ARTS UNITED TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: EXPERIENCE FROM GEORGIA Tbilisi, Georgia, 2019 UN Women is the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards. It stands behind women’s equal partici- pation in all aspects of life, focusing on five priority areas: increasing women’s leadership and participation; ending violence against women; engaging women in all aspects of peace and security processes; enhancing women’s economic empower- ment; and making gender equality central to national development planning and budgeting. UN Women also coordinates and promotes the UN system’s work in advancing gender equality. The publication was prepared in the framework of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality with the financial support of the Government of Sweden. Text: Will King Editor: Michelle Minaskanian Design: Nata Kubaneishvili Printed by: Fountain Georgia © UN Women 2019. All rights reserved. ISBN 978-9941-8-1418-1 CONTENTS FOREWORD BY THE UN WOMEN COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE IN GEORGIA 4 ARTS UNITED TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN GEORGIA 5 VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: THE UGLY TRUTH 7 INTERIOR OF VIOLENCE 10 SPEAK OUT! 12 9 PLAYS VS. VIOLENCE 15 LYSISTRATA 16 THERE ONCE WAS A GIRL 18 2019 AND BEYOND 21 FOREWORD UN Women has been supporting national partners in Geor- None of this would be possible without our partners in the gia to end violence against women and girls and domestic Government, civil society and the UN Country Team. We violence (VAWG/DV) since 2010. Our journey to promote would not have been able to carry forward our work to end zero tolerance for the practice of VAWG/DV in Georgia has violence against women and girls over the past nine years been inspired and guided by the United Nations Secretary- without strong partnerships and financial support from the General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign1 Government of the Kingdom of Sweden and the European launched in 2008. Union, who provided funding and overall support for our op- erations. Throughout the past nine years, we have provided techni- cal assistance to the Government of Georgia to align national This brief publication captures specifically UN Women’s part- legislation and policies with the relevant international legal nership with artists to promote zero tolerance for VAWG/ frameworks and standards. To enhance implementation of DV since 2010. Its purpose is to describe our joint journey the laws and policies, UN Women Georgia has supported the through the achievements and challenges we have encoun- establishment of specialized services for survivors of domes- tered and to share our experience with partners within the tic violence, such as the first state-run shelters, crisis centres UN family, civil society and beyond. It is the second publica- and hotlines and rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators. tion to capture lessons learned from partnering with specific We have helped to develop key capacities within the relevant groups to promote gender equality and zero tolerance for service providers and have promoted these services – assist- violence against women and girls.2 ing the survivors to reach out for professional assistance. We would like to express our gratitude to the Ministry of Ed- UN Women and its diverse UN and non-UN partners, includ- ucation, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia, the Georgian ing women’s organizations and state institutions, conducted National Film Center, Shota Rustaveli State Drama Theatre, a series of awareness-raising interventions and campaigns Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre, Mikheil Tumanish- targeting the public and decision makers at all levels, aimed vili Film Actors Theatre and individual writers, playwrights, at changing the attitudes, values and structures that sustain directors, filmmakers, actors, journalists and others for their inequality and discrimination. The 2017 National Study on strong partnership and firm commitment to this cause. They Violence against Women, conducted jointly by the National have made this work a reality and have inspired other art- Statistics Office of Georgia (GEOSTAT) and UN Women, pro- ists to take a stand and contribute to ending violence against vided a baseline necessary for measuring progress against women and girls in Georgia and beyond. the indicators and targets of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) defined by the Government of Georgia to address VAWG/DV by 2030. Erika Kvapilova UN Women Country Representative in Georgia 1 Information available at 2 In 2018, UN Women published Sports United to End Violence http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/. against Women and Girls: Experience from Georgia, referenced in this publication. ARTS UNITED TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: EXPERIENCE FROM GEORGIA 4 ARTS UNITED TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: EXEPRIENCE FROM GEORGIA The dreary sound of a dial tone fills the empty space… Subsequent phone calls end in a similar fashion, with each woman abruptly cutting the conversation short, refusing to talk for long. “Hello?” “Hi, Tea. I think you know why we are calling.” “Yes.” “So, what can you tell us?” “I think I will refrain from participating in this because I don’t want to have any more problems.” (Hangs up) This is how the dramatic opening scene of the documentary film Speak Out!3 begins, serving as a powerful reminder to viewers of what it is like to be a woman living in a state of fear under the dark cloud of domestic violence. The 45-min- ute documentary film provides viewers with an intimate but heartbreaking look into the lives of the women directly af- fected by domestic violence and the true stories they share about their survival. The film, which was first screened in Tbilisi back in March 2015, was commissioned by UN Women within the frame- work of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality in 4 An old Soviet-era block house in Tbilisi. Photo: UN Women/Janarbek Georgia . Amankulov Directed by Georgian documentary filmmaker Zurab In- As the camera pans over Tbilisi’s urban landscape revealing ashvili, Speak Out! was part of a nationwide campaign that row upon row of gloomy, greyscale, Soviet-era apartment united various members of Georgia’s arts community, which blocks, a recording of a series of personal phone calls plays included writers, actors, filmmakers and journalists, and set ominously in the background. out to combat and prevent violence against women and girls (VAWG). One of the main goals of the film was to promote “What have you decided?” a man asks. increased public awareness and dialogue about this insidious phenomenon and to encourage those suffering from domes- “I have decided not to share my personal story,” the woman tic violence (DV) to speak out and claim their rights to a life on the other end of line tells him. free from violence and abuse. 3 UN Women Georgia, “UN Women Presents SPEAK OUT! A 4 The programme has been implemented jointly with UNFPA and Documentary on Domestic Violence”, 3 March 2015. Available UNDP since 2012 in partnership with the Government of Sweden. at http://georgia.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2015/03/un- women-presents-speak-out. ARTS UNITED TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: EXPERIENCE FROM GEORGIA 5 “It took me 11 months to travel all around the country and Similar to UN Women’s Sports United campaign,7 which used collect these amazing narratives of brave women who fought high-profile Georgian athletes and sports figures to bring -at their way out of being domestic violence victims,” noted In- tention to the problem of domestic violence and gender in- ashvili in 2015. “I do hope that the moving stories of these equality, the Arts United campaign utilized the country’s arts women will be an inspiration for many other women who community to get the message out to the public. This was face domestic violence in Georgia today and that society will done by staging creative plays, interactive exhibits and theat- speak out in their support.” rical stage performances, publishing literature that featured female protagonists, holding workshops that teach gender- Despite its heavy subject matter, the film, which enjoyed the sensitive reporting8 and, of course, supporting the aforemen- support of the Georgian National Film Center, was shown in tioned documentary film, among other creative initiatives. schools and universities5 around the country in an effort to sensitize the younger generation to this ongoing problem The Arts United campaign set three goals at its outset: to en- and encourage them to discuss this issue among their peers. courage society at large to recognize the problem of VAWG/ It was also shown to law enforcement bodies6 and the coun- DV in Georgia; to foster public discourse on the subject in try’s politicians. order to promote a culture of zero tolerance for violence against women and girls; and to promote the existing ser- vices for victims and survivors. 5 UN Women Georgia, “SPEAK OUT! Public Launch of Documentary 7 UN Women Georgia, Sports United to End Violence against Wom- Movie on Violence against Women”, 15 December 2015. Avail- en and Girls: Experience from Georgia (2018). Available at http:// able at http://georgia.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2015/12/ georgia.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/09/ speak-out-public-launch-of-documentary-movie-on-violence- sports-united-to-end-violence-against-women-and-girls. against-women. 8 UN Women Georgia, “Stories of Survivors Portrayed by Journalists 6 UN Women Georgia, “Screening of the Documentary Film on in Georgia”, 1 May 2014.