Georgia's first domestic violence crisis centre opens in Tbilisi
State-run crisis centre’s opening begins to fill country’s significant gap in universal, free services for domestic violence survivors.Date:
Violence against women and girls is a serious public concern in Georgia. As part of its work to develop the country’s institutional capacity to respond to violence against women and girls, UN Women supported the opening of Georgia’s first-ever domestic violence crisis centre.
Able to host up 18 domestic violence survivors, the Tbilisi domestic violence crisis centre also provides out-patients with psycho-social rehabilitation, legal aid, first aid and emergency medical assistance services.
The Tbilisi centre was developed by Georgia’s State Fund for the Protection and Assistance of the Victims of Human Trafficking (State Fund) with UN Women’s support in the framework of the UN Joint Programme for Gender Equality funded by the Government of Sweden.
In close partnership with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), UN Women has also helped Georgia open four shelters for victims of domestic violence and launch the domestic violence helpline, 2 116 006.
“The opening of this first state-run crisis centre is an important step in meeting government laws and commitments to combat violence against women,” said Ms. Erika Kvapilova, UN Women Georgia Country Representative at the event, which was also attended by Mr. Mr. David Sergeenko, Georgia’s Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, and Ms. Molly Lind, Head of SIDA.
To read more, see our UN Women Georgia web feature on this story.