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National law and policies on minimum ages – Georgia

 

According to the CRC, laws and policies must be directed to the best interest of the child. This is especially so in provisions that aim to safeguard the child against exploitation or an early end to childhood, i.e. in the instances where children are most vulnerable and at risk. Yet such safeguards are often ignored and different areas of legislation found to clash with each other. What happens if the age for the end of compulsory education is 14 but the minimum age of employment is 12? Or vice versa? What if a girl can be married before school leaving age - will she then return to school? And who ensures schooling in prisons, when in reality education should protect children from incarceration?

 

 

 

 

With 192 parties to it, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified UN treaty. Each State Party must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which uses this process to monitor State compliance with the treaty. The vast majority of the information on minimum ages presented on these pages is taken directly from such reports (occasionally, if these failed to include relevant information concerning minimum ages, other components of the reporting process - such as the Committee’s Concluding Observations - were consulted). States Parties’ reports constitute self-assessment by governments and are therefore authoritative sources, emanating directly from those empowered to make decisions. Using this type of sources also permits a range of actors to hold governments accountable for the standards which they report under the CRC. The sections of these reports have been reproduced faithfully, and readers are encouraged to make use of the full original text, available here.

 

Individual country reports are often written by diverse parts of the government, and frequently run to more than 100 pages. Moreover, within some states’ legal systems there are various recognised sources of law, which frequently generate conflicting minimum ages. Distilling precise numbers out of such documents is therefore a precarious task. While we would encourage cross-country comparison, we would also stress the danger that those countries with a more honest engagement with the reporting process might come off worse when compared with those which would mis-represent the degree of compliance, whether wilfully or not. For a full explanation of the principles that guided us in our analysis, please visit the introductory pages here.

Sources:

Concluding Observations: CRC/C/GEO/CO/3, 23 June 2008
Written Replies by the Government of Georgia to the List of Issues: CRC/C/GEO/Q/3/Add.1, 20 May 2008
3rd periodic report: CRC/C/GEO/3, 22 August 2007
Initial report: CRC/C/41/Add.4/Rev.1, 6 October 1998
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
From 3rd report
214. According to article 22 of the Law, the State provides complete secondary education; education of pupils in the institutions of general education shall be financed for 12 years.
From initial report
29. Under the Education Act, pre-school education is financed by the State. Primary education is compulsory. Basic education is provided by the State free of charge.
255. Primary schools admit children who reach the age of 6 in the year of entry. A student can be taught at the primary general education level until the age of 14 and at the basic general education level until the age of 18. There is no limitation on the age at which the secondary general education course may be completed (Education Act, art. 11.6-8).
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
From 3rd report
240. According to the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, the new Labour Code of Georgia entered into force in July 2006. Pursuant to article 4 of the Code, the labour capacity of the natural person shall commence at the age of 16, whereas that of a person under the age of 16 shall be subject to the consent of his/her legitimate representative or guardianship/tutorial body, provided the nature of the work involved does not contradict the minor’s interests, does not harm his/her moral, physical or mental development, and does not impose limitations on his/her right and ability to receive compulsory primary and basic education. It is only permitted to engage a minor under the age of 14 in work linked to sports, arts and cultural activities, as well as in advertising campaigns.
From initial report
296. Georgian law establishes 16 years as the minimum age at which a labour contract may be concluded. In some cases the minimum age may be higher; for example, persons below the age of 18 are not allowed to perform heavy or unhealthy work or to work underground. In some cases a labour contract may be concluded at age 15, but this requires the consent of the government labour inspectorates. Furthermore, students at vocational, technical or special secondary schools may be hired for work on reaching the age of 14 subject to the consent of one of the parents or of the guardian. An essential condition for this is that the work to be performed must be light, must not be harmful to the minor's health, and must not interfere with his/her studies.
 
Minimum age for marriage
From initial report
31. The Civil Code (vol. 1) sets the marriageable age at 18 years. In exceptional cases, marriage is allowed at age 16 subject to the written consent of the parents or other legal representatives. If the parents or other legal representatives withhold their consent, permission to contract marriage may be granted by the court in the presence of valid reasons on the basis of an application by the persons wishing to marry.
 
 Minimum age for criminal responsibility
From written replies
48.[…] In pursuance to the recent amendments the age of criminal responsibility has been lowered in Georgia from 14 to 12 years with respect to specific crimes […] The age of criminal responsibility was lowered with respect to the following crimes: deliberate murder; deliberate murder in aggravating circumstances; deliberate grave injury to health; deliberate less grave injury to health; rape; robbery, armed robbery; carriage of a cold steel by a person who has not attained 21 years or a person with previous conviction or a person convicted under administrative law for using drugs.
From concluding observations
72. The Committee deeply regrets the decision of the State party to lower the minimum age for criminal responsibility from 14 to 12.
73. The Committee strongly urges the State party to reinstate, as a matter of urgency, the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 14 years, taking into account the Committee’s general comment No. 10 in which States parties are urged not to lower their minimum age of criminal responsibility to the age of 12 (para. 33) on the grounds that a higher age, such as 14 and 16 years of age, contributes to the juvenile justice system which deals with children in conflict with the law without resorting to judicial proceedings, providing that the child’s human rights and legal safeguards are fully respected, in accordance with the article 40(3)(b) of the Convention.
From initial report
33. Under the provisions of the Criminal Code, criminal responsibility for minors begins at age 16. For persons having committed exceptionally serious crimes, criminal responsibility begins at age 14. Such crimes include murder, grievous bodily harm, rape, robbery, etc. (in all, 11 categories).
 
Sources:
Concluding Observations: CRC/C/GEO/CO/3, 23 June 2008
Written Replies by the Government of Georgia to the List of Issues: CRC/C/GEO/Q/3/Add.1, 20 May 2008
3rd periodic report: CRC/C/GEO/3, 22 August 2007

Initial report: CRC/C/41/Add.4/Rev.1, 6 October 1998