Report on the State of Human Rights in Institutions for Persons with Disabilities but not curtains; The doors to the living rooms, toilets, and shower rooms of the majority of the boarding schools are only locked from the outside, or they do not have locks at all. The distance between 15 beds in the living room (area – 49.14 m2) of Boarding School No. 202 was 46 cm (3.28 m2 per beneficiary), while in the Akhaltsikhe Boarding School No. 7, this distance was 23 cm, which is a clear violation of a person’s right to private space. RESTRICTION OF ACCESS TO MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AND EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION In none of the boarding schools do beneficiaries enjoy full access to means of communication to receive and impart information, communicate freely with the outside world, and not be isolated from the society. There are no common use telephones in the boarding schools, which could be available to beneficiaries for 24 hours a day. The computers are located in the educational part of the buildings; The computer rooms mostly open at 9 A.M. and close at 4 P.M., and they are closed on weekends. The computers are often occupied by teachers themselves; The situation is made worse by the small number of computers, their poor technical condition, and limited access to the Internet. A beneficiary of Boarding School No. 203 told us that s/he had last used a computer two months before and only for a very short time, while a beneficiary of Boarding School No. 202 declared that there was a queue for using a computer and the Internet. It is also noteworthy that, according to official data, Boarding School No. 203 has 41 computers and Boarding School No. 45 has 13 computers, whereas, in reality, Boarding School No. 203 has 10 computers and Boarding School No. 45 has 3 computers. Under the existing situation, mobile phones remain the only means of communication for beneficiaries, but not everyone has his/her mobile phone and can afford paying for this service. The boxes for complaints are unsealed in every institution, which makes it impossible to check when they are opened and closed and whether a complaint reaches the addressee. RESTRICTION OF ACCESS TO MEANS OF PROTECTION FROM RISKS CAUSED BY NATURAL DISASTERS The staff and beneficiaries of the boarding schools have practically no information about risks (dangers) caused by natural disasters and about the means of avoiding and decreasing them. The majority of the institutions do not have an evacuation plan, or their evacuation plans are outdated. The staff and beneficiaries have never taken theoretical and/or practical training on these issues. The majority of the staff was not able to tell the difference between the actions that should be taken at the time of a fire and an earthquake. The staff do not know in what form and by what means they should inform beneficiaries (Persons with visual impairment, those using a wheelchair or other subsidiary means, and those with hearing impairment, restricted mobility, or mental restriction) in the case of this or that disaster and with what procedure, sequence, and means beneficiaries should be evacuated from the building. The majority of the institutions (four boarding schools out of six) are not equipped with fire safety equipment. 164 The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of December 13, 2006, Article 11 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER OF GEORGIA NPM Report 2012 “States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.”164