New Center to Provide Social, Psychological Support to Child Abuse Victims

A new service center is being set up in Tbilisi and Kutaisi to offer social and psychological support to child victims of violence.

Starting 2021, the center will operate in a pilot mode and provide services to child victims of sexual violence, with an aim to prevent their secondary victimization and to ensure their psychological and social rehabilitation in a child-friendly environment.

Head of the government’s Human Rights Secretariat, Ana Buchukuri, said: “The center will be tailored to the best interests of the child, both in terms of infrastructure and content. The center is based on the Nordic Barnahus model that has been implemented in the Nordic countries and that attempts to meet children’s needs by offering multiple services ‘under one roof’. The Barnahus model advocates multi-disciplinary approaches to child victims of abuse with the double aim of facilitating the legal process and ensuring that the child receives necessary support and treatment”.

The project is being implemented with UNICEF’s support.