A/HRC/39/44 for victims of violence against women and domestic violence, supported capacitydevelopment of women’s non-governmental organizations, implemented awareness-raising activities aimed at promoting zero tolerance of violence against women and domestic violence, and provided health counselling. As indicated in the submission of the United Nations country team received in May 2018, the project recorded 83 cases of violence against women. UN-Women noted, however, that the victims often chose not to disclose the abuse or violence. 9. Role of civil society 84. Reports received by OHCHR indicate that, since the introduction of local regulations on “foreign agents” in 2014, the space for civil society work has diminished considerably in South Ossetia. A number of non-governmental organizations in South Ossetia have ceased their activities since 2014 while others, especially those involved in confidence- and peacebuilding projects and interaction with international organizations, are reportedly subject to pressure and verbal assaults. 85. OHCHR received information on the alleged intimidation in 2017 of Tamara Mearakishvili, an ethnic Georgian and civil society activist in Akhalgori who had been cooperating with the international community and reporting on human rights violations. According to the Public Defender of Georgia and the European External Action Service, she was “unlawfully detained” and/or interrogated on several occasions and deprived of her identity documents. Information available in the media as of May 2018 indicated that she had been acquitted in one of the two cases against her. 40 86. With regard to the situation in Abkhazia, Mr. Hammarberg and Ms. Grono noted the existence of numerous non-governmental groups that were generally operating without encountering restrictive requirements or controls. At the same time, they mentioned reports of the shrinking of operational space and funding from external sources for many nongovernmental organizations in recent years, and cases of social pressure on nongovernmental organizations. 41 The Council of Europe also reported about the continued stringent conditions faced by local non-governmental organizations funded by foreign donors.42 10. Confidence-building measures 87. The Council of Europe continued to implement confidence-building measures in Abkhazia based on the specific human rights needs of the affected population, while noting the impossibility of developing and implementing such measures in South Ossetia due to lack of access and the generally non-conducive environment for international engagement in this region.43 88. In April 2018, the Government of Georgia launched a package of proposals entitled “A step toward a better future”, which is directed, inter alia, towards confidence-building between the communities across the Administrative Boundary Lines. The initiatives focus on enhancing and simplifying trade along the Administrative Boundary Lines; creating new education opportunities both internally and externally; facilitating access to documentation; and creating a mechanism to extend and simplify access to the benefits and regimes enjoyed by Georgia internationally (for example, the visa-free regime with the European Union). 89. The Secretary-General welcomed the recent statements and legislative initiatives of the Government of Georgia to enhance economic and people-to-people engagement across the Administrative Boundary Lines. 44 Given the positive impact that these proposals might 40 41 42 43 44 See, for example, “South Ossetian court acquits civil activist Tamara Mearakashvili”, JAM News, 4 May 2018. Hammarberg and Grono, p. 8. See SG/Inf(2018)15, para. 29. Ibid., paras. 67−73. See A/72/847, para. 61. 15