The introduction of e-prescriptions has begun in a pilot project in several hospitals and outpatient clinics, Health Minister of Azerbaijan Teymur Musayev said, Report informs.
Day: November 2, 2023
Irakli Beraya about Teona Akubardia
MP Teona Akubardia intends to file a lawsuit against the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security Irakli Beraya, accusing him of sexual harassment.
On October 31, MP Irakli Beraja during a public speech at a parliamentary session called his colleague, opposition MP Teona Akubardia, who, incidentally, is his deputy in the defense committee, “a shameless, shameful liar and an unworthy person.”
Beraja’s speech was offensive in nature and contained phrases degrading to human dignity and the dignity of the female deputy. Beraja ended his speech by saying, “I call on this man to refrain from mentioning my name and the name of my committee with his long and ubiquitous tongue.”
According to Beraja, Akubardia criticized the ruling team for not being included in foreign trips and “not being given the opportunity to use various platforms for misinformation.”
“To have the opportunity to take selfies on Facebook, to enter airport lounges, to get drunk and wallow with the likes of her and anyone else. Those who know her will know exactly what I’m talking about. I urge this person to refrain from mentioning my name and the name of my committee with her long and ubiquitous tongue,” Beraja said.
Teona Acubardia. Irakli Beraia
On October 31, Teona Akubardia was not the only victim of harsh verbal attacks from male colleagues.
Another representative of the ruling team, MP Aluda Gudushauri, told a member of the opposition National Movement Party [created by Saakashvili] Anya Tsitlidze the following:
“You are a wretched, uncouth boor. You’re a common wretched woman. You don’t even fit into the list of women that Saakashvili liked, so calm down. Get out of here, get a move on, you lowlife…”.
In the first case, the dispute arose because the opposition accused the authorities of passivity against the background of Russia’s plans to establish a naval base in Ochamchira, and in the second case – because of Mikheil Saakashvili.
Reaction of the ruling Georgian Dream and President Salome Zurabishvili
After all these statements caused negative reactions in the political community, civil society and social media, Georgian Dream MPs partially apologized for the “sexist statements” and explained that “nerves can no longer withstand unfair accusations.”
However, the MPs insisted that they do not plan to punish anyone for these statements. The opposition was also offered to apologize.
“Apologize too,” Georgian Dream faction chairman Mamuka Mdinaradze addressed the opposition when opposition MPs demanded that Irakli Berai resign from his post.
On the same day, President Salome Zurabishvili addressed the women MPs with a special statement.
“Today I heard words that insult the Georgian Parliament as a whole,” Salome Zurabishvili said and expressed full solidarity with the women MPs.
Was it sexual harassment?
Lawyers see in Irakli Berai’s statement not just verbal insult, but also discrimination on sexual grounds. Sexual discrimination is prohibited by the law of Georgia “On Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination”.
Teona Akubardia demands to legally establish the fact of sexual discrimination. Other opposition MPs joined her demand.
As Akubardia notes, it is fundamentally important for her to bring this case to court – on the one hand, she will protect her own dignity, and on the other hand, according to her, she will show an example to other women – how to fight for their rights:
“I must continue to fight in all legal ways so that other women who want to enter politics feel safe and the ways of communication established by Georgian Dream become punishable. We will not tolerate such behavior and will fight to prevent such facts from becoming the norm.”
In addition, the opposition MP demands that Irakli Beraya leave the post of Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee. According to her, she took Berai’s statements as a personal threat:
“This is not only harassment, but also a warning by the methods of the SGB [State Security Service of Georgia]. I will not be silenced by the methods of the SGB and I am not afraid that if I do not keep silent, additional measures may be taken. Among them I do not rule out the publication of pictures of my private life. Accordingly, I look at this case, on the one hand, from the position of gender, and on the other hand, it is a fight with my own deputy by the methods of the SGB.
Ana Arganashvili, a lawyer of the Partnership for Human Rights, who has been dealing with sexual harassment cases for many years, says in an interview with Radio Liberty that if Irakli Berai’s case reaches the court, it will definitely be established that it was a fact of sexual discrimination. She thinks the same about Aluda Gudushauri’s remarks:
“As a lawyer I can say that we are dealing with a standard sexual harassment case. Therefore, apologizing is not enough, you are a lawbreaker and you should be held legally responsible for it.”
Baja Pataraia, head of the Safari organization, wrote on Facebook:
“Unfortunately, we are no longer surprised by swearing from the rostrum of parliament, but what we saw and heard yesterday was not swearing – it was gender discrimination against women opposition members.”
Sexism and Misogyny in Parliament
Sexist, misogynistic statements and gender discrimination of political opponents are not rare events in Georgian politics. And October 31 was no exception.
