Stories ‘The Way Home’ works to protect the rights and lives of street children in Odessa
© UNICEF/HQ05-1826/Pirozzi By Guy Degen The Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified 18 years ago, on 20 November 1989. For this landmark anniversary, UNICEF has launched the CRC @ 18 campaign to raise awareness about child rights and the impact of the Convention. Here is one in a series of related stories. ODESSA, Ukraine, 19 November 2007 – For thousands of street children in Ukraine, daily life is a fight for survival. Their rights are often violated and normal childhood has often been replaced by drug addiction and violence. Miroslav, 17, for example, lives in squalor, with clothes and garbage strewn everywhere in the corner of an unused garage. He shares his makeshift home with two other youths – Vova and Taras. These are just a few of the estimated 4,000 homeless children on the streets of Odessa who lack the fundamental right to protection. A step forward © UNICEF Ukraine/2007/ Degen Ukrainian street children have a chance to realize their rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child through a UNICEF-supported summer camp programme operated by ‘The Way Home’. For street children looking to change their lives, a non-governmental organization called ‘The Way Home’ is a step forward. In partnership with UNICEF, the organization is providing protection as well as legal and educational services for street children in central Odessa. “UNICEF is trying to provide access for street children to basic services like education, health, first aid and counselling on HIV, to help them stay healthy and get some basic education,” says UNICEF Ukraine’s Assistant Project Officer for HIV and Young People’s Health and Development, Olena Sakovych. Active outreach teams Establishing contact with street children is the first step toward showing them that protection, care and support are available – and that there are alternatives to the street. Over the summer, ‘The Way Home’ also sets up an outdoor camp by the pebble beaches of the Black Sea, giving youths a chance to play, swim and enjoy the season. Activities such as cleaning the beach also encourage them to gain a sense of personal responsibility, help others and look after their local environment. “Here, you find friends that will support you and you can do what you enjoy the most,” says Lena, 15, who lived on the streets before finding the programme. “This is your second home. This is a second chance.”
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Twenty years after Chernobyl disaster, children from families that were affected by the catastrophe are still under threat and their rights are not fully guaranteed. Born after the disaster, they are influenced by it for the whole their lives. Chernobyl families were evacuated from the infected zone by the Soviet Government to Kyiv but they continued to face numerous problems. The unemployment rate among Chernobyl migrants is the highest among the population of Ukraine's capital. Many of them have professions or trades that are not required in Kyiv. Many adults and children from Chernobyl families suffer from diseases caused by the disaster and do not have access to adequate medical and psychological care and support. In March 2006, 12 children from the most Chernobyl-affected countries - Belarus, Russia and Ukraine - came to Minsk to attend a master-class on photography held by Giacomo Pirozzi who was specially invited by UNICEF. He has extensive experience of working with children in similar projects and during the six days of the course the children learnt the technique of taking photos and using cameras to maximise their creativity. During the training the young photographers visited Luninets in Belarus where two of the project participants - Tina and Andrei - live. Children from the three countries spent the whole day collecting for us moments from their life - what is particularly important for them and how they perceive themselves and all of us. After an introduction to photographic techniques, the children went to the Chernobyl affected area to capture images of life after the accident. They subsequently went to take photos on location in their own countries. The photos taken by the children were turned into an exhibition, 'Chernobyl Seen by Children', that was shown in Kyiv from 25 to 28 April 2006, at the same time as several national and international events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident. Their peers in the Russian Federation and Belarus also put on a similar exhibition on the same dates. All of the children whose photographs make up the exhibition 'Chernobyl Seen by Children' were born after the Chernobyl accident 1986 and all of them live in the Chernobyl affected regions. Their images are bright, strong and expressive. For these children Chernobyl is not a statistic, it is their daily life - so usual and routine. The exhibition shows us their livelihoods: how they study at school, how they spend leisure time, how they communicate and play with their friends and how they help their parents.
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