The opposition female MPs joined the campaign combating violence against women and called on the Parliament of Georgia to bring the definition of rape in the legislation in line with the standards set by the civilized world.

Ana Natsvilishvili, a member of Lelo, made a statement on this topic at a briefing in the Parliament, together with MPs: Khatia Dekanoidze, Ana Buchukuri, Khatuna Samnidze and Tamar Kordzaia.

"We, the female MPs, are joining the campaign and we think that it is disturbing that even after many years of work, we are facing an alarming reality - we have appalling cases of femicide, hundreds of cases of physical, psychological, and economic violence against women, and the State still has not put the fight against femicide at the highest political level.

We believe that the work of individual agencies alone is not enough to fight femicide. All efforts are futile unless the issue has the highest political support.

We call on male politicians to raise their voices against violence. Of course, the role of the Parliament is very important in this process because today we have to resolve a very important issue - sexual violence in the 21st century and its worst form - rape in Georgian legislation does not meet the standards set by the civilized world. Despite numerous attempts, the system resists bringing a civilized, fair and proper definition of this crime into law. We call on the Parliament to immediately take this step", said Ana Natsvilishvili.

source: IPN