| The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001. Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date. This site is not updated so external links may no longer function. Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein. |
Title: Georgia Human Rights Practices, 1995
Author: U.S. Department of State
Date: March 1996
GEORGIA
Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union in April 1991. In
January 1992, a military state council seized power from the elected
Government of Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Following multiparty parliamentary
elections in October 1992, Parliament chose Eduard Shevardnadze as its
Chairman in an uncontested election and named him Head of State. On
August 24, 1995 Parliament adopted a Constitution that provides for a
unicameral legislature, an independent judiciary, and an executive
branch which reports to the President. On November 5, Eduard
Shevardnadze was elected President and a new Parliament was selected in
elections described by international observers as "consistent with
democratic norms." The President appoints ministers with the consent of
the Parliament. The Constitution entered into force on November 18 at
the first session of the newly elected Parliament.
The internal conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia remain unresolved.
In 1993 Abkhaz separatists forcibly took control of Abkhazia. In the
summer of 1994, Russian peacekeepers representing the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) were deployed in the conflict area with the
agreement of the Georgians and the Abkhaz. Skirmishes and atrocities
against civilians continue despite a cease-fire and the presence of the
peacekeepers. A Russian peacekeeping force has been in South Ossetia
since June 1992. While there were no armed hostilities there in 1995,
the Government has no effective control over the territory.
The Ministry of Interior (MVD) has primary responsibility for internal
security, but in times of internal disorder the Government may call on
the army and the state security service (SGB, formerly KGB) to provide
security. The civilian authorities maintain effective control of the
police and security forces. The MVD, SGB, and the former governmental
Mkhedrioni paramilitary forces ("the Rescue Corps") committed serious
human rights abuses. The Rescue Corps was disbanded by decree of the
Head of State on October 1. The Government and the MVD accused senior
figures in the SGB and the Mkhedrioni of carrying out the assassination
attempt against then Chairman Shevardnadze on August 29.
The decline in some sectors of the economy halted, and growth occurred
in the small but dynamic trade and services sector. The economy remains
primarily agricultural; industry operates at less than 20 percent of
capacity. Economic policies discriminate against exports, and they were
meager, mostly fertilizers, citrus, tea, and ferrous metals. Foreign
aid represents nearly 50 percent of government income. The United
Nations estimates per capita gross domestic product at between $350 and
$500. The most vulnerable groups are 250,000 displaced persons from
Abkhazia, pensioners, the handicapped, and orphans.
The Government instituted a number of reforms reflecting its serious
commitment to improve its human rights record, but significant problems
remain. Continuing abuses include police and security force torture and
beating of detainees, inhuman prison conditions, judicial corruption,
denial of fair and expeditious trial, and arbitrary interference with
privacy and home. Progress on human rights included adoption of a new
Constitution by the Parliament; restructuring of the state human rights
protection body, including the establishment of a human rights
ombudsman; the Government's rebuke of an effort by local officials to
censor a television station; arrest of two MVD officers on charges of
abusing prisoners; and partial resumption of access by international
monitors to prisons and detainees.
Abkhaz separatists tortured and killed dozens of civilians in the area
that they control. The actual number of Abkhaz abuses is likely much
higher. Georgian partisans committed killings in reprisal.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person Including Freedom
from:
a. Political and other Extrajudicial Killing
A series of assassination attempts against political figures culminated
with the unsuccessful attempt on Head of State Shevardnadze on August
29. Shevardnadze sustained only slight injuries when a car bomb
exploded outside Parliament.
Unidentified assailants wounded former Defense Minister Giorgi
Karkarashvili and killed his deputy, Major General Paata Datoashvili, on
January 25 in Moscow. Masked men killed Shevardnadze's close political
ally Soliko Khabeishvili in front of his home on June 20. On December
3, 1994, unknown assassins killed head of the National Democratic Party
Giorgi Chanturia and seriously wounded his wife, member of Parliament
Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia.
The Government and the MVD have charged senior members of the SGB and
the Mkhedrioni with involvement in the assassination of Chanturia and
Khabeishvili and the attempted assassination of President Shevardnadze.
Deputy Security Minister Temur Khachishvili was arrested on September 2
and accused of involvement in the attempt to kill Shevardnadze. A
warrant was also issued for the arrest of former Security Minister Igor
Giorgadze.
