NGO activists tell about women's legal vulnerability in Georgian village

In Georgia, women from ethnic and religious minorities are not aware of their rights, the NGO "Democratic Initiative of Georgia" has found out. Violence, including domestic one, remains a problem; many women cannot access justice because they lack knowledge of the Georgian language, activists assert.

At meetings with NGO activists, women from villages of the Samtskhe-Djavakheti Region came with the permits received from their husbands, Maya Gigineishvili, a lawyer at the above NGO, has stated. According to her story, women work in the region, while men "play dominoes, backgammon or talk politics all the day."

In villages of Adjara, women are not aware of their rights to inheritance, said Giorgi Mshvenieradze, the head of the NGO. According to his story, in villages, 80% of heirs are men. Also following the tradition, women give their entire salary to their mothers-in-law.

The problem of early marriages is also topical for the region, he has noted, adding that women refused to publicly discuss their problems.

The case is one of the women, who faced violence, is considered in court. For two years, her husband and mother-in-law beat her up, including during her pregnancy; as a result, the baby was born sick.

Besides, the law fails to protect transgender women, who have the male gender indicated in their documents, from violence. According to Mr Mshvenieradze, 30-50% of transgender women are exposed to violence.