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One year passed after the re-establishment of the Child’s Rights Center at the Office of Public Defender of Georgia What are the problems, that we have confronted during this period of time? The problems we have chosen are fundamental and each of them needs to be solved indispensably:
1. Lack of Fundamental Legislation on the Child 1. One of the basic problems, that forms numerous of others is that there is no special national law on the child in Georgia, protecting his rights.
In its concluding observations on the second periodic report of Georgia on the implementation of the Convention, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends that the State party continue its efforts to bring domestic law into compliance with the Convention in a more comprehensive and with a stronger rights-based focus. The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary measures to ensure the effective implementation of all legislation relevant to the Convention. In this regard, the Committee recommends the consideration of drafting and adopting a comprehensive children’s rights act. According to the Ministry of Justice, a comprehensive legislative act concerning children’s rights has not been adopted in Georgia. Children’s rights are regulated in accordance with following legislative acts: The Law “On the State Support for Children and Youth Unions”, The Law “On the Adoption of Orphans and Children Lacking Parental Care”, The Law “On the Elimination of Domestic Violence, Protection of and Assistance to the Violence Victims”, The Law “On General Education”. Recommendation in the Public Defender’s Parliamentary Report from 2004: “Legislation should be analyzed and amendments should be introduced into the laws. If necessary, new laws shall be adopted in order for harmonisation with international standards”. The State should improve the approach to the child’s issues (both on the legislative and administrative levels) and make it more systematic in order to avoid making nonconsecutive, hasty steps. The child rights yet are not the leading priority of state policy.
2. Amendments in the Criminal Code of Georgia The most vivid example of this is a new amendment in the Criminal Code, adopted by the Parliament.
On December 29, 2006 on its Special Session the Georgian Parliament accepted with the First Listening amendments to the Criminal Code of Georgia. The subject of our interest is the amendment that proposed reduction of the age of criminal responsibility from the age of 14 to the age of 12 with respect to certain crimes. Later the amendment has been finally accepted. The age limit is important, but in the case of Georgia it is more important the juvenile offender’s reality, which he has to face in the correctional facilities; putting the child in jail is a direct path for him to develop as a pure criminal, thus the first and the only mistake can turn into his/her lifestyle. The explanatory note to “The Amendments to Criminal Code of Georgia” reads that the main reason for approval of this bill is the fact that the Georgian Criminal Law goes through the perfection process. The UNICEF consultant, Professor Carolyn Hamilton, Children’s Legal Centre of the University of Essex, states : From the appeal of the Public Defender of Georgia to the Parliament of Georgia: · The government does not offer an alternative; it begins straightly with hardening the punishment. We think that there is an alternative way to react on the crimes, rather than lowering the age of criminal responsibility. · Instead of toughening the criminal amenability of juveniles the preventive measures and the effective methods for education and rehabilitation of youth under investigation have to be worked out. · recommendation - it must be elaborated the state strategy about the juvenile development. It must be elaborated a working group on the juvenile justice issues, where will participate UNICEF, UNDP, the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Education, the Public Defender’s office. The parliament has taken into consideration some of the recommendations of the PD – amendments have been introduced into some laws; such as, trainings for prosecutors and judges; juvenile offenders should be differentiated according to the age inside the detention facilities. We have to study the background of the high level of violence among teens and answer the question: is the school and other children institutions ready to overcome the violence against children. Then elaborate effective and adequate ways sharing the best international practice. 3. ISPA Survey on VAC
With this aim in view, Bearing in mind the importance of the implementation of recommendations of the final Study Report of Professor Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro to the UN General Assembly and the current situation in the country – high level of juvenile crime and popularity of violent behavioral models among teens, the Center in cooperation with the “Georgian Professional Psychologists Association” (section of School Psychologists) and ISPA has initiated the research on VAC. The questionnaire, worked out by EI - ISPA-ISCAN, aims at investigating the existence of policy on VAC in Georgian schools and how much this policy needs to be improved. The survey will interview: school teachers, students, school related other professionals (school principals, lawyers, psychologists) and parents.
The I stage of the Survey (300 respondent teachers) has been already finished and basic results will be processed and complete descriptive analyses will be worked out by the research group of ISPA. Then we shall be able to make first conclusions. The question arises how the state improves the welfare of the children from poor families? According to the recommendation of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the State party take the necessary measures for a child’s rights oriented implementation of the National Plan of Action. Proceeding from this recommendation, in conformity with a decree of the Government of Georgia (dated April 2005) “ On the Governmental Plan of the protection of Children and De-Institutionalization, the Approval of regulations for Governmental Commission the Protection of Children and De-Institutionalization”, the governmental Commission has been created and the „Programme on Alternative Forms of Care for Orphans and Children Deprived of Parental Care in Residential Institutions“ was developed.
A primary goal of the Commission is to ensure effective implementation of the governmental Plan of action on children defense and de-institutionalization in Georgia. According to the Programme, these children and their families are provided with urgent aid, material-technical basis of residential institutions (orphanages, special boarding schools, infant houses etc.) is strengthened, and deinstitutionalization, further education and leisure of orphans and children deprived of parental care is ensured.
However, within the process of its implementation we have discovered a number of very significant problems: Situation in the state institutions is still heavy, many problems here remain acute:
1. Conditions at the institutions with handicapped children are still far from international standards; 3.The process of reorganization of closed state children homes needs time. Meanwhile Child Institutions are left without proper care – in order “they should be reorganized”. The Public Defender recommended the Ministry of Education to work out more efficient intermediate sub-programs.
Which problems we considered most important to be solved?
These are the queries, that should be answered in order to go further – continue the work more effectively and put forward a proper strategy.
It is clear, that in some countries by various reasons the age of criminal responsibility is even lower, but the age of 12 according to the Committee is considered to be the lowest and during the last decades in most countries tendency of raising the average age for child’s criminal responsibility is evident.
“The lowering of the age of criminal responsibility would raise some very fundamental issues for Georgia. These relate not only to respect of international obligations which form part of the law of Georgia, but also to the manner in which the system addresses the needs of children at risk of offending and those who have offended. Question must be asked whether reducing the age of criminal responsibility is the most effective way of reducing offending behaviour in this group, and whether criminalizing these children would reduce offending behaviour. It needs to be remembered in any discussion of juvenile justice, that the underlying purpose of such a system should be rehabilitation and reintegration (Art 37 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child)”.
4. Deinstitutionalisation
2. The number of children, living in orphanages and institutions, is still big;
Majority of the children in state residencies are not orphans. Parents put them into residencies themselves. Without proper social and financial support poor families will not be able to care about their children and the state won’t be able - to stop the process of filling institutions with new streams.
Here, and not only here, the problem arises of social workers institutn
Despite our active involvement in the overcoming process of abovementioned problems, the main priority of the Centre falls on our relationships with children themselves. For us it’s important to know their opinion, support them in acknowledging their rights and their formation as good citizens.
5. CoE and UNICEF
With this aim and with support of CoE and participation of UNICEF, in April-October, 2007 the Centre is fulfilling the project “Our View”.
The project implies to organize the Summer Camp for 40 school students of age 13-14, series of trainings in civil education, psychology, child’s rights, Children Drawing Exhibition.
The project has an integration character and concerns the children of different regions of Georgia –students of Public Schools and the children from Children’s’ State Institutions.
The project will assist development of civil consciousness and establishment of the healthy life style in the youth.
The idea of the project and the experience of the organizations involved, serves as fundamental basis to achieve the main goals of the project:
1. Integration
2. Informal civil education
3. Evolving the creativity.
1. 2. 3.
Owner: The Office of the Public Defender of Georgia; Child's Rights Center