Back Regional conference on gender equality in electoral processes

Regional conference on gender equality in electoral processes

Georgia hosted a regional conference for Eastern Partnership countries on gender equality in electoral processes. This conference was organised by the Venice Commission in cooperation with the Central Election Commission of Georgia.

The Conference tackled the following issues:

  • Gender equality and elections: international standards and recommendations;
  • Gender equality, electoral processes and electoral systems;
  • Gender equality and political parties; and
  • Gender equality and electoral processes: best practices.

Ms Herdís Thorgeirsdóttir, Vice-President of the Venice Commission, in the capacity of one of the key note speakers of the Conference, addressed in her speech the topic of International Standards in the field of Elections.

More than 50 participants, including representatives from different countries from Europe and beyond participated in the Conference. Participants included but were not limited to the representatives of the State Agencies of Georgia, Gender  Election Commission of Georgia, Gender Equality Commission of Georgia, European Union representatives, International Organizations including United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI).  Representatives of the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe also actively participated in the Conference.

In addition to the representatives of Georgia, the participation of representatives of the Central Election Commissions from the region of the Programmatic Cooperation Framework Program including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine, was of a great importance and resulted in important discussions focused on good practices for enhancing the regional reforms on gender equality and women empowerment in the electoral processes in compliance with the European standards.

In addition, the importance of implementing international standards on enhancing women’s role in electoral processes was highly emphasized during the Conference, as one of the a priorities for attaining gender parity and facilitating women’s access in electoral processes resulting on democratic sustainability.

The Conference resulted on a great impact and initiatives towards enhancing legislative measures aimed at improving the representation of women in electoral processes and promote on gender equality in electoral processes. Importantly, the Central Election Commission of Georgia committed to implementing its five-year Strategic Plan focused among others on improving the representation of women in election administration and in electoral processes.

Tbilisi 25-26 November 2015
  • Diminuer la taille du texte
  • Augmenter la taille du texte
  • Imprimer la page