Child's Rights Are Abused in Georgia

Journalistic Investigation

International experts call upon the Georgian Government not to lower age of the criminal responsibility from 14 to the age of 12. "Georgian Legislation is severe and inflexible. You easily criminalize children. If you make these amendments to your legislation, your country will certainly be responsible to UN committee," concluded international expert, Karolyn Hamilton from Britain. She criticizes the situation in the child's rights in Georgia.

UNICEF office in Georgia invited the expert of the child's rights and professor at the Essex University. The visit aimed at reviewing the situation of juvenile offending and preparing recommendations to Georgia. The professor confesses that she was shocked by the situation. She hopes that the Georgian Government should take the recommendations of the international experts into consideration.

The Georgian Parliament discusses the amendments to the Art 33 of the Georgian Criminal Code. According to those amendments the age of the criminal responsibility will lower from 14 to the age of 12.

Experts against Amendments

During her visit in Georgia, the expert met representatives of the Georgian Government. She studied the legislation and the issues relating to the children. The expert made conclusions and prepared recommendations on the filed. The professor said that the lowering of the age of responsibility will cause serious problems for Georgia. She is aware that the Georgian government wants to prevent the crime of the children of twelve and thirteen year olds. However, she answers the question herself: "Would reducing the age result in lower rates of offending? It is unlikely that such deterrent will work well at this age."

It is also disputable whether the accusation of 12-14-year-old children would reduce the number of offending. Karolyn Hamilton answers this question on the basis of the western experience: "Research from the Western Europe shows that contact with the police through arrest and trial has a seriously negative impact on children. It can impact their education, family life and psychic.

Researches in Western Europe and the USA, shows that juveniles, who have been given custodial sentence have the worst rate of recidivism. Nearly 80 % re-offend within two years. The reason for this recidivism is well known. It is not unreasonable to conclude that reducing the age might very well result in an overall increase in offending rates rather than the desired reduction."

The expert is concerned about the inflexible system of the juvenile justice in Georgia. More precisely, the child, who gets into this system, can not leave it and cannot become a normal citizen. She said that alternative system for children should exist in Georgia.

"The alternative should focus particularly on the children. For instance, the children in the west are not sent to the prisons or other detention settings. There are alternative punishments, such as bail and a family style detention setting, where they are under supervision.  Georgia differs from the western countries in one more topic too. Children are very easily criminalized in your country. In the west child is not declared a criminal and an offender. He is placed under the charge of some social service offices and not in the criminal settings," said the expert and gives concrete examples.

She said that in Britain, 234,000 children were detained in 2002. Only 2000 of them were sent to prison. While in Georgia 75% of the children are subjected to custodial punishment.

The expert considers that Georgian penitentiary system is not ready to accept 12-14 years old children. Neither policemen, nor lawyers, prosecutors, investigators nor prison personnel are specially trained in Georgia. However, UN convention on the Rights of the Child directly demands that.

142 young prisoners are in one cell

"I witnessed disaster in Avchala prison. 142 young prisoners are placed in one cell. I was shocked. There is no educational establishment for them there. They have some facility looking like a school, but there are no places to sit there. As for the beds, I could not notice 142 beds in the cell. They might sleep in turns. What we except from these children if we keep them in such establishments. I doubt that such penitentiary setting could do any good to juvenile offenders in their future life," the expert told the journalist for the Human Rights Centre.

British professor makes her conclusion regarding the pre-trial detention setting, where she could not see anything better than in other settings: "There is a high use of pre-trial detention in Georgia for juveniles who are under investigation for an offence. Children spent a long time in pre-trial detention, some of the present children having been there for more than a year. During their detention, the children receive no education and only come out of their cells for a maximum of two hours a day."

"They get virtually no exercise and offered no activity. The conditions are extremely poor and amount to a violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Minimum Standards and Norms. It is difficult to see how younger children would manage in such an environment, and is likely to lead to a high rate of depression and mental health problems. It is another problem that there is not separate isolator for juvenile offenders and they are place with elder prisoners."

