On June 27-29, 2017, Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili visited the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, where he met with locals and self-governing bodies of the Tianeti municipality village of Ghulelebi, the Dusheti municipality villages of Muguda and Chanadirebi and the Kazbegi municipality villages of Almasiani, Okrokana, Tsdo, Abano and Gveleti.

Migration remains one of the major challenges in the mountainous settlements. Some villages do not have natural gas; no drinking water is supplied; road infrastructure is out of order. Some border villages do not have a cell phone connection or electricity; there are problems in access to health care as well. Most of the population is unable to register agricultural and homestead land; part of the land documents are destroyed or lost in the archives.

Schools are being emptied due to high migration, while the operative schools have poor infrastructure. Namely, the public school in the village of Ghulelebi, Tianeti municipality, which unites about 150 children from 13 villages, has no water supply or a canteen.

Locals still strongly protest against the installation of high voltage transmission poles. They say they do not have any information about the possible harm of the poles to their health or how it will change the environment. They believe that such constructions may cause changes in the relief as well.

The buildings with cultural heritage status are in poor condition; part of them is at the edge of collapsing. The problem of cultural heritage is particularly evident in the Truso Gorge. Old monuments are gradually being destroyed in the abandoned villages.

During visiting the regions, the Public Defender met with Kazbegi Governor Givi Kirekashvili and the Deputies of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti Governor, Tamaz Sujishvili and Manana Narimanidze. At the meeting he talked about the urgent problems, existing challenges and the need for solving them.

According to the Public Defender, the Law on Development of High Mountainous Regions, which has taken effect for more than a year in Georgia, cannot respond to the needs of high mountainous inhabited areas. Ucha Nanuashvili considers it necessary to develop special programs aimed at solving the problem of migration.

Apart from holding a meeting in Mtskheta-Mtianeti, the Public Defender, together with the National Preventive Mechanism and invited experts, conducted monitoring in the St. Ilia the Righteous Orthodox School of Stepantsminda, which has a status of a boarding school. A detailed monitoring report will be prepared and published in the nearest future.