What did we write about in 2023? The best JAMnews stories from Georgia
Poverty in the South Caucasus
In all three countries of the South Caucasus, the population and the authorities fundamentally differ in their assessments of living standards. According to official statistics, poverty is decreasing, but citizens and experts say the opposite.
“Let’s call crime a tradition.” Why Georgia has never been able to solve the problem of child marriage
On October 6, 2023, 14-year-old Aitaji tried to escape a forced marriage. Her “husband” shot her several times, and she died on the scene. It soon emerged that 14-year-old Aitaji had been living in a forced marriage with 28-year-old Asim Aslanov for two months.
JAMnews correspondent Maradia Tsaava traveled to the Kvemo Kartli region, populated by ethnic Azeris, to find out why early marriage remains an unsolved problem in Georgia.
How children with achondroplasia, a rare genetic disease, live in Georgia
For almost two years, parents of children suffering from the rare genetic disease achondroplasia have been demanding the availability of an expensive drug for the treatment of this disease on the country’s pharmaceutical market. Parents say that the drug, which has already been approved by the World Health Organization, is vital for their children.
In this article you will meet Zako, Dachi, Gabriel and Ioane. Their mothers slept at the door of the state administration to secure the drug.
How the Georgian judicial system fell under Western sanctions
On April 5, 2023, the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions on four high-ranking Georgian judges, with corruption and abuse of power cited as reasons. It was the first time the US applied the sanctions mechanism in Georgia.
In the JAMnews article, experts analyze how Georgia’s judicial system came to the sanctions, and why the country has failed to create a fair court system in its 32-year history of independence.
Main events of 2023
The war in Ukraine one year on: what is has changed in Georgia
The war in Ukraine and the tireless struggle of Ukrainians for their homeland have radically changed the political agenda around the world. The civilized world is on the side of Ukraine, the country being assisted with military equipment, and millions of internally displaced persons having been given shelter abroad. American and European leaders travel to Kiev. The President of Ukraine is greeted with applause at the highest podiums. Sanctions on Russia continue. No one in the West shakes Putin’s hand anymore.
The war has affected important changes in Georgia as well. At the request of JAMnews, experts from different fields discuss what opportunities this war gave Georgia and why the government did not use them.
“I’m wondering when my birthday is.” Stories of trafficked children in Georgia
Dozens of people are searching for their biological parents and relatives who were lost in infancy in an open Facebook group. They say that in the 1980s and 1990s, healthy babies were often stolen from maternity hospitals in Georgia. Parents were told the babies had died. In fact, these children were sold on the black market. A criminal case in the matter is underway..
JAMnews has collected the stories of several people all with a different ending, but the same emotion.
“My future is in America, I’m not going to return” – how Georgians who won the green card lottery live
In recent years more and more people have been emigrating from Georgia. Most of them are trying to get to America: some illegally, some trying to win the green card lottery. In the last ten years, the number of applicants has tripled. A total of 18,737 Georgia citizens have won a green card from 2002 to 2022.
We spoke to Georgian citizens who moved to the US after receiving a green card and asked them how the document has changed their lives.
Main events of 2023
JAMnews has produced a number of pieces on migration in recent years. Earlier this year, our piece “To America through Mexico“, which also focused on the migration of Georgians to America, won an EU award.
“Let’s pray for the villages to survive. But it won’t be without investment” – three stories from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan
Few people know how people live in the villages of the Caucasus. The villages in this region have almost the same problems – state support is minimal, and private investment is virtually non-existent. New technologies are a luxury, labor is not mechanized, and young people capable of introducing new knowledge and methods avoid working in the village because there is no money to be made. Young people leave their homes en masse in search of education, work and a better life.
Workers and farmers in the villages of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan told JAMnews journalists their stories.
Russian children in Georgian schools – where they study and what problems the state has faced
After tens of thousands of Russian families moved to Georgia, the demand for schools in the Russian language increased dramatically. It turned out that all schools were overcrowded. Compared to 2020, the number of Russian students (in private and public schools combined) across Georgia increased by 15 percent in 2023.
In the JAMnews article, the author explored how life has changed for Georgian public schools.
What’s wrong with the schools? Six problems in Georgian education
According to a study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), parents of almost 80 percent of school-going children are satisfied with the quality of school education. However, almost 19 percent of children use tutoring services. Even more people want to, but cannot afford it due to lack of money – this reason was given by 87 percent.
JAMnews reporter asked education experts to list the problems that have not been solved in Georgian schools.
Will a new law solve the problem of stray dogs in Georgia?
In late 2023, all of Georgia was looking for a dog that scratched a child on Kakheti Highway. A few days later, the dog died. It was diagnosed with rabies.
The number of stray animals in Georgia is incredibly high. You will find them everywhere – in cities, villages, on highways and even in deserted places. The state has been unable to do anything to effectively address this problem for years. In 2023,the government started working on a bill that was supposed to solve the problem of stray animals.
The author of this article tries to find out if the new bill will actually change anything.
Roma in Georgia: How the most marginalized group in the country lives
Roma are the most marginalized and invisible group in Georgian society. They do not study in higher educational institutions and never hold positions in private or public institutions. They are the only ethnic group in Georgia that still arouses suspicion.
The author of JAMnews traveled to two Roma settlements, Agtaklia and Noe in the Gardabani district, met with Roma and listened to their stories.
Main events of 2023
“Sausages and beer, just as everyone loved before”: Tbilisi restaurant preserves its style for 53 years. Video
There is a bakery in the Nakhalovka district of Tbilisi, built in 1964, when Nikita Khrushchev was First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. Nodar Vardiashvili has been working here since 1970 – a 22-year-old man came and spent his life here, working in a cafe.
Sausages, mustard, beer, bread and lemonade – the menu here has not changed for 53 years.
How I learned the Georgian language. Video
Most of the ethnic minorities living in Marneuli do not know Georgian. For generations they have not had to learn the language.
The new generation has slowly started to learn Georgian, but there are many problems along the way. In this video, young Azeris from Georgia talk about how they learned Georgian and why their parents’ generation was unable to do so.
Main events of 2023
