Report on the State of Human Rights in Institutions for Persons with Disabilities The Case of P. The Martkopi Boarding House for Persons with Disabilities houses a marital couple who have underage children aged five and seven. The children live in St. Barbare Residential Institution for Orphans and Children Devoid of Care in Zestaponi. The parents manage to visit their children once in every several months with the help of the head of the institution. At the time of the monitoring, they said that they had not seen their children for several months. The aforementioned cases make it clear that the right to respect and protection of private and family life of beneficiaries living in state residential institutions is often restricted. Despite the standard established by the Constitution of Georgia and international law according to which everyone, including persons with disabilities, has an equal right to have contact with his/her children and live with his/her family, the aforementioned institutions, in most cases, fail to ensure the exercise of this right. The institutions also fail to ensure the protection of beneficiaries’ honor and dignity, their private life, and integrity. Public Defender of Georgia addresses the State Care Agency and the Social Service Agency with recommendations to: Ensure the protection of and respect for private life of beneficiaries, so that no unlawful interference with their rights takes place; Ensure that caregivers in institutions for persons with disabilities are selected in view of beneficiaries’ gender, so that beneficiaries’ rights are protected during the exercise of all kinds of care; Ensure beneficiaries’ freedom of private life and contribute to their maximum involvement in the process of their children’s upbringing; Proceeding from the children’s genuine interest, create appropriate conditions to enable parents and children to live together; Respect personal feelings of adults/children with disabilities living in institutions. REHABILITATION AND HABILITATION Despite the fact that the Georgian legislation envisages the provision of persons with disabilities with full and quality rehabilitation services, the current monitoring has revealed that the aforementioned safeguards are violated to a considerable extent in the residential institutions. Specifically, in accordance with Article 13 of the Law of Georgia “On Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities”, “The state shall organize and contribute to the formation and development of a medical, professional, and rehabilitation system for persons with disabilities, which constitutes a complex of measures aimed at recovery and compensation of impaired or lost functions of the body and of the ability to provide self-service and carry out various professional activities; It shall also enable persons with disabilities to lead full lives and to ensure the exercise of their rights and potential abilities.” And Article 27 of the same law further specifies the state’s role in relation to persons with disabilities living NPM Report 2012 In accordance with Article 26 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “States Parties shall take effective and appropriate measures, including through peer support, to enable persons with disabilities to attain and maintain maximum independence, full physical, mental, social and vocational ability… To that end, State Parties shall organize, strengthen and extend comprehensive habilitation and rehabilitation services and programs, particularly in the areas of health, employment, education and social services, in such a way that these services and programs begin at the earliest possible stage, and are based on the multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths.”