PACE organises public hearing on gender equality in the South Caucasus

Strasbourg, 11.10.2005 – Parliamentarians from Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Georgia will join with women’s groups in the three countries, as well as
experts from the UN, to discuss gender equality in the South Caucasus at
a public hearing in Tbilisi (Georgia) on Friday 14 October 2005.

“Not enough attention has been paid to the situation of women in the
South Caucasus,” said Rosmarie Zapfl-Helbling (Switlzerland, EPP/CD),
Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and
Men of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (APCE), which is
organising the event in collaboration with the Parliament of Georgia.
“This hearing – and the report which will flow from it – aims to
highlight the difficult situation many women in the area face, and to
push for gender equality to be made a priority.”

Participants will hear an overview of the situation in each of the three
South Caucasus countries before discussing topics such as women’s
health, violence against women and the role of women in conflict
prevention and resolution.

The conclusions of the hearing will form part of a report being prepared
by Vera Oskina (Russia, EDG) on the situation of women in the South
Caucasus.

A day earlier, on Thursday 13 October 2005, a regional parliamentary
seminar will look at ways in which national parliaments in the South
Caucasus can help promote equality. The event will be opened by the
Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Nino Burdjanadze. Although the
seminar is closed to the press, a press conference will be held at 6
p.m. on Thursday 13 October in the Georgian Parliament.

Link to the programme of the hearing

The hearing, which is open to the press, will be held in the “Ilia
Chavchavadze” Room of the Georgian Parliament (8 Rustaveli Avenue,
Tbilisi) on Friday 14 October 2005, beginning at 9.15 a.m.

Contacts:
Tanja Kleinsorge and Jannick Devaux, PACE Secretariat, mobile + 33 6 63
49 15 62.

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