GEORGIA National-level Review of the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action Beijing +25 1 Table of Contents Section I – Priorities, Achievements, Challenges and Setbacks ................................ 3 Section II - Progress across the 12 critical areas of concern ...................................18 1. Inclusive development, shared prosperity and decent work ..........................18 2. Poverty eradication, social protection and social services .............................27 4. Participation, accountability and gender-responsive institutions ...................56 5. Peaceful and inclusive societies .....................................................................67 6. Environmental conservation, protection and rehabilitation ...........................77 Section III – National Institutions and processes.....................................................81 Section IV – Data and Statistics ...............................................................................90 Annex 1 – Global gender-specific SDG indicators available in Georgia .............97 Annex 2 – Additional Country Gender Specific Indicators ...............................100 2 Section I – Priorities, Achievements, Challenges and Setbacks Georgia is an independent, democratic state confirmed by the Referendum of 31 March 1991 and by the Act of Restoration of the State Independence of Georgia of 9 April 1991. The territorial integrity of Georgia and the inviolability of the state frontiers are recognized by the UN and other international organizations. Georgia is a country in the southern Caucasus with a population of around 3.7 million (52% women). Georgia has a high Gender Development Index of 0.970 (2015) placing it among the second group of countries in terms of key gender indicators.1 Georgia has declared joining the European Union’s legal and regulatory space as its top policy priority and has signed an Association Agreement (AA) and the accompanying Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the EU in 2014. At the regional level, Georgia is a member of the Council of Europe and participating State in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It ratified the European Convention on Human Rights on 20 May 1999 and is subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. Georgia has signed and ratified the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). In line with its international commitments, Georgia has made significant strides in adopting legislative and policy reforms to foster gender equality and to achieve progress towards the empowerment of women over the past 5 years, since the completion of the last report in 2014. Georgia has signed, ratified and is party to the most human rights instruments, which confirms the readiness of the state to strengthen work toward equality between men and women and toward women’s empowerment. The Constitution is the supreme law of Georgia and recognizes the supremacy of international treaties over domestic laws, unless a treaty contradicts the Constitution. The new Constitution of Georgia was adopted in 2017 and came into force following the Inauguration of 5th President of Georgia on December 16, 2018. The entry into force of the Constitution completed the country’s evolution from semi-presidential to parliamentary system of governance. The Georgian Constitution, Article 11, paragraph 1 contains an equality clause, which reads: “All persons are equal before the law. Any discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, origin, ethnicity, language, religion, political or other views, social affiliation, property or titular status, place of residence, or any other grounds shall be prohibited”. According to paragraph 3 of the same article the state shall ensure “equal rights and opportunities for men and women . shall take special measures to ensure the essential equality of men and women and to eliminate inequality”. The discourse of the new equality article trades earlier formal equality wording for substantive equality that shifts the emphasis towards combating structural inequalities and mandating the State to establish and implement special laws, policies and programmes to ensure that women enjoy equality of opportunities as well as results. The State Concept on Gender Equality and the Law of Georgia on Gender Equality adopted in 2006 and 2010, respectively, underlines the importance of ensuring equal rights between women and men and improving women’s participation in the political, economic and social processes and 1 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP): Gender Development Index (GDI). http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GDI; key indicators include: life expectancy at birth (78.5 years for women and 71.3 for men), expected years of schooling (14.1 for women and 13.7 for men), mean years of schooling (12.3 and 12.2 respectively), and gross income per capita ($6,105 for women and $11,871 for men) 3 recognize the need for specific actions in order to achieve equality between women and men and eliminate inequality in Georgia. According to the 2006 State Concept on Gender Equality, equality between women and men is seen as a human rights issue and refers to the equal representation of women and men, equal rights and participation in every aspect of public and private life. The Law of Georgia on Gender Equality determines states obligation to “support and ensure equal rights for men and women in political, economic, social and cultural life” through ensuring special measures without discrimination.2 The law guarantees equality of men and women in all spheres of public life, including: labour relations, education and science, access to information resources, healthcare, social security, family relations, participation in elections.3 Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is a principal component of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Specifically, Goal 5 with its relevant objectives and indicators focuses on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. It contains nine targets, including “end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere” and “adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels”. Government of Georgia began the nationalization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2016. The Government identified the priority goals, targets and indicators through the adaptation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This has resulted in mix of global and local targets (100) and indicators (215) for all the 17 SDGs. One of the most important challenges during nationalization of the goals was the provision of disaggregated data: “the key problem identified during the review process is the lack of data disaggregated by age, gender, and specific sectors of economy. This especially concerns the goals and targets that deal with social rights, labor rights, gender issues, poverty and unemployment.”4 The Government has offered high-level political support to incorporating SDGs into national priorities and presented a voluntarily conducted national review of SDGs in New York at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in 2016. Government of Georgia (GoG), as a coordinating structure of SDG national processes, established a joint technical working group including experts from different line ministries and National Statistics Office to facilitate the landing of Sustainable Development Goals at the national level. 5 Since May 2, 2017 the implementation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is facilitated through the Sustainable Development Goals Council.6 One of the goals of the Government of Georgia is the prioritizing 5th Goal. It aims to achieve gender equality and to empower all women and girls. The following UN and Government agencies were involved in nationalization of the 5th goal: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Administration of Government/PMs Assistant on human rights and gender equality issues; Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Education, Science, Culture And Sport of Georgia; Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia; Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, UN WOMEN, UNFPA; UNICEF, UNDP.7 2 Article 4 3 Article 6-11 4file:///C:/Users/ilortkipanidze/Desktop/IRINA%20PERSONAL/UN%20WOMEN/Voluntary%20National%20Review%20Georgia-SDG.pdf pg. 8 5 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/10680SDG%20Voluntary%20National%20Review%20Georgia-.pdf 6 Details about the work of SDG Council please see in Section III 7 http://www.parliament.ge/uploads/other/86/86668.pdf pg. 4 4 The SDGs have been well fitted into the national policies and also are integrated in strategic umbrella document - Annual Governmental Work Plan (AGWP), other national, multi-sectorial strategies and action plans. Important work has been done by Georgia to ensure that SDGs have gender-sensitive indicators. Of the 54 gender-related indicators at the global level, 30 (56%) have been adopted as is.8 The steps taken by the government will increase women’ economic participation, promote equal economic opportunities for women and men, advance gender balance in decision making, and end violence against women and girls. 9 During the past five years, Georgia has made