'I realized that defending my rights was only in my own hands'./ Lucy Abdel Ahad (Daphne)
Daphne is a project from Armenia about women who have overcome hardships and challenges. Women who despite the blows of fate, despite deprivation and despair, were able to withstand their difficulties and move forward. Below is Lucy Abdel Ahad’s story. [Read more…]
Georgia’s Parliament voted 81 to 0 to ratify the Istanbul Convention against violence against women on 4 May, after an almost two-year long process. Ratification of the convention involves amending 24 separate Georgian laws. [Read more…]
May Day march in Tbilisi (Luka Pertaia/ OC Media)
Hundreds gathered in central Tbilisi on 1 May to celebrate International Worker’s Day, and to demand better labour conditions for workers. [Read more…]
Protest at the Prosecutor's Office (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
Human rights activists gathered on 30 April in front of the Prosecutor’s Office in Tbilisi, to condemn the frequency of early and forced marriages in Georgia. Protesters condemned the government’s ‘sick policy’ towards forced and early marriages in Georgia, saying that the authorities are tolerant of the abuse. [Read more…]
Women's day marked in Tbilisi (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
A man in Tbilisi has confessed to murdering his partner on 25 April. Mother of four Miranda Vacheshvili, 39, was found dead in Gldani District, strangled with a wire, a day after she was reported missing. According to police, she had sustained injuries to her face. [Read more…]
Madona Naroushvili (Nino Baidauri/ Women of Georgia)
Women in Georgia very often lack a voice of their own. Their opinions, feelings, dreams, aspirations, and achievements can be conveyed by others, often the men around them. The Women in Georgia project gives a voice to these women, allowing them to tell their own stories — in their own words. The project collected 150 distinct stories from women throughout the country. OC Media brings you a selection of these stories, translated into English and Russian. Below, in her own words, Madona Naroushvili. [Read more…]
The government building of the Republic of Ingushetia (Dominik K. Cagara / Archive)
Ingushetia’s parliament has proposed imprisoning kidnappers of brides with three-year prison sentences. The initiative comes from the speaker of parliament, Zelimkhan Yevloyev. [Read more…]
Activists protest violence against women (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
Rights groups in Georgia as well as the Public Defender’s Office are campaigning for a separate law against femicide to be added to Georgian legislation. They have urged the government to take proper measures to eliminate the killing of women. [Read more…]
Kantyshevo (radikal.ru)
On 8 April, a ‘bride kidnapping’ attempt took place in the village of Kantyshevo in Ingushetia. A man from Nazran named Yevloyev, together with eight unidentified accomplices, entered the property of the Palankoyev family and abducted a young woman. When the woman’s mother and brother attempted to prevent the kidnapping, they were beaten and the brother was stabbed. Both required medical attention. [Read more…]
‘Women in Georgia very often lack a voice of their own. Their opinions, feelings, dreams, aspirations, and achievements can be conveyed by others, often the men around them. The Women in Georgia project gives a voice to these women, allowing them to tell their own stories — in their own words. The project collected 150 distinct stories from women throughout the country. OC Media brings you a selection of these stories, translated into English and Russian. Below, in her own words, Venera Martkoplishvili. [Read more…]