According to the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) mission in Georgia, "the Abkhaz authorities continue to implement
violent ethnic cleansing designed to prevent significant repatriation to
Gali district and elsewhere in Abkhazia." On March 12-14, Abkhaz
militia tortured and summarily executed 28 Georgians in the Gali
district of southern Abkhazia. In retaliation, Georgian partisan groups
assassinated seven Abkhaz officials on April 1.
Prison officials report that 40 persons died in pretrial detention.
Officials admit that poor conditions contribute to the high mortality
rate, but physical abuse and torture are also likely factors (see
Section 1.c.). The Government plans to build a new pretrial detention
facility but as yet construction has not begun.
b. Disappearance
The fate of many Georgians and Abkhaz who have disappeared since 1992 as
a result of the Abkhaz conflict is still unknown. Over 1,000 Georgians
are still reported missing, according to the State Committee on Human
Rights.
The Government officially has no Abkhaz prisoners. Georgian partisan
groups, which are condoned but not controlled by the Government, hold
two Abkhaz prisoners. Other detentions by Georgian partisan groups have
been reported but cannot be confirmed. The Abkhaz authorities released
30 persons in 1995 in prisoner exchanges and captured an additional 25
persons.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment
While torture in prisons is not always systematic or organized,
government officials admit that the lack of training and supervision
often results in cases of abuse. The most serious incidents of torture
occurred in the investigative stage of pretrial detention when suspects
were interrogated by police. In March President Shevardnadze reported
that more than 350 policemen had been arrested for various crimes,
including the abuse of human rights. In accordance with the new
Constitution, the Government has created the Office of Human Rights
Defender to address cases of torture and abuse.
After the July 9 arrest of five suspects in an attempted bridge bombing
in Tbilisi, MVD police tortured the suspects. One suspect, Gia
Korbesashvili, was beaten so severely that he could not stand after his
interrogation. Human rights monitors visited Korbesashvili in the
hospital after he slit his wrists, reportedly because he could no longer
endure the torture.
On March 25, police arrested Tamriko Khidasheli, her husband and her
father, and two other men on suspicion of murder. On August 7,
following reports of beatings during interrogation, police arrested MVD
narcotics chief Colonel Gela Kavtelishvili and police officer Giga
Kigacheishvili. At year's end, the two were awaiting trial on charges
of violating the procedural code on interrogation. The five suspects
were released.
Between March 12 and 14, Abkhaz militia detained 300 Georgians in Gali
District and tortured many of them. In the village of Kvemo Bargebi,
the Ochamchira unit of the Abkhaz militia beat prisoners with rods,
burned them with hot knives and bayonets, stabbed them, and set their
bodies on fire. The Abkhaz militia killed 28 persons, most of whom were
tortured to death (see Section 1.a.). Despite the claims of Abkhaz
authorities, there is no evidence that the perpetrators have been
punished for these atrocities.
According to the OSCE mission to Georgia, during this period Russian CIS
peacekeepers maintained fixed checkpoints only and were not on the scene
at the time of the murders. The OSCE mission reported that as a result
of the clearly "unsatisfactory posture from the standpoint of resident
security, certain changes have since been adopted" including mobile
patrols. However, the OSCE mission considered these changes as "still
insufficient to provide the guarantees of personal security essential to
any progress on repatriation. In a March report, Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki noted that "perpetrators of war crimes on both sides of
the conflict are not, by and large, being prosecuted and punished, and
there is a near certainty that individuals accused of war crimes will
not receive fair trials." In an effort to hold such perpetrators
accountable, Head of State Eduard Shevardnadze proposed that the United
Nations create a body to investigate and punish those guilty of crimes
against humanity in Abkhazia. In May the U.N. Security Council
requested that the Secretary General consider means to improve the human
rights situation in Abkhazia. This led to enhanced coordination between
the U.N. and the OSCE on human rights issues in the region.
Prison authorities admit that conditions are inhuman in many facilities.
They blame inadequate cells, medicine, and food on a lack of resources.
