Committee on the Rights of the Child reviews the report of Georgia

Committee on the Rights of the Child
CRC/17/8

25 January 2017

The Committee on the Rights of the Child today concluded its consideration of the fourth periodic report of Georgia on its implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Introducing the report, Khatuna Totladze, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, said that Georgia’s very first, long-term human rights strategy had been adopted in 2014 while the national action plan for the protection of human rights 2016-2017 contained new commitments for protecting children’s rights.  The comprehensive anti-discrimination law, adopted in 2014, introduced the concept of multiple discrimination, and the 2015 juvenile justice code fully incorporated the principle of the superiority of the best interest of the child, and the principle of detention as the last resort.  The universal health care programme, launched in 2013, provided additional services for children and minors, while the increased funding for maternal and child health care had contributed to the reduction of mortality rates.  Successful reforms had been implemented in the child welfare system, which focused on the closing of large childcare facilities, reintegrating children into families, and developing alternative services such as foster care and small family-type houses.  New child protection referral procedures had been adopted in 2016, expanding the list of responsible entities to refer cases to relevant agencies and identifying corporal punishment as one of the forms of physical violence.

In the discussion that followed, Committee experts commended Georgia for the significant reforms in the legislative and institutional domains.  The laws were generally in line with European and international standards, but their implementation remained an issue, especially in civil matters.  Experts inquired about steps to strengthen the role and number of social workers who played a crucial part in the child care system in Georgia.  The delegation was asked about measures taken to improve service delivery in remote areas of the country, address harmful customs and traditions such as early marriages among ethnic and national minorities, and improve the protection of children in the occupied regions of Abkhazia and Ossetia.  Experts were concerned about sex-selective abortions, abandonment of children with disabilities, the situation of children living in the street, and stateless children.  Violence against children was everywhere – in the family, in schools, and in kindergartens, they noted and asked about steps taken to address this silent problem, including imprisoning parents and teachers who were perpetrators of violence, raising awareness in the society about the phenomenon, and explicitly prohibiting corporal punishment.

Renate Winter, Committee Vice-Chairperson and Co-Rapporteur for Georgia, in her closing remarks urged Georgia to continue to find flexible solutions, in particular in ensuring access to education in the mountains areas during winter, and in increasing the societal acceptance of children with disabilities. 

In her concluding remarks, Ms. Totladze reiterated the commitment of Georgia to follow-up the Committee’s recommendations and the adoption of tools and policies to address the issues raised in the dialogue.

Benyam Dawit Mezmur, Committee Chairperson, in his closing observations took positive note of the high-level and multi-sectoral delegation and thanked them for the detailed answers provided today.

The delegation of Georgia included representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, Ministry for Labour, Health and Social Affairs, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Corrections, Committee for Human Rights Protection and Civic Integration of the Parliament, Supreme Court, Human Rights Protection Secretariat of the Administration of the Government, Chief Prosecutor’s Office, and the Permanent Mission of Georgia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

The next public meeting of the Committee will be at 3 p.m. on 26 January, when it is scheduled to start the consideration of the combined second and third report of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (CRC/C/VCT/2-3).
 
Report

The fourth periodic report of Georgia can be read here: CRC/C/GEO/4.
 
Presentation of the Report

KHATUNA TOTLADZE, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, informed the Committee that Georgia had put in place an inclusive national reporting process to ensure the effective reporting to the United Nations treaty and charter-based bodies.  Special positions had been created at the institutional level, such as the Human Rights Advisor to the President, the Assistant to the Prime Minister on Human Rights and Gender Equality Issues, and the Ambassador at Large on Human Rights within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  A comprehensive and long-term human rights strategy had been adopted for the first time in 2014, while the national action plan for the protection of human rights 2016-2017 contained new commitments for protecting children’s rights.  Its implementation and monitoring was ensured by the Human Rights Inter-Agency Council under the Prime Minister and the Human Rights Secretariat.  The Interagency Commission for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child had been established in December 2016.  The adoption of the comprehensive anti-discrimination law in 2014, which introduced the concept of multiple discrimination, was one of the major developments.  Its implementation was monitored by the Office of the Public Defender and its Centre for Children’s Rights, which supervised the protection and promotion of children’s rights and freedoms. 

