Georgian President: We must Unite now to Address Domestic Violence
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili held her first working meeting with representatives of state agencies, international and non-governmental organizations working on women's rights and domestic violence issues at Orbeliani Palace yesterday.
At the meeting, relevant agencies and non-governmental organizations presented reports on the activities conducted in terms of protection of women's rights and steps taken against domestic violence.
In addition, they provided information on future plans.
For her part, the President of Georgia expressed readiness for future cooperation and engagement in the process of addressing the issue through joint efforts to take significant steps to raise public awareness and prevent violence against women.
Lela Akiashvili, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Georgia on Human Rights and Gender Equality, stated that it is very important to unite the efforts of governmental and non-governmental organizations to combat such problems as domestic violence.
"It is important to use all platforms to bring to the public the message that violence is unacceptable. Therefore, we are very hopeful that we will continue to cooperate," she said.
Elene Rusetsky, the head of the Women's Information Center, noted that the President's initiative to hold the meeting was timely and important.
"This is a very timely initiative, and the fact that the President herself has expressed a desire for future cooperation is very important. Plans on concrete joint activities give us hope that this issue will be raised to a higher level and more results will be achieved," she emphasized.
The meeting was preceded by yet another violent act against a woman seeing a 24-year-old woman stabbed by her husband in Khashuri, a town in the central part of Georgia, yesterday.
The Georgian President responded to the incident on social media.
"Before starting my meeting with NGOs, international organizations and state institutions to start steps against domestic violence, yet another unacceptable case of violence against a woman took place in Khashuri. We must unite now to address this," Salome Zurabishvili tweeted before the meeting.
Reportedly, the reason behind the crime was a dispute over divorce.
The injured woman, who had multiple injuries to her chest and abdomen, was taken to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery.
The accused has been arrested and an investigation is underway by Shida Kartli Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Of late, the number of cases when husbands beat their wives or try to kill them seems to be on the rise in Georgia, particularly noticeable in the last three months when almost ten such cases have been reported throughout the country.
By Ana Dumbadze
Related Story: Husband Stabs Wife in Khashuri