Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TBILISI2560
2007-10-11 11:40:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Tbilisi
Cable title:  

Georgia's Woman of Courage Nominee 2008

Tags:  PREL PHUM KPAO KWMN GG 
pdf how-to read a cable
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RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSI #2560 2841140
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 111140Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TBILISI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7891
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS TBILISI 002560 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, G/IWI

E.O 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KWMN GG
SUBJECT: Georgia's Woman of Courage Nominee 2008

REFERENCE: STATE 126072

UNCLAS TBILISI 002560

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, G/IWI

E.O 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KWMN GG
SUBJECT: Georgia's Woman of Courage Nominee 2008

REFERENCE: STATE 126072


1. Post's nominee for the International Woman of Courage Award is
Marina Tabukushvili, artist, civil society activist, and chairman of
the Georgian NGO TASO. Nominee is willing to be considered for the
award and agrees if selected to travel to Washington DC.
Biographical data requested in reftel is below.


A. Full Name: Marina (No Middle Name)Tabukushvili

B. Job Title: General Director, TASO Foundation
C: Date of Birth: August 22, 1951
D: Country of Birth: Georgia
E: Citizenship: Georgian
F: Telephone: (995 32) 92 05 95
G: Address: 15 Rezo Tabukushvili St, Tbilisi 0108
H: Email: marina@taso.org.ge
I: Passport Number: GEO 05AB24937

--------------
The Person and Her Role
--------------


2. Tabukushvili has been a powerful advocate for women's issues
within the Caucasus region for more than 15 years. She began work
with the Soros Foundation Open Society Program more than 10 years
go, addressing principally women's and children's issues, which led
to her current affiliation with the Anti-Violence Network. In 2007,
she established her own NGO to research and record women's oral
histories throughout the former Soviet space. The purpose of the
project is to decrease the gap between ethnic and religious
minorities and Georgian majority by listening to what women
belonging to different ethnic and religious classes have to say.
The project aims to deconstruct the "otherness" of these women
through understanding their humanness, pain and joy. Tabukushvili
has improved the lives of Caucasian women, not just Georgian women,
by addressing culturally cross-cutting issues such as trafficking,
domestic violence and the gap between ethnic and religious
minorities and the Georgian majority. Her role has been one of
researcher, activist, and enabler, cementing consensus among private
and government entities to yield concrete and measurable results on
these non-negotiable demands of human dignity. Resolving many of
these issues, especially domestic violence, has been exceedingly
difficult, due to a strong sense of honor and shame that has made
decision makers reluctant to recognize it in a public forum.

--------------
Combating Domestic Violence
--------------


3. Tabukushvili was one of five Georgian activists trained on family
violence and child abuse at the Open Society Institute in Budapest
in 2000. She returned home resolute to address both issues. She
uses a multilateral approach to bring an end to domestic violence
through formulating legislation, heightening public awareness,
training judges and police and addressing the practical issues of
housing and referring victims.

--------------
How She Gets Results
--------------


4. As an implementer for the Soros Foundation, Tabukushvili was a
force multiplier in bringing practical experience to the Georgian
Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) draft legislation to combat
trafficking and address domestic violence, and now in fulfilling the
stipulations of the Anti-Domestic Violence Action-Plan. Tabukushvili
increases public awareness of women's issues by networking with
women journalists, promoting publication of women's and children's
rights' cases and coordinating closely with the Ombudsman's Office
to investigate and resolve documented violations. She has been
instrumental in bringing experts from the Minnesota Advocates for
Human Rights to train family court judges from Georgia's remote
regions, where domestic violence cases are more frequent. She was
one of the first to recognize the value of training police in how to
respond to family domestic calls, arranging for some of the first
ever workshops to address this deficiency. Tabukushvili played a
large role in creating the Anti-Violence Network in each of the ten
regions of Georgia, informally building a savvy nexus of
professionals who understand and give meaningful assistance to
victims. Together with Nato Shavladkadze, she sought and gained
funding through international organizations to establish the first
and still the only women's shelter in Tbilisi in 2004. Tabukushvili
is a positive example of an ordinary citizen who takes on
controversial and often unpopular issues but addresses them in an
effective way so that its affect reverberates through all levels of
society.


5. Political Officer Joye Davis-Kirchner is post's point of
contact. Her contact information is (995) 32 277620,
Davis-KirchnerJL@state.gov.
Tefft