Public Defender congratulates every child living in Georgia on the International Children's Day and wishes them a happy and dignified life and development.

June 1 marks international day for protection of children and reminds states that full consideration of the best interest of the child is a precondition for the development of future generations and constitutes an obligation of the state.

Public Defender considers steps undertaken by the state toward promoting rights of the child as insufficient and in this respect, particularly underlines the protection of children from all forms of violence.

Unfortunately, sympathy of our society toward different forms of violence against children - psychological, physical, or early marriages - is very low. We fail to consider the whole spectrum of ill treatment against a child as a violence, until it crosses red lines and is not noticeably damaging. Even then, we often do not realize what is behind the single fact. Moreover, study showed that together with having a very small number of specialists working with children, they lack proper skills to identify and reveal facts of violence in due time. Yet, the phenomenon of violence must first be overcome in its small and early manifestations. This is the basic principle of preventing violence.

Inadequate policy to protect rights of children led state childcare system to crisis. The state does not allocate sufficient resources to maintain and strengthen systematic changes undertaken in this field. The number of cases of removing a child from the biological family due to poverty is still high. Existing programmes fail to offer needs based assistance. In spite of a number of recommendations of the Public Defender, establishment of the service for rehabilitating children victims of sexual violence is still a topic for the future.

The Public Defender of Georgia expresses her hope that the State will put more efforts to strengthen interests of all children living in the country in order to ensure their well-being.