The Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched an information campaign called - "Do Not Deprive Childhood”, which is carried out with partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Georgia Office, under the auspices of the United Nations Joint Program on Gender Equality, funded by Sweden.
The aim of the campaign is to eliminate child marriage and raise public awareness on this issue, as well as ensure crime reporting to law enforcers in a timely manner.
At the opening of the campaign the invited guests were addressed by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Aleksander Darakhvelidze, the Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Sweden in Georgia, Eric Illes and the Head of the UNFPA Georgia Office, Lela Bakradze.
The event was attended by the representatives of the Governmental and Non-Governmental sector, members of Parliament, representatives of the Public Defender's Office and international organizations working on the issue.
At the event, the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs made the presentation regarding the statistics of child marriage and the activities planned within the campaign.
In addition, the video was prepared related to child marriage in which representatives of various agencies talk about the harmful practice of child marriage, the need for a multisectoral approach to address the problem and call on the public to contribute to the fight against child marriage.
The information campaign will last for two months, throughout which various activities are planned, including meetings with different target groups in Tbilisi and the regions. Mentioned meetings will be held by the staff of the Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department, together with representatives of partner agencies and organizations. Also, the social advertisement on the topic of child marriage was prepared, which will be disseminated through the mass media. Information booklets and posters were printed in Georgian, Azerbaijani and Armenian language, which will be distributed to school administrations and other stakeholders during the campaign. As a part of the campaign the photo contest also will be held.
Child Marriage remains serious problem across the country, with particularly detrimental impact on girls and women. One of the priorities for the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the timely detection and effective investigation of this category of crimes. Therefore, the Department of Human Rights Protection and the Quality Monitoring Investigation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is studying criminal cases throughout the country, the possible motive of which is child marriage.
Lack of legal awareness among the population and information related to mentioned crimes remain one of the main challenges, which complicates, on the one hand, the timely detection of crime and, on the other hand, effective response and obtaining the necessary evidence.
The campaign is also supported by the Arbiter-Samariter-Bund (ASB) and the Networks of Centers for Civic Engagement.
