UNICEF ready to support transfer of children from Ninotsminda boarding school following abuse scandal
UNICEF Georgia recommends that any support should be directed towards strengthening families and keeping children in families rather than funding the large-scale care facilities. Photo: video grab.
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UNICEF Georgia (United Children’s Emergency Fund) says it is ready to support the Georgian government in moving children from Ninotsminda boarding school to family and community-based care amidst allegations of physical and sexual abuse.
On June 6, Tbilisi City Court ruled that children with disabilities must be removed from the boarding school.
UNICEF Georgia says that the removal of children from institutions should be carried out carefully and the best interests of children should be prioritised to minimise the infliction of trauma.
Assessment of children in institutions should be used to inform the transition to family and community-based care, with focus on reuniting children with their own families where possible. Only those specialists who possess relevant knowledge and skills to work and communicate with children should be allowed to participate in the process”, says UNICEF Georgia.
The statement also reads that pending investigations regarding the alleged physical and sexual abuse of children or any kind of violence should be finalised in an urgent and child-friendly manner. Children who participate in the investigative proceedings should be protected.
Trauma and victimization of children should be avoided at all costs. Legal aid should be provided and other guarantees fully applied in the process”, says UNICEF.
UNICEF stands ready to support constructive dialogue between different partners around constitutionalization and effective family support services.
The organisation recommends that any support should be directed towards strengthening families and keeping children in families rather than funding the large-scale care facilities.
Several minors from the Patriarchate’s boarding school in Ninotsminda have already been interrogated following allegations of violence in the school, reports the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (MIA).
Sixteen children have expressed the desire to leave the Patriarchate’s Ninotsminda boarding school, the Agency for State Care and Assistance for the Victims of Human Trafficking has reported. The state agency, which entered the boarding school earlier this week, said that six children have already been placed in a different facility amid allegations of violence in the school.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has stated that the country’s Prosecutor’s Office is investigating several cases of violence in the Patriarchate’s Ninotsminda boarding school where top clerics have not allowed inspectors to conduct mandatory monitoring.
Georgian civic activists and NGOs have plans to gather at the administration building of the government of Georgia at 6 p.m. today, on International Childrens’ Day, to protest the decision of the leadership of Ninotsminda boarding school in eastern Georgia not to allow inspectors, including the country’s ombudsperson, to carry out monitoring there.
Civic activists have thrown hundreds of leaflets at MPs during a session in parliament with the caption ‘What is happening in the Ninotsminda boarding house?’
Safety, well-being, exercise of rights by and development of any child placed in care settings should be thoroughly monitored by national institutions, including by the Public Defender’s Office, reads the United Nations Country Team in Georgia responding to recent incidents in a Patriarchate’s boarding house in Ninotsminda.
Twenty employees have been dismissed from Patriarchate’s Ninotsminda boarding school which is suspected of inflicting physical and psychological violence on its wards.