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http://www.wunrn.com

 

Information on Abkhazia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abkhazia

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Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation – Sweden – Kvinna till Kvinna – “Woman to Woman” - Kvinna till Kvinna cooperates with women’s organisations working for women’s rights and peace - http://kvinnatillkvinna.se/en/2014/09/30/the-mobile-team-is-womens-only-chance-to-see-a-gynecologist/

 

ABKHAZIA – PROTRACTED CONFLICT – BREAKAWAY REGION FROM GEORGIA – TRADITIONAL VIEWS OF WOMEN – ISOLATED – STRUGGLES FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Working for women’s rights in the breakaway region of Abkhazia in South Caucasus is an uphill struggle. 20 years after the armed conflict ended, society is still literally torn to pieces and violence against women is something you just don’t talk about.

Earlier in September, The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation visited our partner organisations in the breakaway region of Abkhazia, to strengthen their work with women’s rights. We asked our Secretary General Lena Ag about her impressions of the journey:

The breakaway region of Abkhazia in connection with its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia suffered internal conflicts, which resulted in several breakaway regions, among them Abkhazia and South Ossetia. They are outside the Georgian government’s control and governed by their own de facto governments.

For some time, solutions to the conflicts have been discussed in the Geneva talks on Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Russia. Women’s organisations have not been seen as relevant actors in these talks and have mainly been excluded.

“The thing that strikes you is that the material destruction from the armed conflict 20 years ago, still is so evident: buildings abandoned from when people fled headlong stand collapsing, there are wounds in the landscape and broken down roads. It is all a strong reminder. Before the conflict, this area was a thriving holiday paradise with a prosperous, cosmopolitan population; with many scholars and intellectuals. It is a very beautiful region.

It is always sad coming to regions where people who used to be neighbours have turned against each other. We experienced this in the Balkans and we see it in Abkhazia. It is a region that broke away from Georgia in 1991 and since then is de facto autonomous. They see themselves as a separate country and Russia is guaranteeing their safety.

This is a conflict that has never been resolved. There are peace talks taking place in Geneva, but not much is happening, which of course affects the Abkhaz society. Nothing works properly. Our partner organisations asked us for example: ‘How are we supposed to conduct our work on the basis of the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination against Women, CEDAW, in a country that is not a country?’ The de facto government has only been recognized by six countries and can therefore not be held accountable to international bodies.

My impression is that this is a region that everyone has forgotten. They receive no attention from the international community.”

How does the conflict affect the Abkhaz society?

“When people’s loved ones are being killed and their property destroyed, the conflict deepens and becomes more difficult to solve. That is what happened in Abkhazia. No one is immune to that – nor women’s rights defenders. People get caught up in the division of ‘us’ and ‘them’.”

How are our partner organisations working to strengthen women’s rights in Abkhazia?

“The Abkhaz society is very traditional, with many stereotypes of how women and men should be; views that are rarely challenged. There is no real access to information – the little you can get hold of is all originating from Russia. However, our partner organisations visit schools to talk about gender roles, strengthen young women’s leadership and are planning to work to get more women into politics ahead of the next elections, both at local level and in the de facto parliament. One of our partner organisations work with women’s reproductive health and rights, for instance through a mobile health care team that visits women in the mountain areas. For them, that is their only possibility to see a gynecologist.

Violence against women is not something that you talk about, it is not recognized as a social problem. Kvinna till Kvinna’s partner organisations have tried to highlight these issues and thanks to their efforts, the situation for women has slightly improved. But there is a lot left to be done. Abkhazia has no functioning institutions, which makes it difficult to work for a promotion of women’s rights.”

What is Kvinna till Kvinna’s most important task in Abkhazia?

“To challenge habitual opinions and prejudices. We try to have a constructive dialogue with our partner organisations and bring in new ideas, other ways of looking at things, which are needed because they are so isolated from the outside world.”What are your strongest impressions from the trip?

“I was struck by how easy it is to tear down a society – in terms of human life as well as historical and cultural values – and how incredibly difficult it is to rebuild it. Despite this, women choose to get involved! They notice the problems and try to correct them with their extremely limited resources, at the same time as they are forgotten by everyone.”

Karin Råghall