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

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The Ministry for Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories,Refugees, and AccommodationIn the current context of national level political participation, internally displaced persons mostlyinteract with the MRA, seen as the ministry “that looks after IDPs.” 112 With a staff of over 170, the MRAis made up of two departments on IDPs—one for internal displacement issues and the other formigration, repatriation and refugee issues. The ministry has four regional offices, a reception center forIDPs in Tbilisi and other reception centers that are due to open around Tbilisi in the coming months. TheMRA also has a telephone hotline to enable IDPs to contact MRA officials. 113As a senior Government official confirmed, the MRA has “the mandate of protecting the interests of theIDPs—not politically representing them abroad or domestically.” 114 The MRA creates an indirect avenueof political participation by informing IDPs on their rights and entitlements and gathering informationfrom IDPs on their needs. However, they lack a mechanism to gather “coherent representativefeedback” that could influence the policy development process. As MRA representatives are faced witha broad array of individual and community problems, the ministry faces the challenging process of“trying to structure that voice and make it more representative.” 115 In addition to the concern of how toaggregate and structure information from IDPs, they also face a “disconnect…[with]…the rest ofgovernment,” with the MRA not having much access to or support from other ministries or stateagencies. 116 They are thus generally faced with implementing plans largely on their own. 117 As for IDPsthemselves being involved in government ministries, the only senior official from the conflict regions isthe Minister of Economy of Georgia, Vera Kobalia. 118 We were unable to find any data on the number ofIDPs working in the current government, to provide a more accurate depiction of IDP participationwithin government bodies.The Steering CommitteeThis body serves as a main effort to counter the challenges that the MRA faces in developing andimplementing IDP-related policies. The Georgian government established the Steering Committee onthe State Strategy for IDPs was established by the government in March 2009. As a decision-making andadvisory board, the steering committee is mandated with coordinating the efforts of the Georgiangovernment and international organizations in implementing the State Strategy and Action Plan. Thecommittee brings together a wide range of government ministers and includes UNHCR, representatives112 International NGO Representative. Personal Interview. 22 March 2012; Dalila Khorava (Georgian Support for Refugees),Personal Interview, 22 March 2012.113 IDMC, Georgia: Partial progress towards durable solutions for IDPs, 155-156; From Responsibility to Response, 95.114 Senior Government Official, Personal Interview.115 International NGO Representative, Personal Interview.116 Tina Gewis, Personal Interview; Caroline Stampfer (European External Action Service, Tbilisi), Personal Interview, 20 March2012.117 Mooney, 205.118 Georgia. Government of Georgia. "Members.” Web. 28 April 2012..27
from other development and donor agencies, one representative of an international NGO and onerepresentative of a national NGO. 119IDPs have to this point only been indirectly involved in the Steering Committee. The first local NGOrepresentative to be included in the committee was the Georgia branch of Transparency International(TI). TI channeled relevant information from the Steering Committee to about 30 local NGOs working onIDP issues, but this process relied on TI’s goodwill and was not institutionalized. 120 TI rotated off theSteering Committee in 2011. More recently, some national NGOs proposed that the Georgian YoungLawyers Association (GYLA) should take the national NGO seat, but there is no formal process for GYLA’saccession. As of the time of writing, GYLA’s nomination remained uncertain and the MRA had yet to takeup the issue. 121While both TI and GYLA are respected NGOs that address IDP issues in theirprogramming, neither is an expressly IDP-focused NGO, nor are they led or staffed by primarily IDPs.Therefore, the extent to which either can be considered to represent the IDP community is limited.International NGO representatives have suggested that an IDP NGO should sit in the national NGO seator that another space should be made for an IDP NGO in order to better represent the IDP community;however, no IDP NGO has yet stepped forward to assume the seat. 122The Office of the Public DefenderThrough its monitoring and reporting role, the Office of the Public Defenders serves as another indirectavenue for IDPs in representing their needs and interests. Recent support from UNHCR and the Councilof Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights has strengthened the capacity of the Office of theOmbudsman. Headed by Giorgi Tugushi, the Office has established an IDP unit and human rightsmonitors in five regional offices and now more actively reports on IDP issues through public statementsand press releases. Previously, the Office had a special chapter on IDPs in their annual report on humanrights in Georgia, but since 2010, they have issued a special report on the human rights of IDPs andconflict-affected people. 