Women's Rights Organizations Protest Abolition of Gender Department in Public Defender's Office

Professionals and organizations working on women's rights are protesting the abolition of the gender department in the Public Defender's Office. The department was abolished on October 22, 2026, as part of a reorganization.

The authors of the statement believe that in a country where legal and institutional guarantees of gender equality are consistently being dismantled, the abolition of a specialized department cannot be assessed as a mere administrative change. "It is precisely in such a crisis situation that the Public Defender's institution must be especially strong, independent and principled," the statement says.

The authors note that in recent years gender quotas have been abolished, the word "gender" has been removed from legislation, relevant institutional mechanisms have been dismantled, and repressive laws have limited the capacity of non-governmental organizations working on women's rights.

According to the signatories, redistributing gender equality issues among other departments cannot replace specialized expertise and institutional memory. In their view, the decision weakens coordination, accountability and institutional focus on gender issues. "There is a risk that what has seemingly been distributed as everyone's responsibility will ultimately turn out to be no one's direct responsibility," they state.

The statement also notes that the word "gender" is not mentioned at all in the official statement of the Public Defender's Office on the reorganization. The organizations believe that abolishing the department threatens the study of cases of gender-based violence and discrimination, the identification of systemic problems beyond individual cases, and the consistent monitoring of state policy.

The authors hold Public Defender Levan Ioseliani personally responsible for the decision and state that a merely formal administrative explanation of the issue is not sufficient. The authors put forward four demands.

"The mechanisms for protecting women's rights and gender equality in Georgia were created as a result of decades of struggle. Their abolition happened instantly, while restoring them will again require years of struggle," the statement says. The authors state that they will continue the fight for the protection of women's rights and do not intend to silently watch the destruction of results achieved over decades.

The statement is so far being signed, together with other organizations, by the Center for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (GCRT), the Civil Movement Freedom, the Association "Trust", the Democracy Research Institute (DRI), the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association and the Social Justice Center.