Andria Jaghmaidze’s Manipulation on Events Unfolding Around the Ninotsminda Boarding School
Verdict: MANIPULATION
On 10 June 2021, Andria Jaghmaidze, Head of the Public Relations Department of the Georgian Orthodox Church, made a Facebook publication on events related to the Ninotsminda boarding school. According to Archpriest Jaghmaidze’s statement: “The unparalleled and propagandist assault against the Ninotsminda boarding school for children without parental care, considering its nature and timing, is directly linked with the so called LGBT week planned in July. This is an introductory and preparatory stage which serves to discredit the Church among the wider public.” This Facebook publication disregards real facts and puts the Ninotsminda controversy within a distorted context.
Of initial mention is that the protection of the rights of children, putting their best interests forward and providing conditions necessary for their development is an obligation of a democratic state. This obligation is cemented by the Constitution of Georgia, the Code of the Rights of the Child and numerous legal acts (for instance, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the so-called Istanbul Convention, etc.), recognised by Georgia. The Public Defender’s institution is vital in respecting these obligations, since it is the primary human rights protection and monitoring body. Georgian legislation, such as the Code on the Rights of the Child and the Law on the Public Defender of Georgia, unequivocally mandates that the Public Defender is authorised to inspect the state of human rights and freedoms in orphanages and shelters. Given these legal provisions, the Public Defender carries out supervision on the state of the rights of children in government-run childcare facilities. In the case of the identification of violations, the Public Defender makes a recommendation for response, drafts reports and appeals to different bodies for effective response.
The situation in the Ninotsminda boarding school has also been a matter of scrutiny from human rights activists in previous years. In 2015, the Public Defender released a report on the state of the rights of children in boarding schools under the Georgian Orthodox Church and the Muslim confession. The report says that as a result of monitoring group interviews with children in the Ninotsminda boarding school, several cases of psychological and physical abuse were identified there. For instance, it was found out that forms of punishment included confining youngsters to their room or forcing them to miss one of the daily meals. According to the youth residents, a physical punishment used on minors was forcing them to walk on their knees with their hands on their heads in front of their peers in the corridors.
The Public Defender’s 2018 special report also includes information about the situation in children’s boarding schools, violence against children, the failure to meet a child’s individual necessities and the impossibility for the children to enjoy the myriad of rights envisioned by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Public Defender’s monitoring uncovered various methods of punishment such as ear pulling, hair pulling, making children stand in the corner and temporary banning them from religious ceremonies, etc. At the same time, children are often deprived of the possibility to protest such treatment and freely express their different opinion. In the Ninotsminda boarding school, it was also revealed that underage children are virtually isolated from the public. In addition, children have no specific information vis-à-vis whom to address in order to defend their rights. It is also underlined that religious boarding schools are often associated with higher risks of institutional violence as well as with cases of disregarding and not responding to such treatment. Given the strictly regulated upbringing system in such facilities which is less focused on the individual needs of underage residents, there is a systemic problem in terms of children’s needs. Of note is that the Public Defender started having problems in regard to monitoring in the Ninotsminda boarding school after the publication of the aforementioned report in 2018.
Apart from the aforementioned reports, the Public Defender’s annual reports also pay attention to the rights of children. These reports have highlighted multiple times that given the violations identified by the Public Defender, it is necessary to further strengthen and expand the monitoring capacity vis-à-vis the state of human rights in children’s care facilities (including, particularly, the Ninotsminda boarding school).
On 16 April 2021, the situation in the Ninotsminda boarding school was once again brought to public spotlight. According to the Public Defender’s statement on 15 April 2021, representatives of the Public Defender were not allowed to carry out monitoring in the Ninotsminda boarding school.
On 7 May 2021, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued an interim measure to approve the 5 May 2021 appeal from the Partnership for Human Rights (PHR) NGO and urged the government to immediately instruct the relevant monitoring body to inspect the situation of children's rights in the Ninotsminda boarding school. As clarified by the PHR, the UN uses this measure when faced with emergency and the threat of irreversible damage against children. In addition, each state party has a legal obligation to fulfil the measure according to Article 6 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure.
On 19 May 2021, the Public Defender’s trustees paid another visit to the Ninotsminda boarding school. However, despite the UN Committee’s interim measure they were still not allowed to carry out monitoring. The school officials refused to speak and named a request from their leadership as the reason. In addition, social workers from the Agency of State Care were also devoid of an opportunity to carry out monitoring from June 2020 to May 2021.
On 2 June 2021, the Public Defender stated that there are four ongoing criminal investigations related to the boarding school in 2016-2021, including one case of rape and three cases of abuse.
