Aftermath : internally displaced women and women"s organizations in postconflict Georgia

Ethnic conflict broke out in Georgia virtually as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed. By 1992, Georgia"s central authority had been diminished to near anarchy, the economy was in complete disarray, and the country had plunged into civil war. This report summarizes two studies in a CDIE series on post-conflict societies: one on the effects of ethnic conflict on internally displaced women from the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where conflict was particularly destructive (PN-ACG-947), and a second on the growth of women"s organizations in Georgia (PN-ACG-325). Ethnic Georgians who survived ethnic-based attacks, forced migration, and escape along what came to be known as the death path out of Abkhazia still faced a life of grueling poverty and extreme stress in crowded, often unsanitary living conditions. Today, the ongoing misery of internally displaced persons remains among the most pressing social, economic, and political problems Georgia faces. Women have been particularly affected by the violence of the wars, both as victims and as participants, and by the impact displacement has had on their lives. Since the wars, women have increasingly carried responsibility for the everyday survival of their families and the community of displaced persons generally. NGOs began forming from the first days of independence. But civil society really began to open up in 1995, when the economy and polity improved. Women"s organizations then began a period of staggering growth. They flourished especially in the capital, T"bilisi, but organizations to help internally displaced people also began to proliferate in regions where the displaced were resettled. Georgian women have shown remarkable entrepreneurial spirit in providing desperately needed resources for their families, mainly through petty trading. They now dominate informal urban markets. The international community can help best by providing microcredit programs and other aid to encourage self-reliance, often working through women"s organizations. Private Georgian banks demand stiflingly high collateral terms and interest rates, which displaced women cannot provide. Support for psychosocial counseling may also be in order, both for women and for Georgia"s internally displaced men, who were doubly traumatized, first by losing the war and then by losing the ability to provide for their families. Finally, the international community could support civic and political education to encourage women"s involvement in local political decision-making. Most displaced Georgian women have little understanding of or trust or interest in politics and are often misinformed about or ignorant of their political rights and responsibilities. Few take part in politics. Fewer still rise to local political leadership positions. Most members of displaced-women"s organizations are not involved in the organization"s decisionmaking. (Author abstract, modified)