New enterprise aims to rehabilitate former prisoners

Georgia is taking action to help former prisoners and former drug abusers rehabilitate and reintegrate into society in a useful, constructive way.

Today Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani opened a cafeteria at Tbilisi Public Service Hall, which employed former inmates and drug abusers.

The Minister said the cafe would become a source of income for the staff and it would also allow them to gain useful skills to find better jobs in the future. It was also a chance for the former inmates to reintegrate with society in a safe, public setting.

The cafe also employed family members of former prisoners.

The new social enterprise was part of the program Socio-Economic Integration Through Social Enterprise Development to Address the Problem of Drug Abuse Among Georgian Nationals Including Returning and Potential Migrants. The program was initiated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and funded by the State Secretariat for Migration of Switzerland (SEM).

The Swiss Ambassador to Georgia Lukas Beglinger and head of the IOM Mission to Georgia Iliana Derilova attended today’s opening ceremony.

Meanwhile the Rehabilitation and Resocialisation of Former Prisoners program started in Georgian in 2013. Since then hundreds of ex-inmates and their family members were offered employment or had their business ideas funded by the program.