In January 2018, the PDO published its Country Assessment on Human Rights in the Context of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Well-being in Georgia. This Assessment is primarily based on a desk review undertaken within the framework of partnership between Public Defender’s Office and UNFPA country office in Georgia.

This Country Assessment is one of growing number of such assessments carried out worldwide by national human rights institutions, such as the PDO, aimed at identifying areas of progress, obstacles and ways of improving sexual and reproductive health. The objectives are to assess the degree to which human rights, in context of sexual and reproductive health and well-being, are enshrined in the laws of Georgia how they are realized in practice, through Georgia’s laws and policies and in their implementation; to identify key areas of progress as well as barriers; and make recommendations to the Government of Georgia and other responsible authorities.

The next step, called a national inquiry, is to garner experiences of persons or groups of persons affected, health care providers, government officials, NGOs and others with experience/knowledge on select issues from the assessment report, so that there is a better understanding of issues concerning implementation. Part of the gathering of this information will be through one on one interviews and from focus groups. An important part will also be through written or other media submissions on the following topics:

• Maternal health services (including issues concerning surrogacy)
• Contraceptive services and information, and
• Life skills/sexuality education in Schools.

The PDO is calling for submissions on these topics only and is asking for specific information on:

• Experiences with maternal health services, contraceptive services and information, and/or life skills/sexuality education in schools, including information on challenges faced and what you believe is the reason for such challenges;
• Commentary on national laws, policies, and practices relating to maternal health, contraceptive information and services and/or life skills/sexuality education in schools;
• Adequacy of maternal health, contraceptive services and information health facilities, including any
• Social, economic and cultural factors that prevent people from accessing quality health services in these areas;
• Discrimination and/or mistreatment faced by marginalized groups in accessing sexual and 
reproductive health care.
• Adequacy of life skills/sexuality education in schools, in terms of quality, quantity and content.

Please be sure to include information on what you think should be done to improve the services and/or education.

Format: Submission could be made in various formats, including letters, research papers, videos, blogs, emails, etc.

Page limits: We kindly ask that written submissions be limited to 7 pages, maximum. Video and other visual submissions should not be longer than 5 minutes.

Name, demographic information and contact: Please be sure to include the following:

• name,
• gender,
• age,
• name of your town/city and region,
• affiliation with any institution,
• any other relevant demographic information (such as sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, living in rural area, internally displaced persons, sex worker, etc).
• how to contact you (email or phone number or physical address)

The demographic information, affiliated with your name, will be kept confidential.

Deadline: September 20, 2018

Submit information to: srhr.pdogender@gmail.com

While any individual or institution with interest in encouraged to submit, persons belonging to marginalized groups or civil society organizations representing marginalized groups, are particularly encouraged to submit information.