Another remarkable development was the adoption of the juvenile justice code in June 2015, which fully incorporated into the legislation the principle of the superiority of the best interest of the child, and the principle of detention as the last resort, while the implementation of the alternative sanction of home arrest for juvenile offenders had started in 2016.  The universal health care programme, launched in 2013, provided additional services for children and minors, while the increased funding for maternal and child health care had contributed to the reduction of mortality rates.  Successful reforms had been implemented in the child welfare system, which focused on closing of large childcare facilities, reintegrating children into families, and developing alternative services such as foster care and small family-type houses.  The national action plan for human rights extensively covered the prevention of trafficking of minors and the provision of child-tailored services, which was also provided through the State fund for protection and assistance to victims of human trafficking.  The education budget had increased by 15 per cent in 2017, the national curriculum had been revised to ensure the quality of education, while a special financial system had been developed to support inclusive education at all levels.  In 2016, several legislative acts had been adopted to ensure free access to identification documents for children in street situations, which opened up access to education, healthcare, social security and other public services. 

New child protection referral procedures had been adopted in 2016, expanding the list of responsible entities to refer cases to relevant agencies and identifying corporal punishment as one of the forms of physical violence.  In 2013, Georgia had ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and was now working on developing legal amendments to provide greater guarantees and protection to persons with disabilities.  The human rights situation in the Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia continued to be of concern, said Ms. Totladze, drawing the Committee’s attention to the systematic and continued abuse of children’s rights by Russia, the occupying power.

Questions from the Experts

HATEM KOTRANE, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Georgia, commended Georgia for the significant reforms in the legislative and institutional domains and asked whether a more general child protection code would be adopted which would harmonize domestic legislation with all aspects of the Convention?

What programmes – including training of the judiciary - were being put in place to ensure that the Convention and its Optional Protocols were more visible and further invoked by national courts?

Which measures would be adopted to implement the Committee’s previous recommendation to allocate specific responsibility for the coordination of the implementation of the Convention to a single body and provide it with sufficient resources?

Given the high rates of poverty in the country, and the reduction in child protection budgets, what was being done to ensure that budgetary resources were allocated as per the Committee’s general comment on budgeting for children’s rights?

How was the State party combatting the phenomenon of sex-selective abortion, including through addressing its root causes and improving access to family planning services?

RENATE WINTER, Committee Vice-Chairperson and Co-Rapporteur for Georgia, recognized the progress made in the country, particularly in passing the laws which were in line with European and international standards, but their implementation remained an issue, especially in civil matters.  What were the plans to address this problem, including through increasing the number of civil servants in all sectors, particularly those of concern to children’s rights?

The civil society in Georgia was strong and present – numerous non-governmental organizations and the Office of the Public Defender - and this could be used to the advantage of the country.

Which measures were being taken to facilitate access to remote areas of the country and improve service delivery?  How were customs and traditions of the population living in those areas addressed and taken into account?

What could be done in the diplomatic sphere to improve the protection of children in the areas of Abkhasia and Ossetia?

With regard to non-discrimination, Ms. Winter noted that Georgia used to be a very tolerant country, particularly on religious issues, but this had changed over the last five or ten years, also due to the poor implementation of the anti-discrimination law.  How was this problem being addressed, including through education, and what steps were being taken to ensure that the State supervised religious centres for the education of children, where discrimination was being reported?  What could be done to bring back the tolerant attitude of citizens to freedom of religion, thoughts and opinion in the society?

The Co-Rapporteur raised concerns about surrogate mothers and their children, which was due to poor understanding and implementation of the law, and which caused long delays in obtaining the child’s nationality.

Violence against children was everywhere – in the family, in schools, and in kindergartens.  What was being done to address this silent problem, including the imprisonment of parents and teachers who were perpetrators of violence, raising awareness in the society about the phenomenon, and explicitly prohibiting corporal punishment?

The legal age of marriage was 18 years, while marriage at the age of 16 was allowed under certain circumstances.  Early marriages were on the rise: between the ages of 16 and 18 throughout the country, and below the age of 16 in specific areas.  What measures were being taken to address this harmful traditional practice, and particularly in these specific areas?

Committee Experts asked the delegation about segregated data collection and how data was shared between different ministries and agencies; school drop-out rates, particularly for boys and pregnant girls, and data on school completion rates for secondary and tertiary levels; measures to combat the emerging problem of child prostitution, especially in tourist areas; whether the increase in the budget of the Office of the Public Defender trickled down to the Centre for Child’s Rights; and how the Centre detected and responded to violations of children’s rights.

