On April 20 Facebook page „ბავშვთა უფლებების დაცვის საზოგადოება“ (“Society for Protecting Children’s rights”) shared a video, where representatives of this society Guram Palavandishvili and Aleksandre Palavandishvili state that, the goal of the ombudsman for entering Ninotsminda’s children’s home is to deprave underaged people.
Aleksandre Palavandishvili: “In the children’s home under the guidance of his grace Spiridon, the ombudsman has requested several times to enter and have private, individual talks with children. We know, that these organizations are open supporters of establishing sodomy. It is unacceptable for supporters of sodomy and agitators to meet and talk to the children”.
Guram Palavandishvili talked about this topic in an interview with the publication „საქართველო და მსოფლიო“ („Georgia and the World”):
Guram Palavandishvili: “First of all, it should be noted, that this is not Lomjaria’s stubbornness, this is a world “standard”, behind which were and still are antichrist powers that work against humanity”.
They talked about Ninotsminda’s children’s home on Alt-info’s show, alt-analytics. One of the hosts of the show, Giorgi Kardava says, that the ombudsman forces a liberal agenda upon children and develops acceptance of vulnerable groups.
Giorgi Kardava: “They say it directly, that their main function is to broaden inclusive rights of vulnerable groups. So they say directly, that they are supporters of the liberal agenda. If you leave them with children, they will turn children into monstrosities. They will read gender theories to children, create loyalty towards transgenders, increase similar acceptance of vulnerable groups”.
In the interview with “საქართველო და მსოფლიო” (“Georgia and the World”) Guram Palavandishvili also talks about “future camps”, where according to his claims, NGO’s “brainwash children”:
Guram Palavandishvili: “As for the so-called social workers and what inserting them in educational facilities would result in, I want to note, that a project named “Future camps” already functions in Georgia, where they directly brainwash adolescence. We are talking about around 10 thousand children per year, who are brought to regions and different NGO’s conduct so-called trainings… In Anaklia, one of them is in Kakheti, Kachreti…in other places as well. You saw what they are taught and how…It is disgusting. Other than entertainment, different sport competitions and etc., every group has appointed seminars twice a week. These seminars are conducted by the so-called children’s educational centers, where there are Baia Pataraias, Lomjarias, others and others and they have lectures about tolerance. You know what kind of “educational” process is it? For example, they ask a child – would you ride in, for instance, a train with a homosexual? If a child answers – no, symbolically they tape their mouth or tie their limbs. If they answer “correctly” on the next question, they remove the tape and say: now you are free from insecurities.”
Guram and Aleksandre Palavandishvili as well as Alt-analytics host’s claim, that the ombudsman wants to enter Ninotsminda children’s home and talk privately with children in order to conduct homosexualism propaganda and read gender theories, is false. The Public Defender’s apparatus notes, that in reality, by monitoring Ninotsminda’s Saint Nino’s children’s home, severe facts of violence against children and punishment of children were discovered. Also trainings, presumably conducted in “future camps” described by Palavandishvili are not in accordance with the truth. Information about conducting these trainings were denied by the responsible organization.
- Disinformation about ombudsman’s motives for entering Ninotsminda children’s home
It is noted in a statement shared by the Public Defender’s apparatus on April 16, that in the children’s home, where 57 children are enrolled, representatives of the Public Defender and social worker of the State Care Agency are not allowed to monitor the facility. They have not had the opportunity to enter the children’s home since June 2020.
“The Public Defender has been noting for years that the monitoring carried out at the St. Nino children’s boarding school in Ninotsminda revealed serious cases of violence against children and punishment of children. Minors living in the boarding school are virtually isolated from the society and the satisfaction of their individual needs is problematic.” – it is said in the statement.
“Partnership for Human Rights” (PHR), an organization that has a special defender’s status, has already addressed Tbilisi’s Civil Court in order to protect the rights of children living in large-sized institutions.
Public Defender periodically monitors the facilities where children are present. While talking with “Myth Detector”, Ekaterine Skhiladze, deputy of Public Defender noted, that the goal for entering Ninotsminda children’s home was to see the actual situation in person.
Ekaterine Skhiladze: “A monitoring visit happened in 2015, according to which a report was prepared. The report talked about lack of social integration in children’s homes and different forms of physical punishment of children. We had a monitoring visit in 2018, but at the time we were already faced with an obstacle and could not speak individually with children”.
According to Skhiladze, a complete monitoring has not been conducted in Ninotsminda children’s home since 2015, since the boarding school’s leadership does not allow it.
“Public Defender’s position is apparent, that the government is obliged to take care of the children. Our recommendations are passed to the government and the government should analyze the children case as well as statements containing hostility, that are spread against the Public Defender’s apparatus”. – Said the deputy ombudsman.
- Disinformation about “future camps”
Aside from Ninotsminda children’s home, in an interview with “Georgia and the World”, Guram Palavandishvili yet again spreads disinformation about “future camps”.
In 2018 Palavandishvili addressed the organizer of the camps, “Children and Youth National Center”, on the basis of a letter by civilian Badri Davituri, which was posted on the webpage zneoba.ge. It was written in Davituri’s letter, that sessions conducted during the trainings were aimed towards “depravity and adultery”. After Guram Palavandishvili’s statement, representative of UN started investigating the process and camp work was temporarily ceased.
Palavandishvili’s accusation was denied by the organization Gydea, which cooperates with the center and is responsible for conducting trainings. They described the training process in detail, which is done in order to “get rid of insecurities”. Training described in the letter shared by Palavandishvili is manipulative. The organization stated, that it is false, that training organizers forced adolescents to agree with ideas presented by them and the paper tape was a part of a voluntary experiment, which was targeted against gender stereotypes.
Explaining in detail the contents of experiment organization:
“The trainer splits the board in two columns and writes down stereotypes restricting men in one column, and in the other – stereotypes restricting women. After that, the trainer chooses two volunteers and in accordance with each stereotype written on the board, “restricts” them with a paper tape. Following this the trainer tells the participants, that this exercise visually shows us how gender stereotypes can restrict women and men. Despite that, it is possible to demolish stereotypes. Often times its enough for at least one person to exist in society, who thinks differently and this could be enough to start the process. The trainer reads the written stereotypes again and after reading each one, tells the participants: “If even one person is in the group, that thinks, that a woman (a man) can do… . they may come and take of the paper tape from the appropriate place”, after which the group members slowly free volunteers from the paper tape, which is a symbolic representation of getting free from stereotypes and restricting norms. “
As for the author of the letter’s claims, that the trainers asked children, if they would ride together with a certain person, according to Gydea’s statement, no such experiment was conducted in the scope of the training.
After a several-day pause, trainings ceased because of Palavandishvili’s appeal, were restored.
This is not the first case of Palavandishvili spreading disinformation about “future camps”. “Myth Detector” wrote about this in the past: