“Every child of Georgia should have the right to live in a family.”

Lika Tstaishvili, 8, at a children’s home with her simulated family. / Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani
This is the driving force of Georgia’s latest initiatives aimed at ameliorating the living conditions of abandoned children. As shelters continue to swell, international bodies have begun to support the implementation of institutions roughly translated as, “children’s homes.” These homes strive to provide a family for those children who have been deprived of one. A maximum of eight children live in each home. A couple also lives in the home, providing intimate care and nurturing the children just as parents would.The Imeriti region’s children’s home opened only five months ago in Kutaisi, on January 12, 2010 with a sponsorship from Foundation Breath, a Netherland-based NGO. There are currently seven children living in the home, according to Natia Gudava, the home’s liaison between the government and Breath.

Nino Khukhua hosting a children’s seminar. / Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani
On Tuesday July 27, Senior project assistant Nino Khukhua hosted the first, of many, children’s rights training sessions at the Imeriti children’s home. At the time only five children were present, as two were spending time with their biological family.

Nana and Ana Chapidze supervise as Khukhua teaches. / Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani
JusticeMaker Nana Chapidze and project consultant Ana Chapidze supervised as Khukhua conducted prepared activities with the children. Through interactive dialogue and coloring projects, Khukhua communicated basic human rights to the children at a level they were able to understand.

Children at the children’s home coloring. / Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani
“Global children’s rights are not taught at schools, it’s important that the children receive the necessary level of education of human rights now, before they turn 18 and become independent,” Chapidze said. “Hopefully this project will encourage the state to teach juveniles human rights.”

Trainers, parents and children watch a video on the rights of a child. / Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani
For the next couple of months, Khukhua along with the project’s legal assistants will continue to host children’s rights training sessions at children’s homes and other institutions that host at-risk children.Watch pieces of the training session here:

On Thursday July 22, Chapidze received a long-awaited call from the Georgian United Nations Development Programme. The office in Zugdidi offered her a position as a “Coordinator of the Rule of Law Initiative and Conference Building Program.” As the closest city to the conflict-region Abkhazia, Zugdidi hosts approximately 80,000 internally displaced people.

“The program intends to carry out effective IDP social and economic rehabilitation and reintegration , encourage the creation of small business and support youth IDP activities,” Chapidze said.

Because she will be moving to Zugdidi, a city close to an hour away from GYLA’s Kutsisi Branch by car, Chapidze has hired a new member to her “Supporting Juvenile Justice Reform” team.

 Nino Khukhua, the new senior project assistant./ Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani

Starting on Wednesday, Nino Khukhua, 21, will serve as the Juvenile Justice Reform’s senior project assistant. She will supervise the project in Nana’s absence and carry out key project activities such as hosting seminars on the Conventions of Children’s Rights for at-risk youth. She will also monitor the progress of other legal assistants within the program.

With that said, Chapidze still intends to return to the GYLA office every Saturday in order to “plan activities for the following week and review the results of the activities of the previous week.”

Chapidze is certain the project will only benefit from this new position.

“The project staff consists of more than six assistants and they are well-educated and well-experienced,” Chapidze said. “I will gain more information about international and local NGOs and try to cooperate with them in order to enhance this project and make it wider in scale, maybe even spread it to Zugdidi for the internally displaced youth.”

Legal texts in the library of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association./ Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani

In 1997, legal scholar Lado Chanturia helped translate, and adapt aspects of the German civil code into Georgian script. The state parliamentary committee weaved this code into the legal infrastructure, and began to slowly reform other limbs of the Georgian legal system. In 1999, the president of Georgia signed the criminal code into legislation, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

In order to bolster citizens’ trust in the reliability of the law, the Georgian parliament has been revising and reforming the Civil and Criminal codes since their respective initial inceptions.

With a thriving NGO sector that works to both recognize and address inadequacies of the evolving legal infrastructure, Georgian legislation is in a stage of constant flux. Lawyers, journalists and political activists work hard to reveal the cracks in legislation that cause Georgian citizens to stumble and fall.

This is where JusticeMaker Nana Chapidze begins construction. With her project, she will prepare the cement that judges, police and lawmakers can use to seal the broken path of juvenile justice.

Within the current system, both the Georgian Civil and Criminal codes recognize the differences between criminal responsibilities of juveniles and adults. But that’s all. There is no tangible structure that educates, protects and rehabilitates juvenile offenders. There are no police who specialize in dealing with juvenile offenders.

“While some judges are trained in juvenile cases, they review adult cases also,” Chapidze said.

As a result, judges often asses cases on one standard, giving little consideration to age, socioeconomic status or a countless array of other factors that may influence an offender’s predisposition to commit a crime.

Court hearings are mass-produced, with each ruling resembling a photocopy of the one prior. Court monitoring reports conducted by the project’s legal aid students revealed stark similarities in rulings between very dissimilar cases. This superficial form of justice causes more harm than good. It evades the root of the problem and disables the rehabilitation process.

Prior to being sentenced, juvenile offenders must remain in an adult pretrial detention facility from anywhere between two and nine months while waiting for judgment. Once sentenced, offenders are sent to the only strictly juvenile prison in the entire country.  After serving their time, there are virtually no rehabilitation programs aimed at reintegration.

Essentially, “the problem with the juvenile justice system is that there is none,” Chapidze said.

Not yet at least.

Beginning only two weeks ago, the project is currently in its administrative stage.

At this meeting, Chapidze assigned tasks and deadlines to six other key team members, each of whom had their own passions and skills to contribute to the project’s completion.