On 3 June 2021, Public Relations Department of the Georgian Orthodox Church released a statement and appealed to the relevant body of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to publicise materials related to the Ninotsminda boarding school.
On the same day, the Ministry of Internal Affairs released a statement saying that there are four cases under investigation which were committed in the Ninotsminda boarding school between 2016-2021. Of those cases, there are three cases of alleged physical assault (Article 126 of the Criminal Code of Georgia) and one case of alleged rape (Article 137 of the Criminal Code of Georgia). According to the statement, investigations were launched for two cases on the basis of a written statement received from the Public Defender's Office whilst investigative procedures were initiated upon the request of the LEPL Agency for State Care and Assistance for the (Statutory) Victims of Human Trafficking concerning the other cases. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also declared that “all necessary investigative and procedural activities were carried out as part of the investigation to determine the circumstances of the case. However, at this stage, there is a lack of sufficient evidence to establish the fact of the alleged crime. Despite this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs continues to conduct necessary investigative and procedural activities on each criminal case for a thorough and unbiased investigation regarding all possible crimes committed.”
On 4 June 2021, the Ministry of Internal Affairs visited the Ninotsminda boarding school and interviewed several minors. According to the Ministry, investigative and procedural activities are being continuously carried out.
On 5 June, Tbilisi City Court partially approved the PHR’s motion and ruled that all disabled individuals must leave the Ninotsminda boarding school. After the court’s ruling, the Agency for State Care released a statement that 20 disabled minors were removed from the Ninotsminda boarding school and accommodated in different minor care facilities (biological families, family-type small group homes and foster care facilities).
On 6 June 2021, the Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church released a statement:
1. We would like to note that no one has appealed to us in regard to the problems of the Public Defender’s access to the Ninotsminda boarding school and we became aware of the issue from the media. Therefore, we were involved with delay. Currently, the situation has been changed. Social workers are there and the young residents are under constant supervision. When it comes to children, the Church will continue cooperation with respective bodies and organisations in observance of the standards envisioned by the Georgian legislation.
2. We further note that we are going to appeal the court ruling about the removal of young residents from the Ninotsminda boarding school since no evidence vis-à-vis facts of degrading treatment and abuse of minors in the Ninotsminda boarding school has been presented to the court. In addition, the administration and the personnel of the Ninotsminda boarding school were not allowed to state their own positions.
3. It is vital that the relevant bodies carry out a timely and an impartial investigation of the allegations in order to ensure a fair assessment of the events.
4. We believe that the removal of the young residents from the Ninotsminda boarding school in a hasty manner is not in the best interests of the children since the social workers have not made an assessment of the current situation there and no proper conclusion has been provided by competent specialists. It is our position that the unfounded and hasty removal process will harm the young residents and contradicts the proper protection of their rights.
5. We believe that the rights of each child should be taken into account and an individual plan focused on them should be implemented in order to make sure that minors are not traumatised, on the one hand, and that they are not used for a deliberate anti-Church campaign, on the other hand.
On 11 June 2021, UN Agencies in Georgia released a statement on the events unfolding around the Ninotsminda boarding school. According to the statement, they condemn any attempt to obstruct the performance of their duties by the Public Defender’s Office and other relevant agencies of the country. The statement also reads that Tbilisi City Court’s 5 June 2021 ruling should apply to all children in large institutions. In addition, UN Agencies in Georgia urge the government to take immediate action to eliminate possible interference with the constitutional mandate of the relevant monitoring agencies and comply with a recent request by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Given the aforementioned, the reports of the Public Defender as discussed in this articles as well as the events unfolding around the Ninotsminda boarding school from 15 April 2021 prove that the issue is about the possibility of the monitoring of the state of the rights of children in the boarding school and an effective response vis-à-vis possible cases of violence against children in the boarding school. Of important note is that the Ninotsminda boarding school came to public spotlight as a result of alleged cases of crimes identified there as well as specific facts of obstructing state institutions.
In contrast to the real facts, including the official stance of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Andria Jaghmaidze’s Facebook publication misleads the public and shows the reality in such manner that the response vis-à-vis possible cases of violence against children as well as the demand to allow the Public Defender and other authorised bodies to exercise their legal duties aims at discrediting the Church instead of protecting the interests of the children.
Of note is that as opposed to Archpriest Jaghmaidze’s Facebook publication, the Georgian Orthodox Church in its statement does not link the Ninotsminda events to the LGBT week announced in July. Moreover, the Georgian Orthodox Church calls upon relevant bodies to ensure the timely and impartial investigation of the allegations and expresses is readiness for cooperation with relevant agencies in line with the standards envisioned by the Georgian legislation.
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