Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

Thirty-three % of Street Children Is Georgian

April 2, 2007

“One of the main reasons for children to go out into the street to beg is hard socio-economical conditions at their families,’ this is the conclusion of the International Organization “World Vision-Georgia’ that carried out a survey within the framework of the project “Coming from the Street.” The results of the survey were represented today by the project authors at the press-conference held at the hotel Tbilisi Marriott.

Since June of 2006 till March of 2007 the organization members questioned 285 children, 88 out of whom were seriously investigated. Shota Shubladze, the project manager, pointed out that the aim of the survey was to estimate the real situation regarding the children’s labor in Tbilisi; they wanted to identify the life style and problems of the so-called street children who encouraged them to go out into the street to beg. The survey figured out the places where such children gather in Tbilisi.

According to the survey results, 75 % of the street children are male. It must also be pointed out that only seven out of them are orphan with both parents. The main occupation for those children is begging and hard physical work. Some of them were suspected for tiny thievery and hooliganism.

As for their ethnicity, 62 % of the children are gipsy, 33 % is Georgian and the rest 5% belongs to various nationalities.

Shubladze said that the survey showed the lack of the concrete mechanisms that would guarantee the execution of corresponding legislation despite the numerous articles in the state legislation that should protect children’s rights.

The authors of the project worked out some recommendations in order to resolve the problems that emerged during the survey. One of the recommendations envisages the prohibition of juvenile’s beggary, particularly of the infants; a network of the psycho-social service should be set up, to simplify the registration and identification process of the street children and their families, etc.

Source: Media News

News