National Preventive Mechanism staff who have spinal problems themselves are highly likely to fail to transfer a beneficiary safely, which may result in a fatal outcome. Public Defender of Georgia addresses the State Care Agency with recommendations to: Ensure the protection of the rights of the staff working in the institutions, including insuring adequate number of staff in the Martkopi Boarding House for Persons with Disabilities, so that issues of safety that stem from the aforementioned problem are resolved; Ensure the prevention of professional burnout of the staff and introduce the regulation of healthcare, which will also increase the quality of healthcare and custodial care for beneficiaries. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TOWARDS CHILDREN DEVOID OF PARENTAL CARE In accordance with Article 37 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the State Parties shall ensure that “no child is subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Furthermore, Article 19 of the Convention provides that the states are obliged to protect children from “all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation.” Thus, these two norms of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stem from the necessity to protect the lawful interests and rights of children, determine the parameters of states’ obligations in terms of protection of children from violence and ill-treatment. In relation to children under state care, it is relevant to protect the rights guaranteed both by Article 19 (protection of children from violence) and Article 37 (protection of children from torture and ill-treatment) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, since in this case it is the state that takes the responsibility for carrying out care for a child instead of a parent. In accordance with the referral procedures for child protection138, schools and specialized institutions for children are authorized to study and analyze cases in the framework of these procedures if there is doubt that a child was subjected to violence, to notify the police or the Social Service Agency of these cases, and to supervise the condition of the child who became a victim of violence in cooperation with the Agency. The staff of almost all childcare institutions noted that children living in residential institutions were subjected to violence by their family members. For example, according to the psychologist of Public School No. 200, teachers tell him/ her that some parents beat their children. The psychologist has also witnessed a fact of physical violence against a child by his/her parent at the time when the latter was visiting the boarding school. When asked what the school had done to protect the child from domestic violence, s/he answered that the school was not informed about a referral. According to the information provided by the staff working in the institutions, the children do not talk about violence, but they say that they do not want to go home. “N.K.’s grandmother probably wasn’t able to subdue the child and beat him/her; s/he is a disobedient child. The children put their hands on their head when teachers approach them, probably because they are beaten at home. The child who was beaten by his/her grandmother in the school yard has vision impairment,” said the psychologist. According to the doctor of the Kutaisi Public School No. 45, “There have been cases when a parent brought a child with a small injury, but s/he told us that the child had sustained these injuries while playing. Accordingly, we didn’t check anything. We believe that this was the case. If a child sustains a considerable injury, we will notify someone…” The aforementioned issue is very problematic in the public schools (with a boarding house service) under the Ministry of Education and Science. The monitoring group received a large amount of information about alleged facts of domestic violence against children, who are in these institutions. 138 The Joint Order of the Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia No. 152/N – N496 – N45/N of May 31, 2010, Tbilisi; M. 4(4); www.ombudsman.ge NPM Report