The principle of the best interest of the child was not consistently incorporated in the national legislation – how would the national legislation be fully harmonized with the Convention’s principles, in particular the right of a child to be heard?  The delegation was also asked to explain what the school and community youth councils were, how they functioned and what impact they had.  How were children heard in communities?

What system of psycho-social support existed at the community levels in rural areas?  What was being done to increase the number of social workers which was crucial to ensuring the effective protection of children?

How were children with disabilities protected from violence and discrimination?

Responses by the Delegation

Responding, the delegation confirmed that Georgia was working on developing a general framework law for the protection of the rights of the child, in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund.  The delegation did not agree that Georgia was no longer a tolerant country, yes there were some incidents, but the culture of the country valued tolerance; steps were being taken to address all incidents and eliminate intolerance.  Georgia was developing a new concept of the social worker in the law which would be passed by Parliament soon, and following which the institute for social work would be reformed to address weaknesses.

The delegation agreed that the key problem in Georgia was not the lack of laws, but the implementation of the laws, which was not surprising considering that the country was in the process of legal and institutional reform.  The anti-discrimination law was a very good example.  Georgia would be taking additional steps to improve the laws and their implementation.

On early marriages, the delegation said that sexual intercourse with a minor had been criminalized a long time ago, without any exceptions, which opened up the files for the Government to take steps and sanctions.  As for civil recognition of marriages, the possibility of registering early marriages had been removed and only a marriage of persons over 18 years of age could be registered and recognized.

Corporal punishment was explicitly included in the duty of all those entities responsible for reporting violence against children; failure to report entailed an administrative penalty.  The delegation agreed that there should be a piece of legislation prohibiting corporal punishment and Georgia would be working on that.

Just yesterday, the Cabinet had adopted a new legislative initiative regarding the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, and important changes to the criminal code which would, inter alia, criminalize female genital mutilation for the first time.  Georgia was developing a piece of legislation to criminalize pimping, which would be an important step in combatting child prostitution and sexual exploitation of children.

With regard to coordination arrangements, the delegation noted that the national human rights strategy to 2020 was the key document guiding legislative and policy-making activities.  The national action plan for human rights contained specific activities to be implemented, with responsible bodies, timelines and indicators; children’s rights were included as a specific chapter in this plan.  The high-level inter-agency Human Rights Council under the Prime Minister had been created to implement the plan.  The Committee had recommended in its previous concluding observations the creation of a specialized implementation mechanism for the Convention, and in December 2016, Georgia had set up the Interagency Commission, to mainstream and effectively implement the Convention.  The Commission did not have a separate budget as the Human Rights Secretariat at the Office of Prime Minister, which had its own budget, was serving as the Commission’s secretariat.  The Commission was responsible to Parliament, to which it reported annually.

In response to questions on the resources provided to the Centre for Children’s Rights, the delegation explained that the Government increased the budget for the Office of the Public Defender every year.  The distribution of allocated resources internally was at the discretion of the Office, as they saw fit, and the Government could not interfere in this process.

The delegation confirmed that the general framework law for the protection of the rights of the child would incorporate all the principles from the Convention, including the best interest of the child, the right of the child to be heard, and others.

More than 200 judges had received training on various human rights issues and instruments, and the implementation of European and international human rights standards in judicial decisions.  During court proceedings, judges ensured that children were always heard.

Child poverty was still a big issue in Georgia.  The Government had started in 2013 to improve its assessment methodology in order to better understand the situation and improve targeting, and an additional child benefit had been introduced.  As a result of those and other measures, the levels of general poverty had been reduced from 49 per cent in 2009 to 28 per cent in 2013, and 21 per cent in 2015.  The rate of extreme poverty had been reduced as well, from 6 per cent in 2013 to 2.5 per cent in 2015.

The number of social workers in the country was not sufficient, and steps were being taken to allocate more resources to train more professionals and increase the number of social workers hired.  The professional qualification for social workers was being revised, and continuous training was being provided on child rights to all social workers.

Follow-up Questions and Answers

HATEM KOTRANE, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Georgia, expressed satisfaction that Georgia was developing the general framework law for the protection of the rights of the child.  It was not certain that the current coordination mechanism for the implementation of the Convention and the national action plan on human rights would ensure the proper implementation of the activities on the ground.  Mr. Kotrane asked the delegation to inform on cases in which judges applied the Convention directly, and also what would be done to ensure a sufficient number of social workers and provide them with adequate resources to reach all children in need, including in remote areas.