Nodar Jikia, 45

-Completed a UNICEF sponsored Training Course on the Advocacy for Children’s Rights
-Founder and Director of programs of the GYLA Kutaisi Branch
-Teacher at Zurab Jvania State School of Administration on “The Legal Basics of Local Democracy”
-Lecturer at Akaki Tsereteli State Kutaisi University on “The Legal Regulations of Education”
-Regional Coordinator of a program entitled “Models of Integration in Georgia” at the Denmark External Affairs Ministry
-Working to compile a book aimed at engaging the youth in the electoral process and other functions of civil society

Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani

Research Consultant
-Research and analyze domestic and international legislation
-Monitor juvenile and juvenile offenders’ criminal justice rights in Georgia
-Asses the legality of juvenile programs
-Prepare legislative recommendations to strengthen juvenile justice programs
-Extend the project past the Kutaisi branch

Ana Chapidze, 27

-Practicing Lawyer at The Ministry of Penitentiary, Probation and Legal Aid of Georgia.
-Coordinator at The Center of Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Georgia
-Member of GYLA
-Member of Georgian Bar Association

Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani 

Program Consultant
-Provides practical knowledge about the state of juveniles in Georgia
-Represent juveniles in court affairs
-Serve as a connection between GYLA and the State
-Prepare memorandums with the Georgian Bar Association

Giorgi Chikaberidze, 26

-Lawyer and legal consultant to the GYLA Kutaisi Branch
-Member of the board of the GYLA Kutaisi Branch
-Member of the Georgian Bar Association
-Qualified to serve as a judge in the Georgian courts
-Participates in training sessions organized by The Council of Europe, The American Bar Association, Georgian High Commissioner of the United Nations, Article 42 of the Constitution, The Institute for State and Law, and various international NGO’s on topics such as the European Convention for Human Rights, Advocacy and Networking, Prohibition of Torture, Right to Fair Trial, Addressing the European Court for Human Rights, and Rights for Liberty and Person

Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani 

Program Consultant
-Provide legal consultations to parents, juveniles and other NGO’s
-Give legal consultations to juveniles whose rights have been violated during trial proceedings
-Represent juveniles at court

Nino Akhalaia, 21

-Third year law student at Chxorotsku Regional Secondary School with a concentration in Criminal Law

Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani 

Legal Studies Assistant
-Create and implement a training model for at-risk and delinquent juveniles
-Teach Georgian youth about their human rights in accordance with UN standards

Levani Vepkhvadze, 19

-First year law student at Akaki Tsereteli State University with a concentration in Criminal Law

Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani 

Legal Studies Assistant
-Request public information from the Kutaisi city and appellate courts
-Create relationships and connections with other local and international NGOs
-Monitor juvenile criminal court cases

Dariko Vadachkoria, 19

-First year law student at Akaki Tsereteli State University with a concentration in Criminal Law

Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani 

Legal Studies Assistant
-Analyze Georgian juvenile legislation and compare it with other legislative systems
-Propose and align new amendments with the UN human rights standards
-Create and implement a training model for at-risk and delinquent juveniles
-Teach Georgian youth about their human rights in accordance with UN standards

Over the course of the coming year, with the help of IBJ and support from GYLA, these seven dedicated team members will collaborate ideas, passions and skills in order to ensure a sustainable reformation of the Georgian juvenile justice system.

Chapidze discusses project implementation at the GYLA office / Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani

Born and raised in Kutaisi, Georgia, Chapidze has always been deeply connected to community development projects. As a law student, she became a legal aid assistant at the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), an NGO that works to resolve the endless legal issues plaguing the post-Soviet republic. During this time, she worked to monitor the city’s human rights issues, most predominantly the ongoing presence of internally displaced people. She also held interactive training seminars for law students, hoping to strengthen both their and her own developing legal education.

Upon graduating from the well-respected Kutaisi University of Law and Economics in 2006, Chapidze became one of the five GYLA Kutaisi branch board members. As a board member she “participates in the decision-making process and organizes events and helps to set the priorities of GYLA’s activities.”

Chapidze discusses GYLA’s aims with another documentary journalist / Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani

Through GYLA, Chapidze has worked for Foundation Sukhumi, an NGO that works to bolster the rights of internally displaced people of the Sukhumi region. Additionally, Chapidze actively works for four other NGOs – The Kutaisi Information Center, The Imeriti Regional Center for Training and Consultations, Article 42 of the Constitution and The Human Rights Center. Among many other tasks, she helps these NGOs prepare applications for citizens, organizes initiatives for local self-government and teaches citizens about their legal rights.

As a JusticeMaker, Chapize has just kickstarted yet another human rights initiative. With funds and consultation from IBJ, Chapize hopes to reform Georgia’s juvenile justice system, ensuring that the Georgian youth receive a fair and objective trial, preventing the ruling of “adult time for adult crime.”

You can read more about her project here.

With this new project and the ongoing need to fulfill her endless responsibilities to other NGOs, “in this last year, I’ve had no free time,” Chapidze jokes.

Legal reference books in GYLA’s library / Photo by Roshan Nebhrajani

Listen to Nana summarize her project in her own words.

While time for recreational activities is few and far in between, in the ephemeral moments she spends on herself, Chapidze likes to listen to soft rock and classical music, go on picnics to the countryside with friends and read books by Ernest Hemingway , Herman Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Georgian writers such as Goderdzi Chockeli, Galaktion Tabidze. Her favorite books are Hesse’s Siddhartha and Hemingway’s Fiesta.