Child Code discussed in the Parliament
By Levan Abramishvili
Wednesday, March 27
The Code comes as a big step forward in making sure that the children are protected and their rights are fully realized. Statistics show that almost 20% of children in Georgia are forced to work in order to provide for their families and 17 % of young women are forced into marriage before the age of 18. Not to mention thousands of children that live under the poverty line.
“I’m very proud that with this Code, for the first time in the Georgian legislature, we are introducing the word “homeland”. And that the children should be raised with the love of our homeland, its language, culture, traditions, and values.” – said Sofo Kiladze, the Chairperson of The Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee, while introducing the Code.
The draft Child Code was introduced to the public last month. Kiladze held meetings with the NGOs and various interest groups, including the Georgian Orthodox church. As well as UNICEF and EU.
The discussion comes along with the strike of social workers across Georgia. They went on a strike on March 25 and are still positioned in front of the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia and refuse to work unless their demands are met.
During the meeting, Kiladze also touched upon the issue of the strike, after Elene Khoshtaria, a representative of European Georgia, asked her to communicate with the government for them to effectively respond to the demands of the social workers.
“These people aren’t fighting for their welfare, they are fighting for the necessary conditions for protecting children’s rights” – said Khoshtaria regarding the strike.
Kiladze mentioned that the demands of the social workers are legitimate and the system truly needs revision. “This profession [social work] is important since it serves to strengthen the most vulnerable amongst us.” She also mentioned that since there weren’t enough resources, the planned reform of the social work system will begin from 2020 and 2019 was taken as a preparatory year.
The Code that Kiladze presented recognizes the rights of the children as follows: dignity of the child, life, salvation and development, prohibition of discrimination, personal idea of the child, protection of privacy of the child, freedom of mass information and internet, freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of unification and peaceful rallies, playtime and leisure, property and heritage right, intellectual creation, participation in development of respective programs.
“Sex education lessons will only be allowed in an agreement with the parents. And if necessary, in case of a crisis, Orthodox priests and representatives of other confessions (whoever the family requests), will have the right to intervene and hold consultations regarding this particular topic if the family asks for it.” – Said Kiladze during the discussion.
Many people on social media responded to Kiladze’s statements, saying that it is unacceptable for religious figures to get involved in children’s sex education.
She was also criticized for entering the word “homeland” into the draft for the first time in the Georgian legislature history. To which she responded – “since when has the word “homeland” become associated with something bad?”
This is not the first time Kiladze was criticized.
Last year in May, the Human Rights Committee decided to not mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia on May 17. Reversing their initial decision that was penned out in the 2017-2020 action plan. This decision was met with a massive backlash from NGOs, while Kiladze made vague statements that didn’t specifically point out the reason for the cancellation of the planned event.
Also last year, Kiladze approved a draft on making insult of religious feelings punishable proposed by her fellow member of the Parliament. Not only that, but she proposed creating a working group within the Parliament consisting of religious leaders of various confessions to work on the religious feelings draft.
Both of the instances were a clear violation of the fundamental human rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of expression and such views coming from a Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee chairperson is concerning, to say the least.
It is important that the challenging situations that children have to live in today will soon become a thing of the past. But adopting the Child Code is just a small step forward in helping the future of Georgia thrive and reach its true potential.