Responding, the delegation said that the current coordination mechanism, which brought high-level people in one room, worked in Georgia.  The work on the ground was the responsibility of social workers who were part of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.  The Interagency Commission for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child was a decision-making body, responsible for policy creation and decision-making, including in the areas of resource allocation, increase of the number of social workers, and others.  Non-governmental organizations were also members of the Commission and they were the ones who also worked on the ground, together with the Office of the Public Defender.  The next meeting of the Commission would focus on the monitoring function of the Centre for Child Rights, and would allocate resources for such work.

In terms of the direct application of the Convention in the court, the delegation explained that judges in Georgia were under an obligation to implement the highest standards, including from international human rights treaties.

The Ministry of Education had a set of actions and preventive measures to raise awareness on prevention and negative consequences of early marriages, which were integrated in the national curriculum, thus reaching every child.  As it was important to also reach communities, particularly in areas where early marriages were practiced, there were programmes targeting parents, teachers, religious leaders and any other authority figures, including from ethnic minority areas.

The number of school-drop outs had been significantly reduced.  There were difficulties in reaching certain areas of Georgia, where most of the schools were small and built high up in mountains.  The education budget had been increased by 15 per cent this year.  Free transportation was being provided to children, but there were some schools where it could not be provide during winter – during those times, there were persons in each village who provided ad hoc lessons to the children.

Quite a lot was being done to include ethnic minorities in the education system, starting from pre-school, and to provide education in the three major ethnic languages, while learning of the other seven smaller languages was included in the curriculum, enabling children to study their own native languages5.  Teachers in such schools were provided with training as well.  In 2015, a programme 4+1 had been introduced to increase the participation of national minorities in tertiary education, whereby they would pass the entry exam in their own language, but would then spend an additional year studying Georgian before embarking on their studies.

The national curriculum had been amended in 2016 to enhance the general quality of education, create a safer environment and develop the civic education of students, including the elimination of all forms of violence.  The success of the reform had been recognized by the Council of Europe and the European Union.  Psychological support was being provided to a number of schools through mobile teams, to provide services to children who were victims of violence and their families; this mechanism would be expanded in 2017.

Questions from the Experts

In the next round of questions, RENATE WINTER, Committee Vice-Chairperson and Co-Rapporteur for Georgia, asked about the progress made on the new plan established by the President and the First Lady on the reception of Syrian refugee families with children, and what support was being provided to refugee and asylum-seeking children who remained in the country?

What measures were in place to increase access to education for girls from national minority groups?

What preventive system was in place to prevent the recruitment of children by ISIS/Da’esh or other terrorist groups?

HATEM KOTRANE, Committee Expert and Rapporteur for Georgia, took note of the system and measures in place to protect children from exploitation and expressed concern about the situation of child labour in the country which was widely practiced.  Of particular concern was the situation of poor children, especially girls, who worked as domestic workers and had to drop out of school.  Georgia had ratified a number of International Labour Organization Conventions, and that was why it was of concern that the disbanded Labour Inspectorate was not being replaced by any other monitoring and inspecting body.

What specific measures were being taken to fight child trafficking?

Another Expert commended the progress made in the deinstitutionalization of children and asked how many children could be placed in small group homes, and about the training of the staff and the harmonization of standards between service providers and the State. 

What programmes were in place to facilitate and prepare children from such homes for reintegration in society and avoid their re-institutionalization?  How long could the children stay in small group homes?

Who was responsible for the monitoring and supervision of foster families?

Social workers played a crucial part in the child care system in Georgia, and that was why it was essential for the Committee to understand the situation well, said another Expert, asking what the Government was doing to improve the situation of social workers.

Was there legislation in place protecting new mothers from being dismissed?

What was the status of the draft law on adoption and foster care? What did it envisage, particularly in terms of exceptions to direct adoption, rules about the adoption of siblings, changes in the adoption process which were very slow, and the support to families in trouble to prevent the separation of children from their families?  Did adopted children have the right to receive information about their biological families?

On children with disabilities, Experts noted that the main problem continued to be a lack of social awareness which was reflected in a high number of abandoned children and a high number of children with disabilities in institutions.  What was being done to change such societal attitudes?

Inclusive education was legally binding, but what did this mean in practice and what was the system in Georgia?

How did sexual and reproductive health education programmes address the high rate of early pregnancies and the high number of abortions?

What was the impact of the mental health strategy and programme 2014-2020?

