Prevention of child/early marriage is one of the priority areas of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which remains a significant challenge in Georgia against the backdrop of deeply rooted social norms.

Since 2016, the UNFPA, in collaboration with the Inter-Religious Council and the organization "21st Century," and with the support of the European Union, has been conducting meetings with representatives of various confessions to raise awareness of domestic violence, child/early marriage, and harmful practices against women and girls.

According to UNFPA Programme Analyst Ethuna Nogaideli, harmful practices severely affect the lives of women and girls, especially in regions where the incidence of such cases is significant: 

"Religious leaders enjoy great trust and influence within their communities. Their willingness to work with the UNFPA to engage with young people and their families is very encouraging for us."

Religious unions can significantly contribute to the efforts undertaken by the state, international, and local partners to eliminate such harmful practices. 

This was the goal of the meeting held in July with Muslim spiritual leaders; the tropics discussed during the meeting included: possible ways for religious organizations to respond to harmful practices of child/early marriage, as well as their role in identifying and referring cases of child/early marriage.

As noted by the Imam of the Jumah Mosque in Tbilisi, Shirkhan Chobanov, requests for performing an early marriage were much more frequent years ago. Recently, however, the number of such requests has significantly decreased. 

"We have always taught young people that, both religiously and legally, it was not advisable. We also explained to those young people that they had to accomplish other tasks, primarily concerning their education, before thinking about starting a family. Our effort, engagement, recommendations, and information sharing have yielded results. Our advice really matters, and gradually, we are witnessing changes both in Tbilisi and in the regions."

The meeting with the imams was held in the framework of the “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together against gender stereotypes and gender-based violence" (Phase Two) programme, funded by the European Union, implemented jointly by UN Women and UNFPA.