Georgians gathered in central Tbilisi on Nov. 25 to rally against domestic violence during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Credit: Giorgi Lomsadze

By Giorgi Lomsadze
TBILISI, Dec 11 2014 (EurasiaNet)

The issue of domestic violence is moving to the forefront of public attention in Georgia after a series of killings of women at the hands of their respective spouses or ex-spouses made headlines in local mass media.

While no quick fix exists for the spike in violence, observers believe that changing the way police respond to abuse complaints is a good place to start.

When 22-year-old model Salome Jorbenadze phoned the police earlier this year in the western town of Zugdidi, she was hoping to receive protection against her abusive former husband. But all she received was a lecture from two policewomen about what a woman has to do to pacify an embittered ex, a source familiar with the case told EurasiaNet.org.”For many, being a man means to show that you've got the power, that you are in charge, and some just flip when they cannot assert that role and they take it out on women.” -- Naniko Vachnadze

Jorbenadze went on to complain to an in-house police-oversight agency. But no restraining order was issued against her former husband, Sergi Satseradze, a police officer. He later shot Jorbenadze dead in a crowded Zugdidi park on Jul. 25.

Twenty-four other women are estimated to have met similar fates this year. One analyst studying the trend asserts police have repeatedly failed to act on women’s reports of receiving threats from their former or current spouses.

“Such cases show that the state is failing to fulfill its ultimate human rights commitment: protecting the lives of its citizens,” said Tamar Dekanosidze, an attorney specialising in human-rights law at the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, a civil-rights watchdog.

English teacher Maka Tsivtsivadze also reported death threats she was receiving from her former husband, but he only received a verbal warning from police. Her Oct. 17 murder, taking place in broad daylight inside a centrally located university building in the capital, Tbilisi, shocked city residents.

The number of such killings is believed to be a record for a single year, but the way the police categorise such murders muddies the picture. A killing involving a man and his current or former wife is almost always classified as an unintentional, rather than premeditated murder – even in one 2013 case when an ex-husband fired 24 shots at his ex-wife, Dekanosidze said.

The misclassification of many killings skews official crime statistics and also leads to less severe sentences for those convicted of crimes. Premeditated murders carry a seven-to-15 year prison sentence; death from bodily injuries, six to eight years.

Prosecutors and police did not respond to requests for comment.

Tsivtsivadze’s case may be a tipping point for change. Amid a recent series of protests and rallies designed to heighten awareness of domestic violence, officials have acknowledged that Georgia has a femicide problem. It has set up an ad-hoc commission to collect recommendations from civil society groups and international experts on how to tackle gender-based violence.

UN Women, the United Nations agency that focuses on women’s issues, has advised that simplifying procedures for issuing restraining orders could help. The organisation’s Georgia branch has suggested allowing police to issue a restraining order even without court approval, and using bracelets “to control compliance,” said Irina Japaridze, who runs a gender-equality programme for UN Women.

At the same time, many recent public discussions have tried to put Georgians collectively on the couch to try to gain insight into the motivations behind the violence. Social psychologists worry about a copycat-killing effect, but Georgian society’s patriarchal norms are broadly seen as the root of the problem.

“I think we generally have very wrong ideas about what it means to be a man,” commented Naniko Vachnadze, a female graduate student at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs in Tbilisi. ”For many, being a man means to show that you’ve got the power, that you are in charge, and some just flip when they cannot assert that role and they take it out on women.”

Thirty-four percent of 2,391 respondents in a 2013 poll run by the UN Women programme said that violence against women “can be justified in certain domestic circumstances, such as neglect of maternal duties or other family cares,” Japaridze said.

Men are often given the benefit of the doubt for such behaviour, an attitude that can result in psychological abuse, Vachnadze said. “Many husbands are telling their wives not to go to work, not to visit friends, stay home and raise the kids,” she elaborated.

The perception of a husband’s role can continue even after a divorce. Many Georgians see an ex-wife leading an independent life as a humiliation for the man.

