Recommendation nº13: Increase international cooperation devoted to protecting the rights of the child, of women and of migrants workers (Recommended by Philippines)
IRI: fully implemented Public Defender response:
[...] International cooperation and support has significantly increased in the field of women rights during recent years for improving the legislation and implementing the best practices. However, cooperation needs to be strengthened in certain fields in order to institute the high standards for protecting the women rights, which will be in compliance with the international experience: such fields are – increasing the participation of women in political processes, protection of women from gender-based discrimination, harassment of women at workplace, identification of sexual violence against women, prevention, response – Anna Arganashvili.
* In 1994 Georgia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and undertook implementation of its principles at the legislative and executive levels as well. As a state party of the convention, Georgia submits regular reports on the situation of the rights of the child in Georgia to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Geneva, once every 5 years. Georgia is a member of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children. This organization is an effective international platform for monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Georgia Country Office of the UNICEF supports the state to implement the principles of the Convention in the country. Besides, UNICEF also supports the cooperation between the state and NGO sector working on the issues of children.
Recommendation nº14: Continue measures in the field of women and child's rights protection (Recommended by Azerbaijan)
IRI: fully implemented Public Defender response:
• The state is implementing the National Deinstitutionalization Plan 2013-2015
• The state is implementing the foster care program
• After shutting down the large-size orphanages of Soviet times, the children lacking care were placed in small group homes. There are 44 small group homes like this in Georgia.
• Abandonment prevention services are offered, such as the shelters for mothers and children.
Georgia is implementing the activities stipulated in the National Action Plan created based on the international standards of human rights. However, the significant drawback is the lack of monitoring of effectiveness and efficiency of these activities, and the lack of analysis of how these activities change particular variables (quality of life, inclusion, etc.).
Recommendation nº15: Incorporate the principle of the best interest of the child in all programmes and policies (Recommended by Hungary)
IRI: partially implemented Public Health Foundation of Georgia (PHFG) response:
The system and procedures concerning protection of children from all forms of violence is not fully child-centered and child-friendly. There is a lack of multisectoral cooperation in case of child abuse and lack of professionals with relevant skills to interview children in cases of violence. It is essential to train professionals to make the interviewing process based on the child's best interests and avoid child’s additional traumatisation.
Public Defender response:
The state is implementing the following programs:
• State Program on Social Rehabilitation and Childcare for 2013 (Resolution #74 of the Government of Georgia dated March 28, 2013). Development prevention, early diagnostics.
• Small Group Homes Program for Children
• Day Care Centers for Children
• Childcare standards are developed for daycare centers (Decree of the Minister of Health, Labor and Social Affairs of Georgia #01-59/n, August 30, 2012, on Approving Childcare Standards)
• Foster Care Program
• Program for Reintegration with Biological Family.
Georgia is implementing the activities stipulated in the National Action Plan created based on the international standards of human rights. However, the significant drawback is the lack of monitoring of effectiveness and efficiency of these activities, and the lack of analysis of how these activities change particular variables (quality of life, inclusion, etc.).
Recommendation nº18: Increase the support to children with disabilities so that they can live in the community and avoid their institutionalization (Recommended by Canada)
IRI: partially implemented +
Recommendation nº19: Increase support to children with disabilities to live in the community to avoid institutionalization (Recommended by Denmark)
IRI: partially implemented COG response:
The state program of Social rehabilitation and Child Care Exists which includes subprograms for prevention of child abandonment and support families to cope with challenges related to child disability. This subprograms include:
Day Centers - serving child habilitation-rehabilitation and development ;
Provision of the 0-6 years children under the risk of abandonment with artificial food products;
Early child development - service of professionals to develop the social, cognitive, self-care and communication abilities for integration of the persons with mental and physical retardation into the society;
Financial pension for the children with disabilities;
Besides, there is alternative care for children with disabilities - foster care. In spite of the existence of these services, it can be said that availability of such services is not ensure for all children because of restrictions by child age, social status of the family (e.g. criteria to be registered in the "unified database of the socially vulnerable families with certain rating scores, "lack of service providers, especially in regions of the country and problems in the process of definition disability status which is important for inclusion children in services. Stigma in society and mentioned problems cause remaining children in institutions.
Public Defender response:
Deinstitutionalization and supporting the linkages with a biological family of the child represents an overwhelming priority of the state within the child welfare frameworks of the Government of Georgia by developing various alternative services, although deinstitutionalization has not reached the institutions for children with disabilities.
There are no small group homes for the children with disabilities in the country.
Although the foster care service is underway for them, they are accompanied with a whole range of gaps, which is caused by insufficient studies of the needs of beneficiaries, a little number of respective alternative services, and the lack of their monitoring and regulations. There are frequent cases of abandoning the child because of disabilities. Their adoption process is also complicated, which is the result of stigma and stereotypes within the society. The country does not have homecare programs for the children with disabilities. On the background of the inclusive education, neither are there mechanisms for financing and monitoring the home schooling. Habilitation/rehabilitation/early prevention is inaccessible geographically, and neither it covers full number of children with needs, or whole spectrum of disabilities.
