On June 1, 2018, Public Defender of Georgia Nino Lomjaria held a presentation of the chapter on child’s rights of the 2017 parliamentary report within the framework of the International Children's Day.

At the opening of the event, the Public Defender noted that the International Children's Day once again reminds the state and society of the importance and necessity of child’s welfare and protection of their rights, and that one of the key areas of the activities of the Public Defender is to supervise child’s rights. "I can see positive changes, the results achieved through joint efforts with the NGOs and the international community, but it should be noted that systemic problems remain unsolved, which negatively impact on child’s welfare in Georgia," - said Nino Lomjaria.

UNICEF Representative to Georgia Laila Omar Gad spoke about the role of the Public Defender in the field of protection and monitoring of child’s rights. She noted that UNICEF continues to support the Public Defender’s Office and take steps in response to the challenges reflected in a number of reports of the Public Defender.

Maia Gedevanishvili, Head of the Child’s Rights of the Public Defender's Office, presented the chapter on child's rights of the Public Defender's parliamentary report. According to the report, child poverty and improper living conditions are still major problems in the country. The number of juveniles receiving social allowances is alarming - 150 186. However, this does not reflect the actual situation, as the number of children that remain beyond the official statistical data, such as children living and working on the street, as well as children who cannot enjoy state allowance programs despite their poverty, is much higher. It is also alarming that 11% of the children involved in the state care in 2017 were removed from their biological families due to poor socioeconomic conditions and poverty.

Protection of children from violence and taking effective preventive measures remain to be problematic. The state still does not have an effective national system of rehabilitation of and assistance to child victims of sexual abuse. It is noteworthy that the number of suicide and suicide attempts among children increased by 20% in 2017.

Another challenge is the rights situation of children remaining beyond education, including children with disabilities, children living and working on the street, children that married at early age and children involved in labour. No systemic changes have been taken to increase the number of social workers and state psychologists or improve their working conditions, which negatively affects the situation of child’s rights.

The results of the monitoring carried out by the Public Defender's Office show that bullying is a widespread form of communication in general educational institutions and no effective measures have been taken against it. As of 2017, 211 schools were functioning in damaged buildings throughout Georgia, while 94 public schools were not supplied with water at all.

At the end of the presentation, representatives of the Government, organizations working on child’s rights and international organizations discussed the existing challenges and solutions.