; and Nicholas CENDROWICZ, Head of the Cooperation Section at the European Union Delegation to Georgia, attended the opening event.

“We at the State Care Agency and the Ministry of Health will continue to work together so that more services are available to women and children who are victims of violence, in order to make it possible for them to live in a safe environment and so that their psychosocial rehabilitation is ensured by the State,” said Ms. Barkalaia.

Victims/survivors of violence in the shelter are provided with temporary day-to-day housing, psychosocial rehabilitation, legal services and arrangements to receive medical services. The new space at the shelter is designed for 15 people.

UN Women has been cooperating with the State Care Agency since 2010 in the direction of creating services for victims/survivors of violence. It is significant that seven crisis centres and five shelters, which operate under the Agency’s management throughout the country, were opened within the framework of this cooperation—with the support of UN Women and with the financing of the European Union and Sweden—and are currently financed with state funds.

The new space at the Tbilisi shelter was renovated within the framework of the project “Ending Violence against Women and Girls in Georgia”, funded by the European Union. The project is implemented by UN Women and UNFPA.