Georgian Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani met with students at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) on October 2 and presented the Juvenile Justice Code.
TSU Rector, Academician Vladimer Papava, representatives of academic circles and students attended the event.
“We want to present one of the most important reforms of the Georgian government and the Justice Ministry – Juvenile Justice Code – at the universities of Georgia, where students show high interest. Not only the European path and reforms help us in our European integration, but these reforms, first and foremost, are good for our country. This code is tailored to the interests of the child and it will actually bring our country closer to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure that children’s rights are protected in criminal proceedings,” Georgian Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani said.
The project was developed upon the Justice Minister’s initiative and its main novelty is creation of a specialized justice institute for persons under 18. The new code unites the norms regulating juvenile responsibility, administrative, criminal proceedings, penitentiary and other issues into one legislative act and introduces new standards and mechanisms for the protection of juvenile rights to bring juvenile justice system in compliance with the European standards and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The door of the Tbilisi State University is always open for public meetings. The Ministry of Justice cooperates actively with our university. Today the Justice Minster acquainted students with a new legislative initiative that, I think will be very interesting for our young people and professors. The university always welcomes such meetings related to government initiatives,” Rector Papava said.
During the meeting students had an opportunity to ask questions to the minister and express their opinions about the new juvenile justice system.
TSU student Sesili Tadaria said: “This is an innovation project. Georgia has never had similar code before. Its analogue is the U.S. Juvenile Code. It has been created with the aim to liberalize punishment and is very interesting. I think, the attitude towards juveniles should be different.”
