Public Defender on Baghdati Tragedy and the Problem of Poverty
The Public Defender Nino Lomjaria has released a statement in which she expresses her deep sorrow over the tragedy that occurred in the Baghdati municipality on February 4, offering sympathy to the family members and relatives of the deceased.
In the statement published on the Facebook page of the Ombudsman, the official Facebook account of the Public Defender, the unresolved problem of poverty is addressed.
“Unfortunately, child poverty and inadequate living standards have remained unresolved for years. This in some cases endangers the health and lives of children. Child protection and the social system fails to protect children from extreme poverty. The programs offered by the State to families living in poverty are not oriented to the outcome, individual needs or timely prevention; therefore, the socio-economic situation of such families has remained the same over the years. Under the current social policy, it is problematic to satisfy even the basic needs of children living in poor families.
Providing adequate housing is also a particular challenge. There are no effective, result-oriented support programs at the municipal level that would provide safe, stable housing for families living in extremely difficult and dangerous infrastructural conditions together with their children.
The problem of child poverty was highlighted in a UNICEF report, according to which the number of children living under subsistence minimum has significantly increased. Every fifth child lives in a household the minimum needs of which are not satisfied,” reads the Facebook post.
The Ombudsman urges the government to take action.
“The Public Defender calls on the state agencies to timely reform the social and child care systems to ensure all challenges, risks and needs are taken into account and effective, stable and result-oriented protection is provided for families living in poverty. To this end, it is important to assess the basic needs of such families, review the effectiveness of social programs and their relevance to the existing needs. If necessary, human and financial resources should be increased both at the level of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia and self-governments. Also, the involvement and experience of both the state agencies and the civil sector should be actively considered in the given process.
The Public Defender has been referring to the above-mentioned problem in parliamentary and special reports for many years. Today, Nino Lomjaria once again called on the Parliament of Georgia to strengthen oversight of the implementation of the Public Defender's recommendations”, reads the Facebook statement on Georgian Ombudsman’s official page.
By Nini Dakhundaridze
Image source: Ombudsman on Facebook.