In the pretrial detention facility in Tbilisi, 2,050 inmates are housed
in a prison designed for fewer than 1,000. Cells contain as many as 36
inmates with so few beds that they must sleep in shifts. Lack of
sanitation, medical care, and food poses a serious threat to life and
health.
In 1995 Amnesty International reported that improper medical care
resulted in the amputation of the leg of detainee Badri Zarandia in
Zugdidi on October 30, 1994. Zarandia's relatives believe that the
amputation was unnecessary and preceded by severe beatings by Zugdidi
police, which resulted in Zarandia's loss of consciousness and damage to
an artery in his leg.
The Government permitted the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) to visit some prisoners but restricted access to others (see
Section 4). Tours of prisons and pretrial detention facilities
conducted for foreign embassy and OSCE representatives are closely
monitored by prison officials preventing uninhibited conversations with
inmates. Despite assurances provided by the office of the President,
officials from the office of the prosecutor prevented international
monitors from meeting several of the detainees arrested in connection
with the Shevardnadze assassination attempt. Among the detainees whom
monitors have not been able to visit is Guram Papukashvili, a former
state security service officer. There are continuing credible reports
that Papukashvili has been abused since being detained.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution adopted on August 24 provides for a 9-month period of
maximum pretrial detention, mandated court approval of detention after
72 hours, and restrictions on the role of the prosecutor (see Section
l.e.). Many of these provisions, although embodied in Soviet law, were
ignored prior to the entering into force of the new Constitution on
November 18. No significant change in arrest patterns occurred after
November, but public awareness of citizen's legal rights noticeably
improved.
During most of 1995, former Soviet law continued to be enforced. Under
Soviet law, prosecutors issued warrants for arrests and searches without
court approval. Persons could be legally detained for up to 72 hours
without charge. After 72 hours, the prosecutor was required to approve
the detention. This approval, however, was often a formality as the
prosecutor had initiated the arrest. The law allowed for a maximum of
18 months of detention before trial, although this limit was often
exceeded.
Amnesty International notes that the police have held Nikolay Ploshkin
for 3 years since October 28, 1992, without trial. A court ruled on
June 28 that the evidence against Ploshkin did not support the
prosecutor's charge of narcotics production, but Ploshkin continues to
be held under investigation and without charge.
The Government resisted a call to declare a state of emergency following
the August 29 attempt to assassinate the Head of State. Dozens of
supporters of ousted President Gamsakhurdia were, however, briefly
detained and released following the incident. Dozens of Gamsakhurdia
supporters were also detained on May 26 when police broke up an
unsanctioned assembly of protesters (see Section 2.b.).
In a Shevardnadze-initiated crackdown against the then official but
heavily criminal Mkhedrioni (Rescue Corps), MVD police arrested a number
of Mkhedrioni in August and September on criminal charges, some as old
as 3 years.
There were no cases of forced exile.
e. Denial of Fair Trial
The new Constitution provides for an independent judiciary. Prior to
the adoption of the new Constitution, the courts were often influenced
by the pressure from the executive branch. By year's end, the courts
displayed no greater independence from the executive branch's
prosecutor's office.
The Constitution delineates the authorities of individual courts.
Courts of general jurisdiction are undifferentiated as to function;
judges may hear criminal, civil, and juvenile cases. Military courts
are allowed to operate only during wartime. The Constitution provides
for a new Constitutional Court made up of three appointees from each
branch of government--executive, legislative, and judicial. Parliament
has yet to adopt specific legislation to determine the powers, duties,
and operating procedures of the Constitutional Court.
Under former Soviet law which governed for most of 1995, prosecutors
were vested with powers greater than those of judges or defense
attorneys. Prosecutors directed criminal investigations, supervised
some judicial functions, and represented the State in trials. The
judiciary had little control over the activities of prosecutors. The
new Constitution limits the role of prosecutors by placing them under
the supervision of the courts.
Under the law a detainee is presumed innocent and has the right to a
public trial. Trials, however, are not conducted in an adversarial
manner. A detainee has the right to demand immediate access to a lawyer
and to refuse to make a statement in the absence of counsel. The State
must provide legal counsel if the defendant is unable to afford one.
The detaining officer must inform the detainee of these rights and must
notify the detainee's family of his or her location as soon as possible.
