Promoting IDPs' and Women's Voices in Post-Conflict Georgia

Civil society: The Civil Society Index defines civil society as “the arena, outside of the family, the state,and the market where people associate to advance common interests.” 55 This definition incorporatesnongovernmental organizations, religious institutions, community groups, media, political parties, tradeunions. Taking civil society as a broad concept provides a wider lens with which to examine routes toenhancing gender-balanced political participation of IDPs.Research Approach and MethodsOur research and analysis is grounded in a human rights-based approach (HRBA), looking specifically atthe rights codified in international human rights norms and standards related to participation in publiclife as affected by IDP status and gender. HRBA, as defined by the United Nations Office of HighCommissioner for Human Rights, is a “conceptual framework for the process of human developmentthat is normatively based on international human rights standards and operationally directed topromoting and protecting human rights.” 56 It seeks to analyze “inequalities which lie at the heart ofdevelopment problems and redress discriminatory practices and unjust distributions of power thatimpede development progress,” with the ultimate goal of empowering individuals to participate inpolitics and influence governance 57 . Following the HRBA, we assume that a participatory approach leadsto policies that are more reflective of rights-holders’ needs and interests. Therefore, we have conductedour analysis with an eye to opportunities to expand the scope and quality of IDPs’ political participation.HRBA requires the identification of a set of rights-holders endowed with certain rights codified ininternational human rights standards, and corresponding duty-bearers, whose role is to provide theconditions that will enable rights-bearers to claim their rights. We consider IDPs as a whole to be ourprimary rights-holders of concern. We find this approach to be useful and appropriate in this contextbecause it helps to clarify IDPs as possessing specific rights as residents and citizens of Georgia, as menand women, as displaced individuals and displaced communities. 58 HRBA is most often used to constructa framework for development or humanitarian interventions. This assessment tool is appropriate forthis project given our goals of empowering IDPs to enhance their capacity with a view of greaterrepresentation in policymaking.The HRBA is especially meaningful in the context of internal displacement in Georgia because itunderscores the need to shift perceptions of IDPs (from within the IDP community and without) frompassive beneficiaries to capable actors. HRBA identifies them as agents of their own empowerment andasks how they can claim their inherent rights. This understanding of IDPs differs significantly, and webelieve positively, from the perception of IDPs as dependents with needs that must be fulfilled. Thisview is common across Georgian society and among some members of the international community and55Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development and CIVICUS, 16.56 United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Frequently Asked Questions on a Human Rights-BasedApproach to Development Cooperation, HR/PUB/06/8 (2006), 1557 Ibid.58 Although we consider IDPs to be a single rights-bearing group in this context, as noted above we purposely examine IDPheterogeneity under the HRBA framework as well.18