Submitted by Victor on
A group of more than 40 civil society organisations is calling on the government of Georgia to write explicit protections for children's rights into the country's new Constitution. The Parliament of Georgia is currently making changes to the Georgian Constitution which will have a significant impact on people living in the country, including children. The groups are calling for the Constitution to provide equal guarantees for the democratic development of the country and the protection of the rights and legal interests of future generations.
On 19 June, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) published an Opinion document on the draft revised Constitution of Georgia. Paragraph 73 of the report under “Children’s Rights” highlights that, based on the Venice Commission’s recommendation, it was important to have a separate article on protection of children’s rights in the Georgian constitution. The Georgian Coalition for Children and Youth has joined this call and gathered the signatures of other Georgian organisations to urge the government to provide for the protection of children’s rights in the new Constitution.
The Coalition for Children and Youth, which includes more than 40 NGOs, analysed the proposed draft Constitution and believes that the amendments to the draft revised constitution must be improved for the purpose of protecting children’s rights in the country. The current version does not provide for fundamental aspects of children’s rights recognized by international treaties, such as protection of children from violence, labour exploitation, the duty of the state to take care of children, to ensure children’s development, true interests, rights of participation and more.
The Coalition's full list of recommendations can be found in Georgian on their website here, and in English on ChildPact's website here.