In practice, these rights are frequently violated. Human rights
observers report widespread judicial incompetence and corruption,
including the payment of bribes to prosecutors and judges.
In the trial of 19 persons implicated in the June 1992 attempt on the
life of parliamentary deputy and Mkhedrioni leader Jaba Ioseliani, the
Supreme Court sentenced two of the suspects to death on March 6 and the
rest to jail terms of up to 15 years. The Government consistently
violated due process during the investigation and trial. Acts of
torture, use of forced confessions, denial of legal counsel, and
expulsion of defendants from the courtroom took place. One of the
condemned men, Petre Gelbakhiani, had been denied access to legal
counsel and trial records to prepare his appeal. Access to his lawyer
and legal records was restored in May after intervention by the State
Committee on Human Rights. On July 8, the presiding judge expelled from
the courtroom two other suspects in the same case, Zurab Barzimashvili
and Omar Kochlamazashvili, when they objected to being denied access to
case materials. After a 7-month appeal process, the Supreme Court
denied the appeal and declared the trial to have been legal and valid.
The defendants plan a second appeal directly to the Supreme Court
Chairman.
There are no known political prisoners, although detained Gamsakhurdia
supporters, organized crime figures, and SGB personnel have claimed that
they are political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Credible reports indicate that both the SGB and MVD monitor private
telephone conversations without court order. SGB and MVD officials also
enter homes without legal sanction. The frequency and seriousness of
such violations, however, are diminishing.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution and the 1991 press law provide for freedom of the
press. The Government improved its respect of this right in practice,
although some problems remained. Press freedom for private media was
almost universal in 1995, with the exception of an unsuccessful attempt
by certain officials to censor a private television station. Observers
noted that police harassment of journalists had declined. Dozens of
opposition newspapers with wide circulation operate without interference
throughout Georgia.
The Government finances and controls many newspapers and most television
stations, and they reflect principally official viewpoints. The
government-financed newspapers Sarkartvelos Respublic and Svobodnya
Gruzya, do not publish opposition viewpoints. The State also owns and
operates the major publishing house. Opposition spokesmen complain they
do not have equal access to government-operated national television
stations nor the resources to print large numbers of their newspapers.
The government-operated stations have introduced some programs designed
to air opposition viewpoints. During the campaigns prior to the
November 5 elections, all political parties were given equal time on
government television with rotating time slots.
On June 16, the Ministry of Communications rescinded the license of a
local television station "Rustavi TV" after the station refused to
submit to censorship by municipal authorities. The Ministry closed
"Rustavi TV" under the pretense that it was engaging in illegal
commercial activity. After media and diplomatic protests to the Head of
State's office, the Ministry of Communications restored the license on
July 18.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Government generally observes the right of peaceful assembly and
association. The Government permits unannounced assembly in three
locations in Tbilisi and requires 24-hour advanced notice for assemblies
in other areas. The Government grants permits for assembly and
registration for associations without arbitrary restriction or
discrimination.
On May 26, police in riot gear broke up an unsanctioned assembly of
2,000 protesters (mostly supporters of ousted President Gamsakhurdia) in
the Tbilisi city center. The protesters complained that some of them,
particularly women, were handled roughly by police. Dozens of
protesters were detained.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government
respects this right in practice.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel,
Emigration, and Repatriation
The 1993 law on migration provides for these rights, and the Government
generally respects them in practice. The Government Office of
Passports, Visas, and Foreign Registration (OVIR) often illegally
restricts foreign travel by demanding bribes and requiring long delays
for passport issuance. The registration of residence is no longer
required in Georgia. Georgian citizens are free to live anywhere in the
country. The Government generally respects the right of repatriation,
although approximately 270,000 Meskhetian Turk (primarily Muslim)
refugees still face public opposition to their return. Stalin exiled
the Meskhetian Turks from Georgia in the 1940's. The Government is
attempting to return 35 to 40 Meskhetian refugee families from
Azerbaijan to Marneuli, eastern Georgia, as part of a pilot resettlement
program. Larger repatriation programs continue to face strong local
resistance.
