The official language of Georgia is Georgian. In the territory of Abkhazia there are two official languages – Georgian and Abkhazian.
- Law on Official Language – 22/07/2015 / N 4084-RS /. The law enforces the constitutional status of the state language, establishes the legal basis for its use and protection, and regulates legal relations of the functioning of state and non-state languages.
The Constitution of Georgia obliges all departments, municipal services and users to use the Georgian language and all official versions of legislative texts must be published in Georgian. In order to promote integration of minorities and their participation in the state administration, the Ministry of Education and Science arranges intensive teaching of the official language.
The Constitution of Georgia provides for the equality of all citizens regardless of their national, ethnic, religious or language background. Freedom for citizens to use their native language and to practice their culture is safeguarded. In addition to the Constitution, the rights of minorities are specified in the Laws on General Education, on Culture, and on Broadcasting.
Under the Law on Broadcasting (Article 16, paragraph l), public broadcasting shall “place programmes in the languages of minorities, about minorities and prepared by minorities in accordance with their share in the total population”. Accordingly, Georgian radio and TV have special news programmes in some languages (Abkhaz, Azeri, Armenian, Russian and Ossetian). In addition, there is special public broadcasting in the Abkhaz and Ossetian languages, which covers a part of Abkhazia and the total region of “South Ossetia”. While Georgia has public schools in Azeri, Armenian and Russian, in Abkhazia and so-called South Ossetia the right of Georgians to study their native language is completely restricted.
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