123The Office includes IDPs in its monitoring through administering questionnaires during their site visits.For its last special report, the Ombudsman included 10% of the families of each collective center itvisited. 124 The Office of the Ombudsman considers itself the best advocate of systematic issues thatinternally displaced persons face. The Office also acts as an intermediary between IDPs and the Ministryof Refugees and Accommodation. IDPs can go to the Ombudsman’s Office to address their concerns,especially if they fail to receive a reply from the MRA on these issues. 125 In this case, the Ombudsman’stakes advantage of the MRA’s public commitment to “actively cooperate with the PDO (Public119 Mooney, 199-200.120 Ibid., 199.121 Caroline Stampfer, Personal Interview.122 Tina Gewis, Personal Interview.123 Georgia: Partial progress towards durable solutions for IDPs, 157.124 “Report on the Human Rights Situation of Internally Displaced Persons and Conflict-Affected Individuals in Georgia,” PublicDefender of Georgia, July 2010, Print, 6, 7.125 Staff member (Office of the Public Defender of Georgia). Personal Interview. 15 March 2012.28
Page 2 and 3: Promoting IDPs’ and Women’s Voi
Page 4 and 5: CONTENTSAcronyms and Abbreviations
Page 6 and 7: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYInternally displac
Page 8 and 9: THE WOMEN’S POLITICAL RESOURCE CE
Page 10 and 11: fair reporting on politically sensi
Page 12 and 13: people-to-people diplomacy efforts
Page 14 and 15: and the Guiding Principles, in Febr
Page 16 and 17: an effort to address these stereoty
Page 18 and 19: The identities, perceptions, and re
Page 20 and 21: even IDPs themselves. The HRBA seek
Page 22 and 23: Karaleti settlement, and Potskho-Et
Page 24 and 25: displacement differently, with men
Page 26 and 27: on an equal footing with men in for
Page 30 and 31: Defender’s Office) and leave no r
Page 32 and 33: prominent national level IDP NGO wo
Page 34 and 35: in the past but none have yet to be
Page 36 and 37: Grassroots Peacebuilding EffortsCiv
Page 38 and 39: esettlement and local integration h
Page 40 and 41: ability to contribute to the new Ac
Page 42 and 43: Women convened a working group to a
Page 44 and 45: were involved, in addition to “wo
Page 46 and 47: towards addressing this population
Page 48 and 49: waves. 224 A Conciliation Resources
Page 50 and 51: governing shelter requirements. 238
Page 52 and 53: esults of eviction on those who did
Page 54 and 55: FINDINGSSIPA team member Drilon Gas
Page 56 and 57: unique opportunities exist for them
Page 58 and 59: an important opportunity for women
Page 60 and 61: early morning…when I was going to
Page 62 and 63: our office to investigate these iss
Page 64 and 65: on this? It’s impossible.” 322
Page 66 and 67: high levels of unemployment and pov
Page 68 and 69: groups do not differentiate between
Page 70 and 71: funding and influence to implement
Page 72 and 73: een in operation for two years or l
Page 74 and 75: organization, and highlighted that
Page 76 and 77: The Education System’s Influence
Page 78 and 79:
system has an important role to pla
Page 80 and 81:
Political FactorsMany elements of t
Page 82 and 83:
international organizations working
Page 84 and 85:
uling party. 433 There were some si
Page 86 and 87:
especially highly-influential broad
Page 88 and 89:
ationale behind the government’s
Page 90 and 91:
international working for a major d
Page 92 and 93:
Also, according to a World Bank rep
Page 94 and 95:
willing to challenge authorities th
Page 96 and 97:
The lack of narrative connecting po
Page 98 and 99:
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE GEORGIAN GO
Page 100 and 101:
the government also needs to commit
Page 102 and 103:
‣ Continue to support and expand
Page 104 and 105:
‣ Address male IDP needs (Immedia
Page 106 and 107:
The campaign should have a face, su
Page 108 and 109:
APPENDIX BList of IntervieweesLocal
Page 110 and 111:
Kristy KellyLincoln MitchellLawrenc
Page 112 and 113:
Article 10 - Non-discrimination in
Page 114 and 115:
Principle 18.1 - Adequate standard
Page 116 and 117:
Esaiashvili, Mariam (Official, Mini
Page 118 and 119:
Lanskoy, Miriam and Giorgi Areshidz
Page 120:
Transparency International Georgia.
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Promoting IDPs' and Women's Voices in Post-Conflict Georgia

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