Coalition for Equality Stands for Tatia Lortkipanidze

Coalition for Equality, union of 10 nongovernmental organizations, stands for athlete Tatia Lortkipanidze in the fight for her rights. The sportswoman sued the trainer of the National Team of Athlete Women for sexual harassment and the Federation of Athletes for gender discrimination. Coalition member organization Safari defends her interests in the court.

 

At the press-conference on May 2, Tatia Lortkipanidze and the head of Safari Baia Pataraia spoke about their claim in the court. There are two defendants in the case – the chief trainer of the National Team of Athlete Women Temur Janjgava, who is blamed in sexual harassment and the Federation of Athletes, who committed gender-based discrimination and removed the sportswoman from the list of participants in Batumi-hosted European Championship. Tatia, together with her defense lawyers, requests compensation for moral and material damage. 

“I raised voice because I was obliged to defend my rights and apply to the lawyer for the representation in the court to prove my truth. This championship was very important for my career. I claim compensation for my moral and material damage,” Tatia Lortkipanidze said. 

The sportswoman made first public statement about discrimination and sexual harassment on April 9 after she learned that the Federation removed her from the list of participants in the European Championship. She stated it was personal revenge of the trainer against her and said that she would continue fight in the court. Tatia Lortkipanidze said the Federation did not want her to speak about this problem.

Baia Pataraia of Safari believes that the sexual harassment incident and the fact of removing her from the list of championship participants are interrelated. “We have not yet received answer from the Federation what was the real reason of removing Tatia from the list. The Federation has not discussed this fact with media that reinforces our doubt that these two incidents are interrelated,” Baia Pataria clarified. 

Sexual harassment is one of the forms of discrimination, which is frequently endured by the women but rarely appeal the court. It is important that the women defended their rights in accordance to the Law on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination.

Coalition for Equality is informal union of 10 nongovernmental organizations, which was established in 2014 in the process of drafting the Law on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination. Since then, the Coalition works on the improvement of the law enforcement mechanisms. May 2 is symbolic date – the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the law. 

The anti-discrimination law is the legal mechanism, which acknowledges the sexual harassment as one of the forms of the discrimination and will assist Tatia Lortkipanidze to defend her rights. 

The members of the Coalition for Equality are:

Open Society Georgia Foundation

Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC)

Article 42 of the Constitution

Safari

Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA)

Women’s Initiative Support Group 

Partnership for Human Rights

Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI)

Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI)

Human Rights Center