International Convention

The UN Convention on the Rights of the child, which Georgia has ratified and which forms part of Georgian law, requires the State to establish a minimum age of criminal responsibility. Up until now, in Georgia, that age has been 14. This is in line with many other member states of the Council of Europe.

Only the common law states of the UK and Ireland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and France having an age lower than 14. The low age of the criminal responsibility in these states has been specifically criticized by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. They are now considering whether to issue a general statement in which the age of 15 is promoted as the appropriate age for criminal responsibility.

Thus, Ms Hamilton is sure that Georgia would undoubtedly be responsible for the issue. "Georgia would undoubtedly be questioned on any reduction of the age of criminal responsibility before the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, who would regard this as a retrograde step," said the expert.

Recommendations

As for the recommendations, she has given to the Georgian Government, they consist of four paragraphs:
a. It would be helpful if the government undertook research to ascertain the scale of criminal offending by 12 and 13 year olds and the nature of that offending, if it has not already been done.

b. Any changes to the juvenile justice system should be considered after the juvenile justice review being undertaken at the request of Government has been completed by UNICEF.

c. Rather than reduce the age of criminal responsibility, consideration should be given to the establishment of a national crime prevention program aimed at juveniles and to ensuring that the system for 14-18 year olds meets international standards
d. Consideration should be given to the development of community based alternative sentencing schemes to meet the objectives of rehabilitation and reintegration.

Karolyn Hamilton explained to us what kind of means experts have to influence the Georgian Government to implement their recommendations. "Georgia should not pass these amendments. The final decision is up to the Parliament. We can only advise. Lobbying has some benefit as well. The result is that this draft law was not adopted on the first voting. During our last meeting representatives of the government promised me to take my advice into consideration and the group of experts would be set up for the purpose."

What do they think in UN office?

Maia Kurtsikidze, the head of the UNICEF office in Georgia, does not approve the proposed amendments to the Georgian Legislation either. She said in her conversation with the Human Rights Centre that the aforementioned draft law does not consider the rights and interest of the child at all.

Maia Kurtsikidze said that "the initiative is not relevant to international practice and standards. Our judiciary system is not ready to accept 12-14 year old offenders. We should certainly take the experience of the western countries into consideration. They do not place children into the prison at all, they are sent to social service centers. We should remember that the essential principle is to protect the rights and the interests of the child."

Journalist: What is your position regarding the rights of the child in Georgia?

Kurtsikidze: Unfortunately, we have not looked into the problem. As for the street children, they are long-term problem for our country. We do not have the estimated number of children who live in the street. We intend to carry out a survey next year.

Journalist: You have mentioned street children who are mostly begging in the streets. It has become a business for them…

Kurtsikidze: Yes, it is. Some children are really poor, and for others, it is kind of a business. The reason is that very often their parents force them into the street to beg and then make them hand over their money. In 2007, we will certainly review the situation about street children, since this is the category that could easily be trafficked."

'I must give ten lari to Borik a day"

Although the survey on the rights of the child has not been carried out in Georgia, the large number of children begging in the street presents a stark picture of their rights being violated. Some of them beg because of poverty, but for others, it is a family business. One of our respondents is a ten-year-old girl, Ela, who must give ten lari to her father everyday. She agreed to talk with us in exchange for two lari, because she was wasting her precious time.  She told us her age and name at the very beginning and spoke for only five minutes.

Journalist: Ela, Why are you begging?

Ela: I must raise some money.

Journalist: Why do you need money?

Ela: I must give it to Borik, my father.

Journalist: How much do you get a day?

Ela: Borik would beat me if I do not give him ten lari a day. He would not let me into the house and would not feed me. He treats all of us the same way. 

Journalist:Where do you live, and who are other children?

Ela: I live far from here. The other children also live there, and each of them should give money to Borik. He beat Gosha once so much that he broke his nose. We all go home together.  Nesi is older, and he counts the money. We cannot count. If any of us does not have ten lari, another should give him enough. Borik meets us at the door, and if each of us gives him ten lari, he will let us in. He gives us food, and there is a room where we all can sleep."

Five minutes passed and Ela ran away, saying she had no more time.