Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG) is pleased to announce the release of a new publication: LBT Women in Georgia – CEDAW shadow report.
Violence against women is closely linked to socially constructed views on masculinity and famininity. Patriarcal opinions on gender and gender norms put a strong distinction between the two and facilitate unequal distribution of power based sex/gender-related considerations.
In a society where gender asymmetry is sharp, even a slight deviation from established gender norms can turn into a reason for violence and discrimination. In such societies LBT (Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) women usually constitute one of the most vulnerable groups; They are discriminated based on both - thier sex and their sexual orientation/ gender identity.
Discrimination based sexual orientation/gender identity is prohibited by numerous international human rights instruments and recommendations. Of particular importance is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) ratified by Georgia in 1994. Starting from 2001 the Committee has addressed several countries with a recommendation to pay attention to the issue of discrimination against LBT women (Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, Holland, Panama and Guatemala). In 2008 the Committee began to pay more attention to LBT issues.
Despite some recent LGBT- related groundbreaking developments in the field of human rights, in Georgia LGBT still remains one of the most “invisible” groups. As a result, violence against LGBT people also remains “invisible” and goes unreported to human rights organizations, state institutions, as well as the wider public.

In Georgia LBT rights are not seen as a part of women’s rights in general; LBT issues are practically eliminated from the agenda of women’s rights organizations. This, in addition to the high level of homophobia, makes it particularly difficult to identify individual instances of discrimination and to measure the overall scope of the problem. For this reason we consider that fact that discussion and monitoring of LBT rights in Georgia starts in the context of women’s rights in general is very important.
The structure of the report is based on the methodology which has been devised by IGLHRC (International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commision). Each chapter starts with a provision from the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women or a CEDAW recommendation and a relevant provision from the Yogyakarta Principles.


The publication is available on WISG’s website; the file can be downloaded here:

http://women.ge/wp-content/upload...WISG-LBT-CEDAW-shadow-report_eng.pdf