Promoting Idps' and Women's Voices in Post-Conflict Georgia
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Promoting IDPs’ and Women’s Voices in Post-Conflict Georgia Columbia University Women’s Political Resource Center M a y 2 0 1 2 Promoting IDPs’ and Women’s Voices in Post-Conflict Georgia May 2012 Authors: Alexandra dos Reis Drilon Gashi Samantha Hammer Marissa Polnerow Alejandro Roche del Fraille Janine White Completed in fulfillment of the Workshop in Development Practice at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Spring 2012. In partnership with the Women’s Political Resource Center, Tbilisi, Georgia. Cover images (clockwise): Newly constructed IDP housing in Potskho-Etseri; Old-wave IDP women focus group in Tbilisi; New-wave IDP men focus group in Karaleti IDP settlement. Cover image sources: Keti Terdzishvili, CARE International, and Alejandro Roche del Fraille Other photos: Alejandro Roche del Fraille Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs 420 West 118th St New York, NY 10027 www.sipa.columbia.edu View of Tbilisi, Marissa Polnerow 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are grateful for the support of our client organization, the Women’s Political Resource Center (WPRC), and WPRC’s President, Lika Nadaraia, who has extended this unique opportunity to our team. We would also like to thank the supportive staff members of WPRC, including Keti Bakradze, and Nanuka Mzhavanadze. We hope that our project will contribute to the valuable work undertaken at WPRC, and its newly-launched Frontline Center in Tbilisi. At Columbia University, we were privileged to work with Professor Gocha Lordkipanidze, our academic advisor, who shared with us a wealth of insight and guidance. His knowledge on Georgian society, governance, international law, human rights, and conflict resolution helped advance our research and inform this report. Jenny McGill, the Workshop in Development Practice Director, and Ilona Vinklerova, the Economic and Political Development Concentration Manager, have provided extraordinary support that cannot be measured simply by the time they contributed. We would also like to thank Kristy Kelly, Sara Minard, Lincoln Mitchell and David Phillips for sharing their expertise and enthusiasm. We very much appreciate the time that the many NGO, government, and international organization representatives set aside to share their expertise with us in Georgia, as well as in New York, Washington, D.C., London, and Switzerland. We would especially like to thank the staff of Association Gaenati who kindly hosted us in Zugdidi and helped connect us with other stakeholders in the region. We would like to also thank Dalila Khorava of Georgian Support for Refugees, Vakhtang Piranishvili of CARE International, Nino Shervashidze and Eliko Bendeliani at Sukhumi University, for their help in organizing focus groups that significantly enhanced our research. Some of our interviewees also participated in our roundtable discussion, so we would to thank them for engaging in a discussion with other stakeholders and helping us formulate our recommendations. Nino Khelaia, Zita Baslandze and Kate Terdzishvili also provided valuable support as interpreters. Our research would not have been possible without the assistance of individuals across Georgia who bravely shared their very personal experiences of displacement with us. Overall, we were incredibly touched by the generosity of all our interviewees, who were quick to extend helping hands and provide support to our project. 2 CONTENTS Acronyms and Abbreviations 4 Executive Summary 5 Introduction 6 Women’s Political Resource Center 7 Country Profile 8 Methodology 16 Avenues of IDPs’ and Women’s Political Participation National Level 22 Local Level 32 Policymaking 36 Findings: Factors Impacting IDPs’ and Women’s Political Participation 53 Psychosocial Factors 54 Institutional Factors 69 Political Factors 79 Economic Factors 90 Recommendations for Promoting IDPs’ and Women’s Political Participation 96 Appendices A - Consolidated Recommendations Table 105 B - List of Interviewees 106 C - Human Rights Documents Relevant to IDP Rights and Participation 110 Bibliography 114 3 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child DRC Danish Refugee Council ECOSOC United Nations Economic and Social Council EU European Union EUMM European Union Monitoring Mission EWMI East-West Management Institute GEAD Gender Equality Advisory Council, Parliament of Georgia GAF Gender Analysis Framework GEL Georgian lari GFSIS Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies GIPA Georgian Institute of Public Affairs GYLA Georgian Young Lawyers Association HRBA Human rights-based approach ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESC International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ICG International Crisis Group IDMC Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre IDP Internally Displaced Person INGO International Non-government organization MDG United Nations Millennium Development Goals MRA Ministry for Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Refugees and Accommodation NAP National Action Plan NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NED United States National Endowment for Democracy NDI National Democratic Institute NGO Non-governmental organization NRC Norwegian Refugee Council OSAGI Office of the Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women OSF Open Society Foundation OSCE Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe P2P People-to-people (diplomacy) PTSD Post-traumatic stress syndrome SIPA Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs TI Transparency International UNDP United Nations Development Program UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women UNM United National Movement UNOMIG United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia UN Women United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women USAID United States Agency for International Development WPRC Women’s Political Resource Center 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Georgia, many living in protracted displacement since the early 1990s, face a number of challenges in participating in politics and peacebuilding. Using a human-rights and gender-based approach, this report assesses the extent to which displaced women and men are involved in policymaking regarding their needs and interests. We focus on policies that promote the durable solutions as defined in the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement: return, resettlement, and local integration. Avenues of Participation Structures and processes supporting IDPs’ participation certainly exist, particularly through civil society, in which women are disproportionately more active. Policymaking has also become more inclusive, but significant improvements are needed in implementing policies to ensure IDPs’ effective participation and enable them to choose among the durable solutions. A main challenge for achieving this objective lies in connecting locally-based problems with a coherent national policy approach that IDPs have helped to formulate. Factors Influencing Engagement Interconnected psychosocial, political, institutional and economic issues limit IDPs’ engagement in decision-making and public life more generally. For example, shifting gender roles have affected how men and women deal with displacement, creating burdens and opportunities for participation of both genders. Political divisions within IDP communities also pose barriers, in addition to a lack of consistent political will, institutional capacity, and coordination among key stakeholders. Finally, poverty can promote a vicious cycle, hindering participation while the lack of political voice also serves as a key obstacle to promoting efforts that address this marginalization. Recommendations IDPs as rights-holders and the state and other relevant duty bearers hold different levels of responsibility in addressing this situation. We conclude with recommendations for the Government of Georgia, international organizations, NGOs, and IDP communities can enhance IDPs’ voice in policies that affect them. Systematic inclusion of this group, improved governance, and increased cooperation among stakeholders can support IDPs in becoming more active individually and organizing collectively to advocate for their needs and interests. These efforts thereby promote more inclusive governance and peacebuilding processes in Georgian society. 5 INTRODUCTION August 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the open conflict between the Republic of Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia, which led to the displacement of approximately 251,000 internally displaced persons.1 Another wave of 40,000 people fled the Upper Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia in 1998. The conflict over Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia also displaced about 60,000 people in the early 1990s and an additional 26,000 IDPs after the August 2008 war. IDPs, comprising about 5% of the Georgian population, remain the group in society most affected by Georgia’s frozen conflicts. International human rights standards mandate the Georgian government, together with civil society and the international community, to ensure that IDPs are able to exercise their right to participate in public life. In particular, according to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, IDPs have a right to participate in decision-making regarding their specific