Child Protection
BACKGROUND The transition to a market economy, the collapse of traditional social support and protection structures, family difficulties, and a resulting breakdown in social ties have had a disastrous effect on the health and well-being of Ukraine's children. Inequality continues to rise and poverty is high, particularly among families with children and single-parent families. All the social sectors have been badly affected by budget shortfalls that undermine their ability to respond to people's needs. Poverty, neglect, violence and abuse in families result in many children being consigned to state care, or to living and working in the street. Of Ukraine's some 10 million children, some 62,000 live in state-run children's institutions. This means that one in every 160 children is without a true home, parental care, and a loving family. Approximately 142,000 children have disabilities, and their lives can be extremely difficult: the country does not have the physical infrastructure to provide convenient access for those with physical disabilities, nor the legal requirements to provide such access. The continued institutionalisation of children is a growing concern. Reform of the system is very slow, and government financial support for existing institutions is falling short. The number of orphans and children lacking parental care doubled during the 1990s, rising to some 96,000 in 2004. The key causes of child abandonment include family poverty and childbearing by under-age mothers. Children are often removed from families through legal action as a result of family breakdowns. Child abandonment is also evident in the growing number of street children over the last decade. Trafficking in human beings is a serious issue for Ukraine, which is both a source and a transit country for the trafficking of women for sex work, domestic labour and marriage. The overwhelming majority of trafficking victims are women, with a small proportion of children. Trafficking is closely linked to domestic violence, and 68% of women - some 18 million - report that they have experienced violence in the home, with 20% suffering from violence on a regular basis. The Ministry of Family, Youth and Sport is the appointed state body responsible for implementing the law on Prevention of Domestic Violence, adopted in 2001. The juvenile justice system is in urgent need of reform. Some 21,806 juveniles were sentenced by the courts, including 4,384 who were imprisoned in Ukraine in the year 2004. There are no special juvenile courts, no system of training for judges on juvenile cases, and no designated prosecutors or lawyers to handle juvenile cases. Conditions in juvenile reformatories are poor, offering little or no opportunity for genuine reform. Little attention is paid to the underlying social factors that lead juveniles into conflict with the law, and there are no regulatory linkages between judicial, law enforcement and social structures. OUR RESPONSE Our current Child Protection Programme aims to build a protective environment for all children, with no exceptions. A protective environment is one in which all the elements are in place - from legislation at the national level, to empowered families at the local level - and the rights of the child are respected in all spheres, including health, education, social welfare and justice. Activities implemented within the Child Protection Programme help to reveal the impact of poverty and overall social deprivation on children and families in crisis as well as help to protect the rights of underprivileged children and young people, by ensuring they receive equal access to educational, social protection and other developmental opportunities. We also support the government, civil society and other concerned groups in reviewing and revising current and draft laws relating to child protection to ensure that they are consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Action on children at risk: UNICEF aims to help children whose life is especially difficult, developing new approaches to the protection of their rights, while improving the situation of children who are already in difficult circumstances. We have contributed to the development of community-based clubs to serve children from vulnerable families, street children and orphans. UNICEF has also provided support for a programme to prepare 'graduates' from state care institutions for independent life, equipping them with essential knowledge and information. The first All-Ukrainian hotline for graduates from state care institutions has been established under this programme at the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sport. Action on children in institutions: We encourage and assist fostering and family support programmes to promote a child's right to a family and provide children with more opportunities for social integration. UNICEF has supported a project to prevent infant abandonment, including a model for work with mothers who want to leave their newborn babies in maternity institutions following delivery. UNICEF has also supported governmental and NGO efforts in three pilot regions to provide children in state care institutions with improved opportunities for social reintegration into a family environment. We are assisting Ukraine in developing a regulatory basis for reforming the system of state care for children, taking international best standards and practices into account, and improving the professional preparedness of social workers, who will be trained in modern child re-integration methods. We also aim to increase the decision-making capacity of professionals in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government to help them be better informed to take decisions in the best interest of children. In so doing, UNICEF bases its interventions on thorough assessments of the personal, social, and psychosocial needs of children in institutions. Action on violence and abuse: The UNICEF programme aims to develop social services that provide consultative psychological assistance to parents and children in crisis. These activities are being implemented in partnership with the Ukrainian State Centre of Social Services for Youth. With UNICEF support, training seminars have been provided on this issue for educators and social workers and for employees providing services to adolescents and at shelters. The first state regional centre for women and children who are victims of domestic violence was set up with UNICEF assistance. At present, UNICEF is working closely with civil society organizations and the government to promote the development of local community partnerships to improve steps to prevent violence against children, and conducting a public advocacy campaign on combating violence against children. Action on juvenile justice: A human rights-based system of juvenile justice is being introduced with support from UNICEF, and a national working group on juvenile justice has been established, including representatives from the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sport, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Justice, State Department of Penal Implementation and other government bodies and non-governmental organisations. Judges and staff from ten oblasts have been trained in juvenile justice procedures and have received information on examples of international best practices in implementing these procedures. A model for rehabilitation centres for young offenders has been developed at four detention facilities with UNICEF support. We have also supported the development of a system of probation in the area of juvenile justice, including initiating regulatory improvements aimed at improving prevention of crimes among youth.
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