The project aimed at improving general conditions for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Croatia by increasing the capacity and expanding the advocacy skills of professionals from the member organisations of three different Human Rights Houses: B.a.B.e. (Human Rights House Zagreb), Women’s Association for Rational Development (Human Rights House Azerbaijan) and Women’s Resource Centre (Human Rights House Yerevan).
The two organisations from the South Caucasus were able to increase their knowledge and understanding of advocacy in relation to the ratification of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence.
“We learnt from the visit how Babe is working with survivors of sexual violence and will introduce consultations with parents of minors, who are survivors of violence. In addition, it was interesting to see how the Croatian experts used group meetings with the survivors of sexual violence, in addition to individual consultations.”
Women’s Resource Centre
They use the new expertise in a lengthy and difficult process of advocating for the Convention ratification in their respective countries. In addition, with new insight from other countries into the plight of survivors of GBV, they plan to implement a new support system for survivors.
The participating organisations from Armenia and Azerbaijan also underlined that the study visit gave them better understanding of the advocacy processes around the Istanbul Convention, which has been helpful for these women’s rights organisations working in deeply conservative patriarchal societies.
