Women worldwide are subjected to many forms of violence in spite of the Universal  Declaration of Human Rights and other international conventions.Violence against women and children represents an increasing major health and human rights concern. Combating violence against women requires challenging the way that gender roles and power relations are articulated in society.

Rights are worth very little to women  where  there  are no corresponding duties on the part of governments, organisations and individuals to respect those rights. Violations of women’s rights will go unrecognised and unremedied where is no understanding of those rights or no legal   services to advocate for those remedies. Action to combat violence therefore needs to occur across all sectors and address factors at the individual, interpersonal and institutional levels.

WomenAid International through its initiative, CaucasusNOW,  is building a Caucasus-wide online, and Tbilisi-based resource and information centre on combating violence against women and through its Caucasus Partner, WomenAid-Georgia, is supporting the establishment of The Caucasus Coalition Against Violence. The Coalition will promote and strengthen the human rights of women and children, develop protection strategies and increase awareness of violence in all its forms. The Caucasus Coalition Against Violence encourages the development and dissemination of gender-disaggregated and age-specific data on victims and perpetrators of all forms of violence.

The Caucasus Coalition Against Violence supports the work  of the United Nations and its specialised  agencies, in stressing the importance of working towards ending all forms of violence against women and children in public and in private life in accordance with the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Vienna Declaration, the  Declaration on Violence Against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action and all other related documents.

The principal functions of the Caucasus Coalition Against Violence (CCAV) are:

Collection and dissemination of data on all aspects of violence; Facilitate and accelerate information flows Undertake and publish research; Organise conferences, seminars and working groups; Offer training and resources; Enhance awareness and create a deeper understanding of male violence against women; Influence national and international policies on violence and trafficking of humans; Establish ‘legal literacy’ training workshops; Raise public awareness through community education activities; Develop and promote criteria and guidelines in relation to legislation, services and prevention strategies.

The Caucasus Coalition Against Violence online Directory offers a free web page presence to all members of the Coalition and an Action eCalendar.

CaucasusNOW is a regional initiative created by WomenAid International, a humanitarian aid and development  agency  which  first established its presence in  the  Caucasus region in 1994.  It  also works in partnership with and through its Caucasus partner, WomenAid-Georgia, which is based in Tbilisi.

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