As elsewhere in the macho Caucasus, male and female frequently are not seen as created equal. The tradition of parents passing on property exclusively to a male heir still exists; a female fetus tends more often to lead to an abortion.

Other underlying psychological issues are believed to contribute to abuse – namely, the traumatizing post-Soviet experience of wars, lawlessness and economic collapse, as well as stress associated with the fast pace of societal change over the past two decades. Some see the violence even as a manifestation of men’s reaction to urban Georgian women’s increasing public prominence, whether as entrepreneurs, politicians, civil-society figures or, even, car drivers.

“Although we say that we live a very traditionalist society, many cultural changes have happened in recent years and it is clashing with ossified views on gender roles,” commented prominent art critic and feminist activist Teo Khatiashvili.

Tackling the cultural aspects of violence against women may be a far greater challenge than improving the police response, but Georgia, as a signatory of the U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, has international commitments to do so.

Parliament is expected soon to ratify the Istanbul Convention, a treaty that stipulates that a failure to address domestic violence constitutes a human-rights violation. Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili has underlined that Georgia does not shy away from such definitions.

“Respect for women is a lasting tradition in Georgia and the increased acts of violence against women are incompatible with this tradition and are extremely shameful,” he said on Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Editor’s note:  Giorgi Lomsadze is a freelance journalist based in Tbilisi. He is a frequent contributor to EurasiaNet.org’s Tamada Tales blog. This story originally appeared on EurasiaNet.org.

Edited by Kitty Stapp

Georgia plans to finalise a pact with the European Union on Jun. 27 that would bring Tbilisi closer to Brussels. Even so, the campaign environment ahead of Georgia’s local elections suggests that the country has quite a bit of distance to cover before it reaches the standards of a European democracy.

The former Soviet republic has yet to experience a campaign season that does not smack of a rowdy soccer match. After a peaceful change of government via a 2013 presidential election and 2012 parliamentary vote, Georgian officials can certainly point to democratization achievements."They are trying to convince us that all the 80 candidates caught some kind of virus and started withdrawing en masse." -- opposition figure Nino Burjanadze

But the run-up to Jun. 15 mayoral and local council elections still has seen bloody noses, egg-throwing and allegations that the governing Georgian Dream coalition is intimidating opposition candidates.

In Tbilisi for a quick check-in ahead of the association-agreement signing ceremony, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, the EU’s chief executive, speaking during a Jun. 12 news conference, voiced concerns about Georgia’s political process.

“It is … key that Georgia remains on the path of political pluralism, media freedom and [an] independent judiciary,” Barroso said. “It is important there are no doubts about freedom and fairness of the elections, so I expect this to happen.”

Campaign incidents already have prompted the European Union’s own human rights adviser to Georgia, Thomas Hammarberg, to urge officials to start a national campaign against violence, including against political figures. The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi has called for an investigation into the reports of violence and pressure, and for Georgia to keep up “the highest standards of democracy in this region.”

The task is not straightforward. Thirty-one-year-old Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili’s government faces the challenge of not only maneuvering the country toward closer integration with the EU, but sidestepping any funny business by confirmed Euro-skeptic Russia. As has been the case for earlier Georgian governments under pressure, the temptation to use heavy-handed means to maintain political control can run strong.

The government maintains the Jun. 15 elections, which feature 12 mayoral and 2,145 local-council and council-chair races, will occur without incident. But minority parties charge that Gharibashvili and his coalition are trying to create a single-party rule.

The main target of the attacks this election season is former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM), the country’s largest opposition force, which 31-year-old Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili says should “vanish” after the vote.

“We, together with you, have to remove the UNM from government in every district, every city and village,” Gharibashvili declared at a Jun. 9 campaign stop in the Black Sea city of Batumi.

Earlier, Gharibashvili had asserted that his team would not let any party other than his Georgian Dream coalition score victories at the polls. The prime minister put such comments down to campaigning.

