PRESS RELEASE

10 December International Human Rights Day

Conference on Gender Violence and Human Rights

Since the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979, important progress has been made in establishing gender-based violence as a human rights concern – but – as the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has said, “violence is a universal problem that must be universally condemned, yet the problem continues to grow.”

A CONFERENCE ON GENDER VIOLENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS will take place on SUNDAY 10 DECEMBER at the SHERATON METECHI PALACE HOTEL from 12.00 – 17.00 pm. The conference, sponsored by WomenAid International, a humanitarian aid and development agency that actively campaigns against violations of human rights, and supported by the UNDP,  marked International Human Rights Day and was the concluding event of the first coordinated 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence in the South Caucasus.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence symbolically links violence against women and human rights, emphasising that all forms of violence, whether perpetrated in public or private, are a violation of human rights.  A Georgian 16 Days of Activism Committee has been established by WomenAid including more than 35 representatives of civil society organisations and government sectors, all organising a variety of activities during the 16 days - 25 November to 10 December. A Joint Declaration Against Gender Violence is being prepared for presentation at the Conference on the 10th of December.

For more information on 16 Days Activities and the Conference on Gender Violence and Human Rights, please telephone WomenAid International-Caucasus on: (995 32) 37 92 70
Or Email at waigeo@access.sanet.ge  OR   16Days@womenaid.org

CONFERENCE ON GENDER VIOLENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

On 10 December 2000

at the

Metechi Sheraton Palace Hotel

dedicated to

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

to present a

JOINT DECLARATION AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE

and to mark the conclusion of

16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE

THE CONFERENCE SPEAKERS AND PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE: 

Mrs Rusudan Beridze
Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council, State Chancellery

Mrs Eka Ebralidze,
Head of Department of Demography,Women and Children
and Family Development Issues, State Chancellery

Mrs Elene Tevdoradze
Head of the Committee on Human Rights,
Petitions by Citizens and the Construction of Civil Community.

Pida Ripley,   Founder, WomenAid International

Mr Marco Borsotti,  UNDP Resident Representative

Mrs Maia Tsatsanashvili,  Deputy Minister of Justice

Mrs Marina Gudachauri, Deputy Minister of Labor Health and Social Protection

Mrs Manoni Khachidze, Deputy Minister of Labor, Health and Social Protection

Conference sponsored by WomenAid International and supported by the UNDP.