Media centre

Astana, 27 July 2005. STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN: ACT NOW!  This was the slogan for the press conference held today by the Ombudsperson of Kazakhstan, together with UNICEF, to discuss the results of the Regional Consultation on Violence against Children in Europe and Central Asia, which took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 5-7 July 2005.

The Regional Consultation was one of nine conducted worldwide under the auspices of UNICEF, the Council of Europe, the World Health Organization, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the NGO Advisory Panel on the UN Study on Violence Against Children. The results of these Consultations will be reflected in a major study by the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, on Violence Against Children that is due out in 2006.

Participants in the press conference included Yelena Selchonok, UNICEF Kazakhstan Officer in Charge as well as members of the Kazakhstani delegation at the Consultation – Ombudsperson Bolat Baikadamov, Senator Beksultan Tutkushev, Deputy Chairman of the National Family and Women’s Affairs Commission, Argyngazy Karaiganov, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs juvenile delinquency division, Valeriya Kuliyeva and the Head of the Republican Additional Education Center Nurlan Jamadilov. The President of the Crisis Centers Union of Kazakhstan, Zulfiya Baisakova, was also there to meet the journalists.

The participants outlined the major findings of the Ljubljana Consultation, which focused on the prevention and elimination of violence against children at home, in schools, in residential institutions and in the community, as well as the urgent need to adopt effective national measures to protect children from violence.

The problem of violence against children remains invisible, partly because of limited information and partly because of the fact that children themselves are rarely heard, despite their right to protection from all forms of discrimination.

Ms. Selchonok, UNICEF Kazakhstan Officer in Charge, described the current situation: “Unfortunately, in Kazakhstan there is no effective system of prevention and reaction to violence against children. The majority of such cases remain unregistered. Often a child, who has become a witness or a subject of violent acts, has no one to appeal to for help; this is particularly true for cases, when an aggressor is one of the child’s parents or a relative”.

Available data for Kazakhstan speak for themselves (from the Questionnaire prepared by the Ombudsperson’s Office in the Republic of Kazakhstan for the Ljubljana Consultation):