International law and the 1994 Quadripartite Agreement (Russia, Georgia,
Abkhazia, and U.N. High Commissioer for Refugees) on repatriation in
Abkhazia provide for the free, safe, and dignified return of internally
displace persons (IDP's) to their homes. Since 1994, when only 311
IDP's were allowed to repatriate, there has been no official
repatriation. Approximately 30,000 of the 250,000 displaced persons
from Abkhazia have returned spontaneously, most all to the southern part
of Gali District where Abkhaz separatist forces operate only
sporadically. The returnees continue to face security threats from
Abkhaz authorities.
South Ossetian separatists also continue to defy attempts to repatriate
IDP's.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to
Change their Government
The Constitution and 1995 Election Law provide citizens with the right
to peacefully change their government, and citizens exercised this right
in the last two elections in October 1992 and November 1995. A
democratically elected President and Parliament governs most of Georgia.
The separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are ruled by
unelected leaders, and national balloting is not conducted in these
areas.
The 223-member Parliament and President Eduard Shevardnadze were elected
in multiparty elections in 1992 and 1995. International observers
judged these elections to meet international standards, despite
technical violations. In the 1995 election, opposition parties actively
participated in preelection planning and election monitoring. The most
serious election violations occurred in the regions of Adjaria and
Southern Georgia but were not sufficiently large to upset the national
election outcome. Local elections are planned in 1996.
Women and minorities are less well represented in Parliament than they
were in the Soviet or Gamsakhurdia governments. Only 16 women (7
percent) were elected to Parliament in 1995, and one woman (6 percent)
has been named to a ministerial post.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
The Government generally respects the right of domestic and
international organizations to monitor human rights, but has limited the
access of such organizations in specific cases.
The ICRC has visited 80 prisoners in Georgian custody and 55 prisoners
in Abkhaz custody without the presence of third-party observers. The
Government has denied access by ICRC to 27 prisoners, most of whom are
supporters of ousted President Gamsakhurdia.
Following the attempted assassination of the Head of State on August 29,
the Ministry of Interior arrested dozens of members of the Rescue Corps
and the Security Service (see Section 1.d.). There are continuing
credible reports of abuse of one of the detained security service
officers, Guram Papukashvili. By year's end, the Government granted the
OSCE and diplomatic representatives access to some of the detained
persons in this case, but not to Papukashvili.
Domestic human rights monitoring is politicized. Local human rights
groups complain that the State Committee on Human Rights is biased and
promotes the interests of the Government. The Committee counters that
most local human rights groups are extensions of partisan political
groups. The new Constitution provides for a human rights public
defender who will be independent from the executive branch. The public
defender will be elected and funded by Parliament but will be
accountable to neither the Parliament nor the executive. The position
will be filled after the Parliament adopts legislation defining its
specific duties and authority.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability,
Language, or Social Status
The Constitution recognizes the equality of all citizens without regard
to race, language, sex, religion, skin color, political views, national,
ethnic, or social affiliation, origin, social status, landownership, or
place of residence. The Constitution provides for Georgian as the state
language, except in Abkhazia where both Abkhazian and Georgian are state
languages. The State Committee on Human Rights and Interethnic
Relations is responsible for combating discrimination but lacks the
resources to monitor discrimination effectively.
Women
Women's nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) report that family
violence and rape is not common in most of Georgia, although there have
been incidents of spousal abuse and sexual harassment. They indicate
that spousal abuse usually goes unreported, and police are reluctant to
investigate complaints. They also note that sexual harassment is
becoming a growing problem in the workplace as increasing numbers of
women are employed outside the home. The Government has no support
services for abused women, although police reportedly do investigate
reports of rape.
Human rights monitors in Abkhazia noted dozens of reports of rape of
non-Abkhaz women by young Abkhaz men, often in paramilitary dress. In
many cases, these rapes were reported to be of elderly women with the
clear intent of humiliating the victim and her family.
Women's access to the labor market continues to be confined mostly to
low-paying and low-skill positions despite frequent high professional
and academic qualifications. There are only a relatively few women
working in industry and professional fields. Despite their small
numbers, prominent women including opposition leader Irina Chanturia-
Sarishvili play important roles in politics and business.
Five new political collectives have been formed to promote women's
rights, including Georgian Women's Choice and the Party for the Defense
of Women's Rights.