With regard to infant, child and maternal mortality, the delegation was asked about the results of the decentralization programme for perinatal care, a model for detecting stunting before the age of three, and the impact of closing of health care centres on child mortality.  What health care was being provided to children living in prisons?

What were the results of the national HIV/AIDS policy and what was being done to stop mother-to-child transmission?

Did Georgia have a strategy and programmes to reduce poverty and inequality and did such programmes include access to affordable housing?

On quality of education, Committee Experts noted that two thirds of 15 year olds had functional literacy problems, and teachers were poorly qualified – what measures were in place to address this problem?  What was the authority of the State over private education institutions?

There were more than 2,500 children living in the street and this was one of issues of concern.  What was being done to provide services to those children and support their social reintegration?

In 2016, the number of stateless persons had been reduced from 1,100 to 600, not because of naturalization but simply because they had left the country.  How many children were among the 600 stateless persons and what was being done to provide them with nationality?

Responses by the Delegation

The delegation reiterated concern about the human rights situation in the occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.  The Government kept the international community appraised of the situation there, while the so-called Geneva International Discussion was the only international forum through which the violations of the rights of ethnic Georgians could be discussed.  Twenty per cent of Georgia’s territory was occupied by Russia, where children were victims of violations largely committed by Russia’s armed forces.  The situation of health and education was particularly grave in the occupied territories and that was why the focus of the Government’s efforts was on providing health care and social-economic assistance to children there.

The labour law had been abolished in 2006, as it only cared for the rights of employers and not their obligations, and for the obligations of employees but not their rights.  The reform of the labour law sought to restore at least the basic rights of employees.  The legislative process was always a political process and many conflicting interests were linked with labour reform, and therefore progress was slow.

There were 580 stateless persons and of those 12 were children up to the age of 16.  To reduce statelessness, particularly among children, several legislative initiatives had been adopted, such as the Presidential contingency decree used when citizens renounced Georgian nationality, and which went into effect only if a citizenship of another country was secured and evidence to that effect was produced, or when there were strong guarantees that the citizenship of another State would be obtained.  Other initiatives included granting the nationality to children of stateless parents living in the territory of Georgia, and the five-year residency rule under which nationality could be granted after five years of residency bar security concerns, and the nationality certificates could be issued by local governments.

The law on domestic violence criminalized child abuse and neglect, while the new child protection mechanism extended the list of entities with the obligation and duty to report and refer such cases to the police and social services.  The new mechanism also included detailed guidance on the separation of the child from a perpetrator, even if the perpetrator was a parent.  This was evidence that violence against children was not considered a family matter and that the State and public agencies intervened in all cases.

Legal amendments to the civil code and the civil procedure code had been introduced to ensure their harmonization with the provisions of the Convention.  The Convention was invoked by judges in their rulings, for example in child abduction cases.

One of the priorities of the Government was addressing the situation of children living in the street.  One of the measures was the adoption of the law which enabled children to access identification documents, and so access public services, including health, education and social services.  Mobile teams were in place which visited streets, identified children and provided them with State-run services.  The number of children in street situations was not known, as no study had been conducted on the matter; mobile teams identified and involved some 700 children and involved them in State services.  Funds had been provided for the identification of children living in the street at night and for their social reintegration.  In order to better understand the root causes of this phenomenon and to put in place an adequate programme to address it, research would be conducted in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund in 2017, and would target children in street situations in Georgia and in neighbouring Azerbaijan.

Family planning services had been integrated in primary health care, delivered throughout the country.  Sexual and reproductive health education of adolescents was a sensitive issue in the country, and there was a plan to create youth-friendly reproductive health care in the primary health care system.  The Ministry of Health had developed a protocol prohibiting ultrasound technicians to reveal the sex of a foetus until 12 weeks of gestation, as a measure to address sex-selective abortion.  A maternal and new born health strategy 2017-2030 was being developed, which would also address access to contraceptives and family planning services.

Measures to reduce infant and child mortality had resulted in a significant reduction of rates, which in 2015 stood at 10.1 per 1,000 live births for children under the age of five; 6.1 per 100,000 live births for neonates; and 8 per 1,000 live births for infants.  About 60 per cent of the deaths of children under five were among infants, which meant that Georgia focused its attention to pre-natal and peri-natal services.