The UNM, which has claimed political persecution, questions that definition of diversity. “We are seeing a systematic, well-orchestrated harassment of our candidates to quit the race and to wipe out the opposition,” charged UNM lawmaker Giorgi Kandelaki.

The prime minister’s statements only testify to the government’s orchestration of the attacks, he added. [Editor’s Note: Kandelaki once served as an editorial associate at EurasiaNet.org].

Civil rights groups also point to a string of violent clashes. Several men scuffled with UNM officials at a recent campaign event in Batumi. In Tbilisi, one high-profile UNM member, Zurab Tchiaberashvili, had a glass crushed on his head in a café, while a group of unknown assailants tried to abduct another senior UNM member, Nugzar Tsiklauri.

Overall, political groups and election observers attribute to political pressure the withdrawal of “up to 50 candidates” from six parties, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy reported. Only four out of 80 candidates interviewed by prosecutors said the same, however, the government has announced.

“They are trying to convince us that all the 80 candidates caught some kind of virus and started withdrawing en masse,” quipped opposition figure Nino Burjanadze, a former parliamentary chair, to Maestro TV.

The prime minister has dismissed criticism of his governing style, claiming that the Georgian Dream is diverse enough to find an opposition within its own ranks.

The Georgian Dream’s deputy chair, Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze, as well as several Georgian Dream members did not respond to requests from EurasiaNet.org for comment. In public statements, the governing coalition has attributed the violence to those who suffered injustices under the UNM’s tenure in power from 2004-2012.

Georgian Dream MP Eka Beselia, a senior coalition figure, alleged that UNM withdrawals from the race are part of a conspiracy to damage the Georgian Dream’s democratic credentials.

Those credentials carry particular weight now. Aside from the EU, Tbilisi is holding its breath for a membership-overture from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation this September.

There may be only so much public criticism the EU can dish out. Determined to hold firm against Russian pressure in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, it already has pledged tens of millions of euros to ensure Georgia’s European transformation sticks.

Signs do exist that its democratic health has improved. Observers note a largely pluralistic media environment, free of “political money,” and a more independent judiciary is taking root. An April 2014 survey of 3,915 voter-age respondents commissioned by the Washington, DC-based National Democratic Institute found that half of all Georgians believe the overall election environment has improved since 2012.

Nonetheless, the democratisation process in Georgia still has a way to go, according to 40 percent of those polled, the highest percentage on that particular question.

This story originally appeared on EurasiaNet.org.

Georgia is clearly the closest U.S. ally in the South Caucasus, moving in lockstep with American interests on just about every foreign policy issue – except one: Iran.

Not wanting to become embroiled in a potential regional conflict, officials in Tbilisi are trying to finesse relations with Tehran, while staying in Washington’s good graces.

All the sabre-rattling surrounding Iran’s secretive nuclear programme has Georgians on edge. If the United States, European Union and/or Israel try for a forceful solution of the problem, geography suggests that Tbilisi could easily get dragged into a conflict.

“They (Georgian leaders) want to avoid conflict if possible, but they don’t feel in control of the situation,” said Thomas de Waal, a longtime Caucasus observer and senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.

A series of arrests this year related to alleged Iranian plans for terrorist attacks in neighbouring Azerbaijan against U.S. and Israeli targets, and a recent bomb incident near the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi, have heightened the Georgian government’s sensitivities.

And not without cause, noted de Waal. “Georgia and Azerbaijan are … the closest thing that Israel has to allies in the area around Iran, so that makes them vulnerable to the covert war between Iran and Israel,” he said.

To limit the chances of blowback in the event of an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, Tbilisi has assiduously courted Iran’s favour, even as it tries to snuggle in the United States’ embrace.

Many heads turned last year when Georgia lifted visa requirements for Iranian citizens and talked trade and tourism expansion with Tehran. In the first three months of 2012, almost 13,600 Iranians visited Georgia; a 91-percent uptick compared to the same period during the previous year, according to Geostat, Georgia’s national statistics service.

