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Bill on Sexual Harassment Endorsed in Third Hearing

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The Parliament of Georgia endorsed with its third hearing on May 3 amendments to the Labor Code and a number of other laws, introducing the definition of sexual harassment, as well as administrative penalties for such offenses.

Changes to the Labor Code classify sexual harassment as a form of unlawful discrimination at workplace, and define the term as “an unwelcome sexual conduct aiming at/or causing intimidating, hostile, humiliating or degrading environment.”

The amendments bill mandates the Public Defender to examine alleged cases of sexual harassment, seek explanations from employers and issue recommendations. The Public Defender is also entitled to refer the cases to court, shall it decide that recommendations have not been fulfilled.

Another batch of amendments, introduced to the Administrative Offenses Code, sets penalties for sexual harassment in public spaces. The law uses identical definition of the term as in the Labor Code, but clarifies the meaning of “sexual conduct,” which is understood as verbal and/or physical conduct of sexual nature.

According to the amendments, when offenders are found guilty of sexual harassment in public spaces, the following penalties may be imposed:

The amendments bill was elaborated by the Parliament’s Gender Equality Council and was sponsored by seven lawmakers – six from the ruling Georgian Dream party (Tamar Chugoshvili, Tamar Khulordava, Dimitri Tskitishvili, Rati Ioanatamishvili, Guguli Magradze, Endzela Machavariani) and one from the opposition European Georgia (Giorgi Tugushi).

The amendments bill obtained 100 votes in favor and zero against.

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