President interested in children’s problems

“I have always been and will continue to be actively engaged in overcoming the problems of children,” President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili said at the international forum on Child Welfare Challenges held on January 17.

Margvelashvili thanked Georgia’s international partners and donor countries for their support.

He also thanked the government and agencies who took “serious steps” to resolve the problems in this field.

“There are plenty of problems facing children that need coordinated and active responses,” the President said.

“UNICEF data claims that one in six children live in poverty; there still are occasions when children have to work and live in the street, and difficulties exist with the integration of children with disabilities,” Margvelashvili stressed.

Margvelashvili stated “all these problems will always be in any society”, but societies are evaluated according to their abilities to fight with problems.

The President stated he could see readiness in society to help each other, as well the readiness of the government, the executive and legislative bodies, to take steps for overcoming child-related problems.

Children’s rights are not appropriately defended in Georgia, and many of them live in dire conditions.

One of the key reasons for this is the hard economic situation, when families fail to meet the fundamental needs of their children.

One of the major outcomes from the situation would be an improved economic reality. However, unfortunately, there are still no signs that this will happen soon.

With regards to children working and living on the streets, their number is growing and this is very obvious for the people who have to frequently use Tbilisi’s metro.

It is very likely many of the children are used by others for their “business interests”.

On a daily basis one can see women asking for help with infants in their hands. The rights of these infants are being gravely violated and their consistent silence also causes question marks.

Thus, protecting children’s rights is a very important topic that requires joint activities of local and international representations and state bodies.

Of course, positive outcomes will not come very quickly, but if there are strong efforts from key actors, many major problems could be settled in a timely manner.