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GEORGIA'S ETHNIC MINORITIES STILL SIDELINED: WATCHDOG
Agence France Presse
June 15, 2010 Tuesday 2:58 PM GMT
Georgia needs to work harder to welcome religious and ethnic minorities
into mainstream society despite real efforts in recent years, the
Council of Europe's anti-racism agency warned Tuesday.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerence (ECRI) first
praised Georgia's adoption last year of an action plan on integrating
its minorities.
It pointed out "positive initiatives in fighting discrimination on
the grounds of 'race', colour, language, religion, nationality or
national or ethnic origin," including such steps as hiring ethnic
minority police officers.
ECRI also found the situation of refugees from Russia's breakaway
Chechnya region -- on which Georgia was criticised in the watchdog's
last report in 2007 -- to have genuinely improved.
But the report said many among Georgia's ethnic minorities, who make up
some 16.7 percent of the population, still suffered unfair treatment,
with Roma in a specially "vulnerable position."
Meskhetian Turks, who have returned to Georgia after being deported
in the 1940s by the former Soviet Union, often suffer "hostility"
from the local population, the report said, urging the state to work
to integrate them.
Minorities including ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis from the south
were also disadvantaged by their often poor command of Georgian,
the report said, urging the state to provide bilingual teachers for
such children.
And children from religious minorities were allegedly exposed to
harrassment from teachers and pupils, in a country that counts an
overwhelming 84 percent of Orthodox Christians, the report said.
ECRI also said reports suggested that "racism in public discourse has
deteriorated in some aspects due to the August 2008 armed conflict
in Georgia," which pitted Russian forces against Tbilisi.
More broadly, it found that Georgia had to work harder to root out
ethnic prejudice.
"Recent reports continue to mention the existence of stereotypes,
prejudice and misconceptions towards ethnic minorities in Georgia,
in particular by politicians, in the media and in school textbooks,"
it found.
From: A. Papazian
Agence France Presse
June 15, 2010 Tuesday 2:58 PM GMT
Georgia needs to work harder to welcome religious and ethnic minorities
into mainstream society despite real efforts in recent years, the
Council of Europe's anti-racism agency warned Tuesday.
The European Commission against Racism and Intolerence (ECRI) first
praised Georgia's adoption last year of an action plan on integrating
its minorities.
It pointed out "positive initiatives in fighting discrimination on
the grounds of 'race', colour, language, religion, nationality or
national or ethnic origin," including such steps as hiring ethnic
minority police officers.
ECRI also found the situation of refugees from Russia's breakaway
Chechnya region -- on which Georgia was criticised in the watchdog's
last report in 2007 -- to have genuinely improved.
But the report said many among Georgia's ethnic minorities, who make up
some 16.7 percent of the population, still suffered unfair treatment,
with Roma in a specially "vulnerable position."
Meskhetian Turks, who have returned to Georgia after being deported
in the 1940s by the former Soviet Union, often suffer "hostility"
from the local population, the report said, urging the state to work
to integrate them.
Minorities including ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis from the south
were also disadvantaged by their often poor command of Georgian,
the report said, urging the state to provide bilingual teachers for
such children.
And children from religious minorities were allegedly exposed to
harrassment from teachers and pupils, in a country that counts an
overwhelming 84 percent of Orthodox Christians, the report said.
ECRI also said reports suggested that "racism in public discourse has
deteriorated in some aspects due to the August 2008 armed conflict
in Georgia," which pitted Russian forces against Tbilisi.
More broadly, it found that Georgia had to work harder to root out
ethnic prejudice.
"Recent reports continue to mention the existence of stereotypes,
prejudice and misconceptions towards ethnic minorities in Georgia,
in particular by politicians, in the media and in school textbooks,"
it found.
From: A. Papazian