A high-level meeting on the importance of Accelerating National Commitments to Eliminate Harmful Practice of Child Marriage was held on December 1, at the initiative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The event was opened by Dr. Sabine Machl, UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia, and Mr. Erik Illes, Head of Development Cooperation and Deputy Head of Mission of the Kingdom of Sweden to Georgia.

The discussion on the importance of joining efforts to promote the coordination of state institutions in order to eliminate the harmful practice of child marriage was facilitated by Mariam Khan, UNFPA Representative in Türkiye, Country Director for Azerbaijan and Georgia.

The participants of the discussion included: Ms Baia Kvitsiani, Member of the Standing Parliamentary Council for Gender Equality, Ms Tamar Makharashvili, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Georgia, Ms Rusudan Kokhodze, Director of the Agency for the State Care and Assistance for the (Statutory) Victims of Human Trafficking, Mr Giorgi Osadze, Director of Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia,  Ms Londa Bichikashvili, Head of the Department of Prosecutorial Activities Supervision and Strategic Development of the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia,  Mr Niko Tatulashvili, Advisor of the Prime Minister on the Human Rights issues, and  Ms Tozu Gulmamedova, Lawyer, women’s rights activist. 

The event aimed to support a dialogue between government agencies and civil society representatives on current efforts and gaps to be addressed in order to jointly take steps to eliminate child marriage.

The prevalence rate of child marriage in Georgia remains at 13.9 percent . The recent tragic cases involving adolescent girls in Georgia demonstrated significant gaps that need to be urgently addressed. The participants of the meeting emphasized the importance of raising awareness of adolescents of the support services they should turn to when needed. In addition, they highlighted the need for strengthening the coordination mechanism among state institutions to ensure a holistic approach to the problem, so that adolescent girls are protected as much as possible from the harmful practice of early marriage. The focus of the discussion was on empowering adolescents and creating opportunities for their development - as an important strategy for elimination of this harmful practice.

The meeting focused on the issue of further tightening the legislation in order to criminalize any manifestation of child marriage, such as the practice of betrothal adolescent girls’ families often practice.

The meeting was held within the framework of the Joint UN Programme for Gender Equality, which is funded by the Government of Sweden, and was dedicated to the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.