The Issue
In 1994, the Georgian Government acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since its accession, the Georgian Government has submitted two reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1998 and 2003. The Committee respectively issued its Concluding Observations in 2000 and 2003. Legislation – According to the Article six of the Georgian Constitution, law conforms to universally recognized principles and norms of international law, and international treaties or agreements concluded by Georgia which are not consistent with the Basic Law have greater legal force over internal normative acts. Accordingly, all citisens including children could invoke the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child before national courts, although a region-by-region inquiry showed that no case has ever been brought before a national court for implementation of the CRC or any other international instruments. In 2000, acting upon recommendations of the CRC Committee, Georgia with the support of UNICEF initiated a process in order to undertake a review of its legislation with a view to bring it closer with the Convention and to submit proposals to the Parliament on measures to that end. The process of harmonisation of the national legislation with the Convention is presently underway.
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