13.02.2007 - Source: Council of Europe - European Commission against Racism and Intolerance

Ethnic minorities do not speak Georgian or speak it very little; this affects their relation to Georgian authorities and has caused major problems in transmitting information to the population; language barrier isolates ethnic minorities ("Second report on Georgia: Adopted on 30 June 2006 and made public on 13 February 2007 [CRI(2007)2]") [ID 19182]

"The realities of daily life have very little to do with the legislation, notably in the regions of Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo-Kartli, which have, respectively, large Armenian and Azerbaijani communities. It is generally acknowledged that, outside the capital, and in particular in the regions where they have large concentrations, ethnic minorities do not speak Georgian or speak it very little. For historical reasons a large proportion of them speak Russian, which for a long time was the lingua franca between ethnic groups in Georgia. That state of affairs is on the way out, however, and the younger generations of ethnic minorities, no longer really learning Russian but not necessarily learning Georgian instead, now tend to speak only their mother tongue.  

The linguistic situation of ethnic minorities is bound to affect their relations with the Georgian authorities. Those relations are seldom in line with the abovementioned legislation requiring use of the official language in all cases. In Javakheti, for example, the commonest language for administrative purposes is Armenian for spoken transactions and Russian for written ones. The same applies to the courts. Officials who have long been in post in regions where minorities account for a large proportion of the population generally speak their mother tongue and/or Russian, not Georgian. Up until now, this has caused major problems in transmitting information to the population and even to officials, as Georgian legislation is not translated.  

The language barrier likewise makes information less available about what is happening in the country and in national society, which isolates ethnic minorities, in particular those highly concentrated in certain areas. Although there are minority-language media which receive grant aid from the government, minorities do not have access to information from the capital because it is mainly circulated in Georgian. "

Document(s): Open document

13.02.2007 - Source: Council of Europe - European Commission against Racism and Intolerance

Mixed reception of the announced reform of school programmes by ethnic minorities; bilingual schools potentially improve minority children’s chances, but Georgian could take over their mother tongue ("Second report on Georgia: Adopted on 30 June 2006 and made public on 13 February 2007 [CRI(2007)2]") [ID 19183]

"The announcement of reform of the system and programmes at primary and secondary school has had a mixed reception from ethnic minorities. On the one hand the existence of bilingual schools potentially improves minority children‘s chance‘s of having a better command of Georgian when they leave school. On the other hand the move to make Georgian the compulsory language of instruction for certain subjects in minority schools by the year 2010 has caused some concern. Some members of ethnic minorities are afraid of Georgian taking over to such an extent that their children will no longer be proficient in their mother tongue. Others consider the date for introducing the new System unrealistic, arguing that it is not possible to find and/or train enough subject teachers with adequate command of Georgian in such a short time."

Document(s): Open document