Baia Pataraia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baia Pataraia (Georgian: ბაია პატარაია; born 1982) is a leading feminist activist and human rights lawyer in Georgia. She is the director of the women's rights organization Sapari.

Early life and education[]

Baia Pataraia was born in Tbilisi in 1982.[1][2]

She studied international law and economics at Tbilisi State University, graduating in 2004, then obtained a master's degree in human rights law from Central European University in Hungary in 2006.[1][2][3]

Career and activism[]

Beginning in 2008, Pataraia became a visiting lecturer at Tbilisi State University and the Free University of Tbilisi.[1][3] She worked in the Ministry of Justice of Georgia from 2009 to 2013.[1][2][4] While there, she helped draft the new law Article 126, which formally defined the crime of domestic violence in Georgia.[2][4][5] Her work also included ensuring that sexual harassment was covered by the Law on Gender Equality. She eventually left government to focus on activism full-time.[2]

While working to help rehabilitate torture victims in 2007, she was recruited by the feminist activist Natalia Zazashvili to join Sapari, a nascent human rights organization in Georgia. Sapari initially focused on helping women facing domestic violence.[2][3] She would go on to become the organization's director, and its mission would expand to include fighting for women's political empowerment and against discrimination.[1][3][4][6]

Pataraia has been heavily involved as a leader in her country's feminist movement since 2012, when she began organizing with the Independent Group of Feminists.[1][2][3][6][7] By her own account, early activists in Georgia did not explicitly describe themselves as "feminists," but that changed in the early 2010s.[2] In 2014, she led a national campaign against femicide in response to an apparent spike in domestic violence.[4] She is also the chair of Human Rights House Tbilisi and the founder of the semi-formal Georgian Women’s Movement.[4][8]

Critics have questioned Pataraia's independence as an activist due to her prior work in the federal government, but she argues this experience has made her a more effective advocate. She has also been the target of death threats and street harassment for her work.[4]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "ბაია პატარაია (1982)". Georgian Biographical Dictionary (in Georgian). Retrieved 2021-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Gamisonia, Nino (2020-10-21). "Baia Pataraia, 38 years old, Tbilisi". Women of Georgia. Retrieved 2021-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e "Baia Pataraia". Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. 2015-04-30. Retrieved 2021-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ a b c d e f ""We had to create a movement"". Human Rights House Foundation. 2019-12-13. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  5. ^ Ghvaladze, Nana (2012-11-05). "Georgia: Criminalization of Domestic Violence". Global Legal Monitor. Retrieved 2021-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ a b "Georgian Court Upholds First Sexual Harassment Ruling". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2021-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Bacchi, Umberto (2019-06-14). "Georgian baywatch: First female lifeguards make a splash for equality". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
  8. ^ "Baia Pataraia". Front Line Defenders. 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
Retrieved from ""