Report on the State of Human Rights in Institutions for Persons with Disabilities “He drinks vodka and wine. They bring it from the outside; his friends also drink, and when they get drunk, they beat one another,” said one of the beneficiaries. Beneficiaries’ labor is also exploited (“I cut firewood for a local inhabitant”). They wash director’s car, and director takes them to his father’s house in the village of Banikuri. “Once we cut firewood in the forest and brought it down to the director’s house. Director also takes girls to his house to work,” said another beneficiary. As a ten-year-old child declared, “Teacher Sh. Hits me in my face, because I sneak out. Director beats boys and shouts at us. The director takes us to his home and makes us bring firewood. We help teacher N. in picking cherries; I climb the tree.” A 17-year-old confirmed this: “Teachers beat children when they make them angry. The director beats [them] when they make him angry… I help the neighbors – I carry water for them, and they send me to the town to bring cigarettes, coffee, and cooking oil. Teachers from here also send me to the town. They give me 20 kopeks and I buy sunflower or a chewing gum.” According to a 14-year-old, “the boys cut trees and the girls tidy up teachers’ houses.” The child denied that some teachers and the director had put pressure on the beneficiaries, though s/he let it out that s/he had been instructed by teachers to say that teachers took very good care of them. When asked which teacher had instructed him/her, s/he replied: “If I tell you, you will dismiss him/her.” A 16-year-old pupil said that the director had beaten him “hard” several times, mainly with open palms. “As I didn’t listen to him, he was compelled to beat me.” He characterized the director as “very aggressive” and explained that he “often drinks here” [in the institution]. After he had beaten him, he told him: “I was drunk and I went too far.” The child also confirmed that the boys went to bring firewood. At the time of the monitoring, the monitoring group noticed a (presumably) half- emptied bottle with an alcoholic drink in the director’s room that he put in the corner of the table as soon as he had entered the room (the aforementioned has been photographed). The Tbilisi Public School No. 202 (boarding school for children with vision loss and impairment) 108 According to a 15-year-old, “teachers and pupils drink together.” The janitor of the institution is also often drunk. The members of the preventive group also talked with several staff members and parents of beneficiaries who confirmed the facts of alcohol consumption in the institution. The Tbilisi Public School No. 200 109 The experts of the preventive group received information about ill-treatment of beneficiaries in the institution. Specifically, according to the beneficiaries, some employees of the institution exert physical and psychological pressure on them. A nine-year-old child says that “employees of the institution, I. and N., beat children when they make them angry; sometimes, I. calls N. and asks him/her to come and help him/her calm the children down.” The children 108 specialized boarding school for children with vision loss and impairment aged from 5 to 18, 22 pupils are enrolled. 109 specialized boarding school for children with disabilities aged from 5 to 18 pupils are enrolled. NPM Report 2012 According to the pupils of the school, at present, facts of physical abuse do not take place in the institution. According to an 18-year-old, “previously, I found it hard to be here, one of the teachers pulled my hair and another one pinched me. Now they no longer work here.” However, the pupils name excessive consumption of alcohol by members of the administration in the working hours and on the area of the institution as a serious problem. According to them, the aforementioned has also caused verbal abuse of male pupils.