The First Deputy State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili delivered a report on the conference of Finnish Delegation in frames of the OSCE Parliamentary Session.
The topic of the conference was “Mediation in OSCE: Empowerment of Female Negotiators in OSCE Framework.”
In her speech the First Deputy State Minister highlighted the need of active female involvement into peace process.
“I think, more women in peace process means more peace in the world. The one thing is gender equality, as women represent the half of the total population, but more importantly, women have higher sensitivity in relation to many issues, as are the issues of conflict-affected population, healthcare of children, aged persons and freedom of movement. I believe more involvement of women will make many humanitarian issues resolvable, without any politicization. I cannot avoid mentioning, that female participation at Geneva International Discussions has gradually increased and comprises 40% within the Georgian Delegation. Women are very active in civil society to address the peace process, as far as public diplomacy can contribute to conflict settlement in many areas. Therefore, we always recommend donor organization to focus on women, as major target group into their confidence building projects. Notably, the majority of conflict-affected population are women. Nevertheless they are more courageous and vigorous. The clear example are Gali school teachers.
Most importantly, we urge OSCE, as well as other international institutions who work on the issue of human rights protection, to support our effort to operationalize the instruments of human rights protection in the occupied territories. In that sense, OSCE has special role for the implementation, including its Co-chair at Geneva International Discussions,” – Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili declared.
Addressing the audience, the First Deputy State Minister gave an overview of current situation in the occupied territories.
Mrs. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili put an emphasis on the cases of human rights violation in the occupied territories, including the freedom of movement and the restrictions on education into native language for ethnic-Georgians in Gali district of Abkhazia region, noting that Georgian side shall permanently raise these issues in frames of Geneva International Discussions until the appropriate result is achieved.
The President of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Mr. Ilkka Kanerva opened the conference of the Delegation of Finland, held in frames of OSCE Parliamentary Session.