A/HRC/36/65 marriages. This amendment came into effect on 1 January 2017, and is a welcome development. It is now critical to ensure the stringent enforcement of this law. 25. The United Nations country team and other international actors in Georgia have also been advocating for greater political participation by women. Only two out of 18 Cabinet ministers and 24 out of 150 parliamentarians are women. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in its 2014 concluding observations, recommended that Georgia “adopt temporary special measures, including statutory quotas, in accordance with article 4 (1) of the Convention and in line with the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 on the subject, as part of a necessary strategy to accelerate the achievement of substantive equality of women and men”.10 B. Access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia 26. On 11 April 2017, pursuant to Human Right Council resolution 34/37, OHCHR sent letters to the authorities in control in Abkhazia and in South Ossetia, seeking unfettered access to the population concerned to assess the human rights situation, taking into account long-standing conflicting allegations of human rights violations. 27. OHCHR received a response on 18 April 2017 from the authorities in control in South Ossetia, which invoked status-related issues, thus preventing OHCHR from negotiating access under resolution 34/37. 28. On 22 April 2017, OHCHR received a response from the authorities in control in Abkhazia, indicating that a visit by OHCHR would not be possible unless an Abkhaz delegation was allowed to present its position concerning the human rights situation before the Human Rights Council. 29. Lack of access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia raises legitimate questions and concerns about the human rights situation of the population living there. 30. In his past five reports to the General Assembly on the status of internally displaced persons and refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia, and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia,11 the Secretary-General called for OHCHR to be granted access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. 31. Despite repeated requests since 2011, access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia has not been granted for proposed OHCHR technical human rights missions, nor for the former High Commissioner in the context of her visit to Georgia in May 2014, nor for special procedures of the Human Rights Council (for instance the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, 12 the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, and the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography).13 32. The Government of Georgia, in its written submission to OHCHR, noted that “since 2012, a delegation preparing the Consolidated Report of the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe on Georgia has been denied access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In January 2014 and November 2015, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe was not allowed to visit the regions.” The Government of Georgia also informed OHCHR that in 2015 and 2016, the High Commissioner on National Minorities, of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was denied entry to Abkhazia. 10 11 12 13 See CEDAW/C/GEO/CO/4-5, para. 17; and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 25 (2004) on temporary special measures. The general recommendation addresses issues where the long-term effects of discrimination have seriously disadvantaged women, which may require measures that give women not just formally equal treatment to men, but preferential treatment, in order to create actual equality for women. A/67/869, A/68/868, A/69/909, A/70/879 and A/71/899. See A/HRC/31/57/Add.3, para. 4. See A/HRC/34/55/Add.1, para. 6. 7