Audit of State Institutions for Domestic Violence Protection and Prevention

Brief Description

In 2018, the State Audit Office of Georgia conducted the effectiveness of audit of domestic violence protection and prevention mechanisms. During the audit following state institutions were audited: Inter-Agency Commission on Gender Equality, Violence against Women and Domestic Violence Issues, Ministry of Internal Affairs and LEPL Social Service Agency. The purpose of the audit was to study productivity and effectiveness of domestic violence prevention and response mechanisms. The assessment criteria applied by the State Audit Office was the Due Diligence Standard which helps to evaluate state obligations regarding the domestic violence. The audit covered period from 2015 to April 2018. The audit only focused on prevention and protection mechanisms and did not apply to the rehabilitation services for victims provided by the state. Effectiveness audit revealed certain areas of improvement in the work of the audited state institutions and underlined the importance of expansion of services of social workers during the holidays, weekends and after working hours through on duty social worker mechanism which shall be introduced by the LEPL Social Service Agency, improvement of access to information on the history of violence by the police officers to better assess risk and respond accordingly, registration of protective and restrictive orders in the electronic database, improvement of public awareness about the matter. The resolution of all these issues will support victim assistance process.