During the Nowruz celebrations in March, neighbouring Armenia even complained that it was losing Iranian tourists to Georgia.

Some Iranians interviewed by EurasiaNet.org in Tbilisi say Georgia attracts them for its relaxed culture and the ease with which business can be done. “This is Europe,” said one Iranian man, who came to Tbilisi on a business trip. “Things are easy to do, and it feels very open.”

Open to a degree. Conscious of American diplomatic and economic support, Tbilisi can only allow so much official friendship with Iran.

U.S. Ambassador to Georgia John Bass commented to EurasiaNet.org that Washington is in “an ongoing conversation with the Georgian government on Iran” and has “encouraged them to adopt the sanctions specified by Section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012.”

Among other measures, Section 1245 authorises the U.S. president to shut off or restrict access to the U.S. financial system for foreign banks found to have transactions with Iran’s Central Bank or certain Iranian financial institutions.

Ambassador Bass did not specify if Washington is happy with Tbilisi’s stance on the sanctions, or how it views economic ties between Tbilisi and Tehran. Georgian Foreign Ministry officials responsible for Iranian policy could not be reached for comment.

While Tbilisi may not have made official declarations in support of sanctions against Iran, de-facto restrictions on banking activities by Iranian citizens in Georgia appear to exist.

One Iranian citizen employed in Tbilisi told EurasiaNet.org that TBC Bank, one of Georgia’s largest private banks, had turned him down for a checking account, indicating that the background check for his under-50,000-dollar deposit was not worth its while. Others, including one Iranian-born U.S. citizen, had similar tales. All Iranians who spoke with EurasiaNet.org declined to be identified by name.

In response to an inquiry from EurasiaNet.org, a spokesperson for TBC Bank said that the bank’s policy toward non-resident customers is “based on a risks assessment and … international regulations and recommendations, which sometimes means restrictions.”

Another private Georgian bank official, who asked not to be named, said that they only provide such basic services as currency conversion and payment of Georgian state taxes to Iranians. Beyond this, the bank shuns any operations with Iranian passport holders to avoid possible problems with the U.S. Treasury Department, the official said.

The National Bank of Georgia did not respond to questions.

Arguably, such restrictions could explain why trade and investment ties between the two countries remain relatively modest. Iranian foreign direct investment peaked in 2010 at 1.1 million dollar – five times its amount in 2009, but still some 29 times less than American investment.

Imports increased by 10 million dollars in 2011, the year the visa requirement for travelers between Iran and Georgia was dropped, to reach 65 million dollars, but exports only stand at 16.2 million dollars.

Trying to stay on friendly terms with both Iran and the U.S. simultaneously can create some delicate situations for Tbilisi. In March, the Georgian government invited an Iranian defense attaché to attend joint U.S.-Georgian military exercises for Afghanistan, where Iran is believed to be backing insurgents that are battling NATO forces.

At the time, Ambassador Bass declined to comment about the U.S. reaction on the Iranian observer.

Lincoln Mitchell, an associate research scholar specialising in the Caucasus at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, believes that Georgia’s ties with Iran do not have too “much salience” in Washington for now, but notes that that “may change, if push comes to shove on Iran”.

If it does, Tbilisi may look to its past for some balancing lessons. In the late 18th century, Georgia turned to Russia for protection against Persia; the result was its 1801 annexation by the Russian Empire, a fact bitterly resented today.

Veteran Georgian foreign policy expert Alexander Rondeli, president of the Tbilisi-based Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, believes that Georgia can hold its own. “Tbilisi will have to maintain neutrality and a careful diplomatic policy, but that’s what the government is for,” Rondeli said.

*Editor’s note: Giorgi Lomsadze is a freelance journalist based in Tbilisi. He is a frequent contributor to Eurasianet’s Tamada Tales blog.

*This story originally appeared on EurasiaNet.org.

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