Tamar Dekanosidze

Human rights lawyer Tamar Dekanosidze is Equality Now’s Associate Director, End Gender Based Violence.

Tamar has represented survivors of gender-based violence and other human rights violations in local, regional, and international courts and bodies (such as the European Court of Human Rights and CEDAW), securing outcomes that provided access to remedies for survivors and led to broader legal and policy changes. She has also drafted laws and legal amendments on equality, non-discrimination, and addressing violence, many of which have been adopted by authorities in the region. At Equality Now, Tamar has also led the creation of guidelines and training programs that have improved access to justice for survivors of sexual violence.

Tamar joined Equality Now in 2018 while based in her hometown of Tbilisi, Georgia. With over 15 years of experience, Tamar has worked worldwide, from Georgia and Kosovo to the United Kingdom and the United States. Before joining Equality Now, Tamar worked with different organizations in Georgia, including the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, a leading human rights NGO using strategic litigation to uphold women’s rights, non-discrimination, health rights, civil and political rights, and cases related to Russia’s invasion of Georgia. Tamar worked on the development of  Equality Now’s submissions to international mechanisms, strategic litigation, and recent reports and publications, including:

• • Roadblocks to Justice: How the Law Is Failing Survivors of Sexual Violence in Eurasia

• • Sexual Violence Investigation and Prosecution Manual (published together with the Council of Europe and UN Women)

• • Sexual Violence Laws In Eurasia: Towards a Consent-based Definition

• • Sexual Violence and Disability in Kyrgyzstan: Law, Policy, Practice and Access to Justice

• • Breaking Barriers: Addressing Child, Early and Forced Marriage in Eurasia 

Her writing has also been published in Public Health Reviews,the Routledge International Handbook on Femicide and Feminicide, and by the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS). She also co-authored several studies on femicides, sexual violence, and sexual and reproductive rights with the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia. She has worked as a consultant with the Council of Europe, UN Women, UNFPA, UNDP, and Chatham House. She has taught human rights, as well as gender and law, at law schools in Georgia, the United States, and Central Asia.

Tamar has a B.A. in Law from Tbilisi State University and obtained her LLM in International Human Rights Law, with distinction, at the University of Essex. She has been a Humphrey Fellow and an International Visiting Scholar at the American University Washington College of Law.

Outside of work, Tamar enjoys traveling and exploring different cultures and traditions.

She is available for interviews in English and Georgian.