The new law on child care facilities had been adopted in 2016 which obliged all service providers in the domain of foster care or small group homes to comply with the State standards by September 2017.  As a rule, children could stay in small group homes until the age of 18, or until the end of their schooling.  The draft law on adoption and foster care prohibited the separation of siblings through the adoption process and instituted mandatory training of adoptive parents.  Disclosure of adoption secrets was prohibited without the consent of the biological parents, adoptive parents and the adoptee; the real place and date of birth were stored until the adoptive parents decided to disclose it or until the adoptee reached the age of majority.

Follow-up Questions and Answers

In their follow-up questions, Committee Experts asked about the work of the central authority for inter-country adoption which were reportedly understaffed and lacked human and financial resources to enable the effective management of the caseload.

On statelessness, how many children above the age of 16 were stateless, and what were the security reasons that would prevent children from obtaining nationality?

What complaints mechanisms were in place for children in foster homes or did they have a person of confidence they could turn to?

Responding, the delegation said that the children were stateless because they were in the process of acquiring the nationality of another country, given the fact that the Constitution prohibited double citizenship.

Children’s rights in the correction field were in line with international standards.  At the moment, there were only 13 juveniles in detention compared to more than 100 several years ago.  There were six social workers and a psychologist, while health care was being provided through the newly rehabilitated and equipped health unit.  The education of juvenile inmates was provided by the Ministry of Education, through the School 24, and all 13 juveniles were attending school.  All of them were also involved in individual sentence planning, together with correctional officers, social workers, and teachers.

Drug use by youth was a challenge and measures were being taken to decrease drug use, including criminalization of the use of home-made drugs in 2014 through amendments to the criminal code, and the regulation of the use of psychoactive substances.

Responses by the Delegation
     
The law recognized six types of violence: physical, sexual, economical, psychological, coercion and neglect; corporal punishment was not a separate form of violence as it was presumed to be physical violence.

One of the measures to prevent early marriages was regular meetings with parents of high school students, during which they were presented with information about the negative consequences of early marriage from the health, economic and legal perspectives.

The asylum system in Georgia was being strengthened and brought in line with international standards, including the non-penalization of illegal entry and the absolute respect of the principle of non-refoulement.  A new law on international protection would enter into force on 1 February 2017; it was in full compliance with the 1951 Refugee Convention and its Optional Protocols and set standards for the treatment of unaccompanied minors and children in international migration.  The law set out three types of protection: core protection extended to refugees, humanitarian status, and temporary protection.  Special procedures for children in the asylum system were in place: children were considered as persons with special needs; children and their families were prioritized in the provision of adequate accommodation; and unaccompanied minors were provided with caregivers as soon as possible.  The non-discrimination clause was strictly respected in all steps of the asylum process, and special attention was given to the determination of the best interest of the child.

With regard to internally displaced persons, the delegation reaffirmed that the law guaranteed the same standard of living as the non-displaced population, particularly for children.  In 2014, the new law on internally displaced persons had been adopted and it enshrined the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, and guaranteed the protection of life, security and dignity, decent living conditions, and non-discrimination.  The new law also regulated the legal ownership of the living premises in places of return controlled by the Government. 

One of the most important issues was family reunification.  The registration of internally displaced persons had been improved and the database was being updated on a daily basis to provide the most accurate figures on the 273,000 displaced persons.  The Government also took steps to provide internally displaced persons with durable housing, through purchase, loans, mortgage, and other means.  

Education was among key priorities for the Government as illustrated by the 15 per cent increase in the budget, which had reached, for the first time since independence, 3.1 per cent of the gross domestic product.  The quality of education was a priority for the Ministry of Education, which had completed the revision of the curriculum up to the sixth grade last year, and was set to complete the revision of the remaining grades this year.  Over the last four years, 40,000 teachers had been trained, and last year a teacher assessment system had been introduced. 

Concluding Remarks

RENATE WINTER, Committee Vice-Chairperson and Co-Rapporteur for Georgia, thanked the delegation for the open and clear-cut conversation in which a wealth of information was provided, chiefly about the legislation but not so much about their implementation, simply because many of those laws were new.  Flexible solutions must be found for education, particularly in the mountains areas during winter, and in the societal acceptance of children with disabilities. 

KHATUNA TOTLADZE, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, expressed sincere gratitude to the members of the Committee for their constructive engagement in the dialogue which provided them with the picture of progress and accomplishments in the area of children’s rights.  Georgia remained committed to follow-up the Committee’s recommendations and adopt tools and policies to address the issues raised.

BENYAM DAWIT MEZMUR, Committee Chairperson, noted that the delegation was high-level and multi-sectoral and thanked the delegation for their detailed answers.

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