Activists throw leaflets in parliament reading: ‘What’s happening in the Ninotsminda boarding school?’ [VIDEO]
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria stated earlier in June that the country’s Prosecutor’s Office is investigating three cases of alleged violence and one case of rape in the Ninotsminda boarding school. Photo: 1TV.ge.
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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?’
One of the activists, Mamuka Jugeli, said the deputies are responsible for the safety of children in the Patriarchate’s boarding house and they [civic activists] have reminded them [MPs] of their responsibility by the act.
Watch the video below.
“Although there have been numerous facts of violence against the children living in Patriarchate’s barding school, the state has not yet taken any steps. Our [the civic activists] goal is to make them feel [MPs] responsible for the safety of the children”, said Jugeli.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria stated earlier in June that the country’s Prosecuror’s Office is investigating three cases of alleged violence and one case of alleged rape in the Ninotsminda boarding school.
- Ombudswoman: Prosecutor’s Office investigating several cases of violence in Patriarchate’s boarding school
- UNICEF ready to support transfer of children from Ninotsminda boarding school following abuse scandal
On June 6, following an appeal from the Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) Tbilisi City Court ruled that children with disabilities be removed from the boarding school.
Lawyers of PHR claim that the court ruling technically refers to all children in the institution, and that they should return either to their biological families or to foster care.
Ana Abashidze, the representative from PHR said earlier today that one of the witnesses in the Ninotsminda boarding house case is being threatened and pressured.
There are individuals who are demanding the witness to be silent. The witness has already given his/her testimony to the investigators. We [PHR] have been asking for the protection of the witness and his/her family from the Prosecutor’s Office for two days, but in vain”, wrote Abashidze in her Facebook post.
Patriarchate's Ninotsminda boarding school currently houses 47 children.
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.
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.
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.