Ombudsperson claims violation of pupils' rights at Ninotsminda boarding school

A video with pupils of the orphanage in Ninotsminda appeared in social networks, which violates their privacy rights, the Georgian Ministry of Public Health has stated. It follows from the video that the boarding school managers ignored children's needs and violated their rights, Nino Lomdjariya, the Georgian Ombudsperson has stated.

Earlier it became known about cruel punishments applied to pupils of the boarding school, but authorities failed to react, human rights defenders assert. On June 4, officials began removing children from the orphanage boarding school.

Now, Georgian authorities are taking measures to remove the video from the Internet. A group of psychologists is at work in the school.

The video footage shows that pupils are under severe stress. It also follows from the video that the school manager not only ignores children's interests, but also violates their rights, the Ombudsperson, Nino Lomdjariya, has stated.

According to her story, children's rights are violated not only in Orthodox boarding schools, but also in the institutions belonging to other confessions. For example, the 2015 Ombudsperson's report stated that "pupils of Muslim boarding houses failed to report regular violence, but admitted that sometimes educators were shouting at them and resorted to physical violence."