Unfortunately, the abandonment prevention service, like the deinstitutionalization process, has not reached the children with disabilities yet:
• There are no inclusive small group homes for children;
• There are daycare centers for the children with disabilities, which are financed by the Ministry of Health based on the voucher system, but the capacity of centers is 800 children and they cannot meet the demand of the whole country – more than 8,500 children with disabilities;
• Daycare centers do not envisage the specific care service for children with disabilities, based on the type and degree of disability;
• We think that one of the grounds of abandonment, especially for the families on the poverty line, is the difference between the funding envisaged for foster care program, and the funding for the program of reintegration with a biological family – a foster family gets 450 GEL per child, and 600 GEL per child with disability, whereas the biological parent gets 90 GEL a month if the child is returned to the family through the reintegration program.
[...]
Recommendation nº20: Strengthen support to children with disabilities (Recommended by Bangladesh)
IRI: partially implemented COG response:
[see response to recommendation n°18]
+
Inclusive education is one of the priorities of Ministry of Education, multidisciplinary team of specialists exists to support inclusion of children with disabilities in schools, but still, there are gaps in providing effective inclusive education. In rural areas inclusive education is much more problematic, where infrastructure, professionals and attitudes towards children in society is not appropriate.
Public Defender response:
[see response to recommendation n°18]
+
Activities for educating the parents of children with disabilities, for raising their awareness, also for supporting and empowering them, are carried out within the frameworks of some projects of the NGO sector; state involvement in such projects is very low, which is especially reflected on the lives of children with disabilities residing in the regions, majority of whom live in poverty.
Recommendation nº23: Pay further attention to women's rights and gender equality issues at the policy making level (Recommended by Sri Lanka)
IRI: partially implemented Public Defender response:
Recently there has been some progress observed on the policy level in regards to promoting the gender equality issues. For example, under the Decree #32 of the Prime Minister of Georgia dated February 6, 2013, following positions were added to the staff roster of the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia: assistant of the Prime Minister for the issues of human rights and gender equality. However, despite
this, ensuring gender equality in various fields of state policy is still weak, among them in regards to elaboration and implementation of social, educational and healthcare policy.
Union Sapari (Sapari) response:
Partially Implemented. The action plan for gender equality fro 2011-2013 is in force, but much of the actions have not been implemented.
Recommendation nº24: Further implement policies to advance women's role in society and combat gender-based discrimination and violence (Recommended by Brazil)
IRI: not implemented Public Defender response:
It is important that the state has strengthened its efforts for elaborating the anti-discrimination legislation in regards to the elimination of anti-discrimination based on sex and gender identity. However, the state has not adopted any particular policy document for eliminating the discrimination, except the Gender Equality Action Plan, which cannot be considered to be a sufficient instrument for eliminating all forms of discrimination based on sex and gender identity in all the spheres of life. As evidenced by the complaints filed to the Public Defender, identification of facts of discrimination based on sex and gender identity remains to be a significant problem.
We also come across with the cases of violence committed on the grounds of sex and gender identity, out of which the important one is the violence against the LGBT community on May 17, 2013 and domestic violence. According to the Report of the Public Defender of Georgia, 2013, participation of women in the decisions making process and in public life is still limited. The Ministry of Justice of Georgia has drafted an anti-discrimination law, which ensures certain advancement in this direction
Recommendation nº25: Continue efforts to eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women, particularly in the labour market (Recommended by Ecuador)
IRI: partially implemented Public Defender response:
It is important that the state has strengthened its efforts for elaborating the anti-discrimination legislation in regards to the elimination of anti-discrimination based on sex and gender identity. However, the state has not adopted any particular policy document for eliminating the discrimination, except the Gender Equality Action Plan, which cannot be considered to be a sufficient instrument for eliminating all forms of discrimination based on sex and gender identity in all the spheres of life. As evidenced by the complaints filed to the Public Defender, identification of facts of discrimination based on sex and gender identity remains to be a significant problem, especially when it has to deal with the realization of employment rights of women in the public and private sectors without discrimination. The Ministry of Justice of Georgia has drafted an anti-discrimination law, which ensures certain advancement in this direction.
Sapari response:
Partially implemented. Changes to the labor code of Georgia has been presented by the Ministry of Justice, but has not been adopted by the parlaiment yet.
Recommendation nº26: Intensify efforts on gender equality (Recommended by Spain)
IRI: partially implemented Public Defender response:
Recently there has been some progress observed on the policy level in regards to promoting the gender equality issues. For example, under the Decree #32 of the Prime Minister of Georgia dated February 6, 2013, following positions were added to the staff roster of the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia: assistant of the Prime Minister for the issues of human rights and gender equality. However, despite this, ensuring gender equality in various fields of state policy is still weak, among them in regards to elaboration and implementation of social, educational and healthcare policy.
Recommendation nº38: Reinforce mechanisms for monitoring violence and sexual abuse within the family (Recommended by Bulgaria)
IRI: partially implemented COG response:
Protection of children from abuse is one of the responsibilities of Social Service Agency. There is order "On Approving of the Procedure of Appliance (Referring) to Child Protection". Obligation of detection of facts of violation on a child is imposed to every institution, being into relation with a child, including: school, medical institution, country doctor, special institution of children, the Social Service Agency, district service or patrol police. Application may be also made by any citizen. There is a hotline. Despite mention, violence towards children in families still exist and in many cases it reflects traditional inappropriate punishing child rearing styles.
