The Challenges
 |
|
© UNICEF/SWZK00181/Pirozzi |
|
Football team of landmine victims, Chechnya, Russian Federation |
A PROTECTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL CHILDREN
- Misguided institutional solutions
Hundreds of thousands of children live in residential institutions across the region. The dominant response to family troubles or juvenile delinquency remains institutionalisation of children, with little preventive help for families in difficulties, such as inclusive education or family-based solutions for children with disabilities. The number of children convicted and sentenced has increased, and many are deprived of liberty after conviction, often facing heavy sentences for petty crimes.
- Inadequate protection for children
The results are seen in the numbers of children living and working on the streets. Often members of ethnic minorities, refugee or displaced children, orphans or victims of domestic abuse, all face discrimination, poor health, illiteracy, violence. All are vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
- Poor control of Intercountry Adoption
The region accounts for one third of global intercountry adoptions.
- Child trafficking
There are no reliable figures on the numbers of children who are trafficked each year, but we know that children are trafficked across borders to work in the sex industry or beg on the streets. Exploited and abused, they face appalling dangers, from violence to disease and loss of hope.
- Discrimination and stigma
Some children face discrimination exacerbated by outdated welfare systems and practices. Roma, for example, face poverty rates that are up to 10 times higher than for non-Roma in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. And they account for a disproportionate number of children in care in South-eastern Europe.
- Violence against children
This is largely hidden and there are few systems in place to detect or address it. Violence against children is found at home, at school and on the streets. Corporal punishment is common. A youth opinion poll has found that about 60% of children in the region – 56 million children – see violence at home.
- Displacement
Since 1989, armed conflict has broken out in one third of the countries in the region. Thousands of children are growing up as displaced or refugees, often excluded from mainstream social services.
