Parliament of Georgia ratifies Istanbul Convention

On may 4, on its third hearing, parliament of Georgia ratifies The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. MPs supported all 24 law amendment packages.

So, the changes in the acting law are following: from now on, domestic violence prevention, protecting victims and their assistance will be regulated by the law. This will also cover any kind of violence towards women that might happen in their social and private life.

Violence against women will be interpreted as gender based violence which was followed or can be followed by physical, sexual, economic damage to a woman or it can cause her suffering. This might also be just a threat, duress and captivity of a woman.  

Changes will be also reflected on these articles which define victim protection of domestic violence and its prevention. The rules of giving deterrent order will be also changed and no more court assert will be needed for it.

The amendment will criminalize several actions, such as: sterilization against person’s will, genital mutilation and stalking. The law will also define those circumstances which will be considered as aggravating of crime.

According to the amendments, sexual relations with a person under 16, even if it wasn’t violent, will be punished with arrest from 5 to 7 years.

This package of amendments was prepared by the Ministry of Justice in active collaboration with local NGOs.

For original story in Georgian go to GINSC