PHFG response:
Child Welfare Action Plan for 2012-2015 considers establishment of supervision protocols and improvement of management mechanism; also improvement of the control management over the quality of services for children and establishment of protocols for and integration of the supervising system over the service quality is among the planned measures.
Statutory Social Workers carry out monitoring of violence in the family setting. The monitoring mechanism to supervise and monitor fulfillment of social worker’s duties is already developed and its practical integration is in progress.
Public Defender response:
Despite the state is carrying out significant activities in the field of elimination of domestic violence, absence of the system for monitoring the adequacy and effectiveness of these activities remains a gap. This is evidenced by the fact that so far only the Public Defender’s reports reflect the strengths and weaknesses of these activities (monitoring). Besides, the lack of research is another important gap,
together with the non-existing practice of making evidence-based decisions in this field.
Sapari response:
Not implemented. There has not been introduced any mechanisms for the monitoring of violence within the family.
Recommendation nº39: Intensify efforts to combat domestic violence and violence against women (Recommended by Norway)
IRI: partially implemented Public Defender response:
Despite the state is carrying out significant activities in the field of elimination of domestic violence, absence of the system for monitoring the adequacy and effectiveness of these activities remains a gap. This is evidenced by the fact that so far only the Public Defender’s reports reflect the strengths and weaknesses of these activities (monitoring).
Recommendation nº40: Give a prominent role to civil society - not least women's organizations - in efforts to address domestic violence and violence against women and place focus on strengthening public awareness (Recommended by Norway)
IRI: partially implemented Public Defender response:
Civil sector and NGOs represent leading actors in the field of fighting against domestic violence and gender-based violence, but support to them is mostly provided by the international donors, which represents a risk in regards to the stability and sustainability of their activities.
Recommendation nº41: Ensure that there is an accessible mechanism to register cases of domestic violence and provide legal, medical and psychological advice to victims (Recommended by Mexico)
IRI: partially implemented PHFG response:
The Government of Georgia approved a document mandating Child Protection Referral Procedures (CPRP) in 2010. The aim of the document is to support the protection of children from all forms of violence within and outside the family through the establishment of a coordinated and effective protection system. The CPRP is a living document and its advancement is a continuous process along with the available resources and capacities.
10 child-friendly interviewing rooms are established in the 10 regional offices of the State Social Service Agency of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia. Psychological, legal and social advice/support to children affected and at-risk of violence can be provided in all regions of Georgia. This is a significant step forward; however this service is not accessible/does not cover the needs of child victims of domestic violence of the entire population.
Public Defender response:
Public services keep the registry of the cases of domestic violence, but still, the problem is that they fail to provide full legal, medical and psychological counselling.
Usually, only those victims get such services from the state, who find themselves in the shelters for the victims of domestic violence. However, this resource cannot really meet the needs of those victims, who no longer need the shelter – they have already been placed in the shelter, but now they need a long-term legal, psychological and medical service at this stage.
Sapari response:
Partially implemented. New amendments to the criminal code of Georgia enables the state to have accurate statistics regarding domestic violence, but psychological advice or legal and medical advice are not offered to the victims.
Recommendation nº42: Continue efforts to prevent, punish and eliminate all forms of violence against women, and to overcome the stereotypes that cause gender discrimination (Recommended by Argentina)
IRI: not implemented Public Defender response:
Despite the state is carrying out significant activities in the field of elimination of domestic violence, absence of the system for monitoring the adequacy and effectiveness of these activities remains to be a gap. This is evidenced by the fact that so far only the Public Defender’s reports reflect the strengths and weaknesses of these activities (monitoring). Besides, the lack of research is another important gap, together with the non-existing practice of making evidence-based decisions in this field. Continuous education campaign is carried out by the interested parties in regards to awareness-raising.
Sapari response:
Not implemented. The existing criminal legislation does not cover crimes that are directed against women and needs to be further developed and new artciles introduced.
Recommendation nº43: Continue efforts to eliminate domestic violence against women and ensure that women are economically empowered (Recommended by Iraq)
IRI: partially implemented Public Defender response:
Despite the state is carrying out significant activities in the field of elimination of domestic violence, absence of the system for monitoring the adequacy and effectiveness of these activities remains to be a gap. This is evidenced by the fact that so far only the Public Defender’s reports reflect the strengths and weaknesses of these activities (monitoring). Besides, the lack of research is another important gap, together with the non-existing practice of making evidence-based decisions in this field. Continuous education campaign is carried out by the interested parties in regards to awareness-raising. As for the economic empowerment of women, mostly the NGOs are working in this respect; the state has not carried out any comprehensive activities in this direction.
Recommendation nº44: Take steps to prevent child labour by formulating a strategy to eliminate the worst forms of child labour (Recommended by Bulgaria)
IRI: not implemented Public Defender response:
IRI: not implemented Public Defender response: