Condition of pupils of Ninotsminda boarding school one year later

On June 1, the International Day for Protection of Children, the member organizations of the Coalition for Equality summarized the situation one year after the detection of cases of abuse of children at the Ninotsminda boarding school and the removing some children from the school. At a press conference at the office of the Open Society Foundation, Union Sapari, Partnership for Human Rights and Social Justice Center spoke about the state of the investigation and the situation of the relocated children.

Investigation of the case of Ninotsminda boarding school children:

• is not conducted based on a relevant criminal qualification;
• some investigative actions were delayed;
• boarding school children are still not recognized as victims;
• lawyers have not received the materials of the criminal case.

According to the organizations, it is also problematic that after the crisis at the Ninotsminda boarding school, the state did not start the reform of the deinstitutionalization of religious boarding schools. According to the organizations, there are still children remaining at the Ninotsminda boarding school, as well as other religious boarding schools that practice abuse.

The organizations demand from the responsible agencies, on the one hand, timely and effective investigation of the case, recognition of the children as victims, change of the qualification of the case, and on the other hand, psychological and social support of the former students, through various state programs.