Georgia

The Committee notes that Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia, remain outside the effective control of the State party, which is a serious obstacle to the implementation of the Convention in those regions.
The report from Georgia is relatively short and therefore does not go into much depth. Problems include child abuse and inadequate child protection. In addition, sex-selective abortions take place and Georgia has high rates of infant mortality and stillbirth.

The Committee urges the State party to combat the practice of sex-selective abortion, including by addressing its root causes and the long-term implications for society, expanding family planning services and carrying out awareness-raising activities on the detrimental impact of sex selection and on the equal value of girls and boys.
Taking note of the high rate of early pregnancies and the absence of sexual and reproductive health education in school curricula, and development in the context of the Convention, the Committee recommends that the State party ensure that the strategy for reproductive health includes a specific focus on adolescent health and that the State party expedite its adoption. Also, Georgia should develop and implement a policy to protect the rights of pregnant teenagers, adolescent mothers and their children and combat discrimination against them.

While welcoming efforts for the integration of children with disabilities in social, recreational and cultural activities, the Committee is seriously concerned by limited availability of early identification and intervention programmes, the system exclusively based on health needs determining disability status, which ignores some developmental disabilities of infants and young children, and the absence of an effective referral system based on cooperation between medical personnel, social workers and service providers. It is also concerned about the slow progress in the deinstitutionalization of children with disabilities in rural areas and incomplete data on children with disabilities. There is also a low awareness in the families concerned of the services available for children with disabilities and the limited access to health, education and care services for children with disabilities, especially those with autism, Down syndrome and severe disabilities, as well as for children in rural areas.

The Committee remains concerned at the high rates of infant mortality and stillbirth and the low technological capacity of pre- and postnatal health care and reports of the continued prevalence of malnutrition, anaemia and other micronutrient deficiencies, as well as obesity in children and the limited coverage of the educational health visits made by primary health-care professionals, leading to inappropriate childcare practices.
To guarantee every child the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, the Committee urges the State party to strengthen efforts to decrease rates of infant mortality and stillbirth by, inter alia, improving ante- and postnatal care and enhancing the capacity of health-care providers all over the country.

The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary measures to combat all forms of child labour, including in the informal sector, and urges the State party to restore the labour inspectorate, thus strengthening the monitoring of prohibitions of child labour based on the law.

The Committee recommends that the State party guarantee adequate human, technical and financial resources for specialized juvenile court facilities and ensure that specialized professionals receive continuous education and training as well as further promote alternative measures to detention and ensure the availability of sufficient possibilities for community work and mediation.

The Committee recommends that the State party develop and implement national guidelines on HIV disclosure counselling for children and improve follow-up treatment for HIV-infected mothers and their infants to ensure early diagnosis and early initiation of treatment. Georgia should also improve access to quality, age-appropriate HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health services.