Children
Government services for children are extremely limited. The Health
Reform Act of August 10 withdrew the right of children over the age of 1
year to free medical care. While education is officially free, many
parents are unable to afford books and school supplies, effectively
excluding their children from participation in school.
The Georgian private voluntary organization (PVO), "Child and
Environment," notes a dramatic rise in homeless children since the
collapse of the Soviet Union. It estimates that there are as many as
1,000 street children in Tbilisi because of the inability of orphanages
and the Ministry of Education to provide support services. "Child and
Environment" also reports a growing trend towards child involvement in
criminal activity, narcotics, and prostitution despite the cultural
tradition of protecting children.
People with Disabilities
There is no legislative or otherwise mandated provision requiring
accessibility for the disabled. The Law on Labor has a section which
includes the provision of special discounts and favorable social
policies for those with disabilities, especially disabled veterans.
Many of the state facilities for the disabled which operated in the
Soviet period have been closed because of lack of government funding.
Most disabled persons are supported by family members.
Religious Minorities
Freedom of religion is widely respected in Georgia. The Patriarch of
the Georgian Orthodox Church, however, is wary of proselytism and has
exhibited an intolerant attitude towards Baptist missionaries and the
Salvation Army. The Catholic
Church has also complained of the delay in the return of churches closed
during the Soviet period and later given to the Georgian Orthodox
Church.
Organizations promoting the rights of Jewish persons and Jewish
emigration continue to report that the Government provides exceptional
cooperation and support. This year, during the transition to a new
passport regime, the Government expedited the cases of Jewish emigrants
while delaying all other cases. Georgia has a tradition of tolerance
towards religious minorities.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The Government generally respects the rights of ethnic minorities in
nonconflict areas. Local government has encouraged the repatriation and
reintegration of ethnic Ossetians into Georgian communities. The
Government provides funds for ethnic schools, and the teaching of non-
Georgian languages is permitted. Both pro-Georgian and Abkhaz
separatist violence against civilians in Abkhazia reflects historical
ethnic conflicts as does the refusal of South Ossetian authorities to
allow ethnic Georgians to return to South Ossetia.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Constitution provides for the right of citizens to form and join
unions. The Soviet Labor Code, still in effect, specifies that these
unions must be registered with the Ministry of Justice.
A single Confederation of Trade Unions, made up of about 30 sectoral
unions, operates in Georgia. Current trade unions, however, are
remnants of the Soviet period where unions were administrative bodies
concerned with property and finance but not with workers' rights.
There are no legal prohibitions against affiliation and participation in
international organizations. The right to form unions is protected
under the new Constitution.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The Constitution and the Soviet Labor Code allow workers to organize and
bargain collectively, and this right is respected. The Labor Code also
prohibits antiunion discrimination by employers against union members.
Employers may be prosecuted for antiunion discrimination and be made to
reinstate employees and pay back wages. The Ministry of Labor
investigates complaints but is not staffed to conduct effective
investigations.
There are no export processing zones.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The Labor Code prohibits forced or compulsory labor and provides for
sanctions against violators; violations are rare. The Ministry of Labor
enforces this law.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
According to the Labor Code, the minimum age for employment of children
is 14 years. Children between 14 and 16 years may not work more than 30
hours per week. Reportedly, the minimum age is widely respected.
e. Acceptable Conditions for Work
The nationally mandated minimum wage was abolished on July 1 and
replaced by a wage scale which sets the lowest salary grade at $4.31
(3.5 lari) per month. There is no state-mandated minimum wage for
private sector workers. A recent government report concluded that $77
per month was required to maintain the basic needs of a single elderly
male in Georgia. Pensions are undifferentiated, except for World War II
veterans, and are set at $4.55 (3.7 lari) per month. Pensions for World
War II veterans are set at $7.38 (6 lari) per month.
The law provides for a 41-hour workweek, including a 24-hour rest
period, although the Government workweek was shortened during the winter
due to the energy crisis. The Labor Code permits higher wages for
hazardous work and permits a worker in such fields to refuse duties that
could endanger his life.
(###)
[end of document]
Return
to 1995 Human Rights Practices report home page.
Return to DOSFAN
home page.
This is an official U.S. Government source
for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links
does not imply endorsement of contents.