For example, the Ombudsman’s report on sexual harassment included the current Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili. In 2021, when Papuashvili was an MP from the Georgian Dream, he forcibly kicked out of the rostrum a member of the National Movement, Tina Bokuchava.
კკ
According to experts, Georgian male MPs often resort to misogyny towards female political opponents when they want to humiliate them.
War in the Middle East
The ongoing war in the Middle East remains the main topic on the world agenda. The hostilities between Israel and Palestine cause heated discussions also in the expert environment and among social media users in Azerbaijan.
- Georgian connection in case of social media personalities arrested in Turkey
- “Economic growth in Armenia is unstable”: analysis of the situation and expert’s forecast
- Access to TikTok unblocked in Azerbaijan
The South Caucasus Studies Center has published an analytical paper classifying the countries of the world in relation to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Azerbaijani experts also tried to predict the future course of events in the Middle East.
The situation in the Middle East today
“The situation in the Middle East remains tense. The sudden attack of the radical Palestinian organization Hamas on Israel was remembered for its ruthlessness, special cruelty against civilians, but the ongoing Israeli response is also characterized by excessive rigidity.
The Israel Defense Forces are carrying out the third stage of the special military operation “Iron Swords” in the Gaza Strip. The purpose of this operation is declared to be the destruction of the military infrastructure and management potential of Hamas and cleansing the region of militants.
Hamas at first expressed the desire to exchange hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, but the intensity and scale of rocket attacks, as well as the invasion of Israeli troops in Gaza, creates risks of turning this conflict into a major war.”
Classification of countries of the world in relation to conflict
“At present, the countries of the world in relation to the latest tension in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be conditionally divided into three groups:
- supporters of Israel: this group includes countries that, as a rule, turn a blind eye to Israel’s excessively harsh steps, basing the corresponding measures on Tel Aviv’s right to self-defense. At the same time, these countries call Hamas a terrorist organization and consider the organization and its supporters the main source of tension in the region;
- Hamas supporters: these countries unequivocally support the radical Palestinian movement and justify all its brutal acts. They do not hesitate to call Israel a “terrorist state” and blame Tel Aviv and its allies for all the events in the region;
- Neutral countries: the countries of the third group, unlike the first two, demonstrate a more objective and balanced position. In their speeches, officials of these states criticize both Israel and Hamas for the inconsistency of their actions with humanitarian law and the rules of warfare. They support a solution to the conflict based on UN resolutions and the two-state solution, reflecting the parallel existence of Israel and Palestine.
Is a major war possible?
“Despite the differences in attitudes toward the ongoing confrontation, there is a point that unites all the countries from the three groups we have listed. For example, strong and not so strong countries are not interested in spreading the conflict to a wider area, turning local skirmishes into a large-scale regional war.
Although the Western press portrays Russia and China as interested in a major war, in reality a large-scale conflict is an undesirable scenario for both countries.
Fomenting a local hotbed of tension in the Middle East is intended to dilute the attention and resources of the West, led by the United States. Russia is trying to weaken U.S. aid to Ukraine. China wants to exclude the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) project, which should pass through Israel, from the world agenda in order to promote its “One Belt, One Road” initiative.
In other words, the continuation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine within a limited framework now fully meets the interests of Moscow and Beijing.
But if the scale of the conflict increases and the number of countries directly involved in military clashes grows, then there is a high probability that Iran, an ally of Russia and China, will come under attack. On the other hand, a major war could upset the balance both in the West and between Moscow-Beijing-Tehran-Pyongyang, which is not in the interests of either side. Therefore the Kremlin and its supporters are interested in containing tension in the Middle East in the near term.
In a word, the development of events according to the negative scenario can lead to a global catastrophe, the vector of development of which is impossible to predict. It is this circumstance that forces the interested parties to act cautiously. And for this reason, the probability of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict going beyond the current framework and turning it into a large-scale regional war is low.”
The Chinese foreign ministry said Thursday a leading official from its department of arms control affairs will lead a delegation in China-U.S. nuclear talks.
The ministry did not name the official.
“Next week in Washington, China and U.S. will hold arms control and non-proliferation consultations at director-general level,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin said when asked about a report that China agreed to nuclear arms-control talks with the United States.
According to plans agreed by both sides, Wang said China and the U.S. will conduct dialogue and exchanges on a wide range of issues such as implementation of international arms control treaties.
The talks come days after Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with senior U.S. officials, with both sides agreeing to hold a series of consultations in the near future.
Wang also met with U.S. President Joe Biden in talks that the White House described as a “good opportunity” in terms of keeping lines of communication open between the two geopolitical rivals with deep policy differences.