A SOCIAL NEEDS ORDER

Soon public rehabilitation facilities are to appear in Azerbaijan,in other words, public shelters. The construction of them has already started on the orders of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population. These are specialised rehabilitation centres and public shelters for minors and educational rehabilitation centres for the blind in the village of Zabrat in Sabuncu district of Baku, as well as social adaptation centres for people on early release from penitentiaries in Qobustan district. These centres are scheduled to be commissioned at the end of this year.

The decision to build the public shelters was taken in order to boost the material and technological base in the social services. Social and psychological advice, as well as legal aid for children who have found themselves in difficulties, will be available in these specialised rehabilitation centres and public shelters. The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population is subsequently planning to build similar centres in different regions of the country. Documentation containing the designs and estimates have already been drawn up for the construction of rehabilitation centres housing 30 people and public shelters housing 25 in the towns of Ganca, Agcabadi, Quba, Masalli, Saki, Tovuz, Ismayilli and Salyan Districts. The building of these facilities will be included in the proposals drawn up for the draft investment programme for next year.

In reliable hands?

As reported earlier by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of the Population, the public shelter and social rehabilitation centre in the settlement of Zabrat is calculated to take 50 children. The homeless children will be cared for there. This will happen in the following way: social workers will find street children and take them to the shelter. If the children do have a family, measures will be taken to return them to their parents. Minors will also be rendered legal and medical assistance, after which a decision will be taken as to their future.The children will undergo check-ups for approximately a week.At the same time, the social workers will work with the children's relatives.

According to estimates, there are approximately 5,000 street children in Azerbaijan. "But there are no exact figures. Besides this, we still do not know whether gypsy children, who also live on the street in practice, will be subject to social rehabilitation. Thus, for example, we have not dealt with this issue before from a legal point of view. After the public shelters open, the relevant proposals relating to these children will be drawn up. It is possible that they will be registered and provided with housing. At the same time, we shall find out which countries they have come from. This is all a matter of time,".

It should particularly be stressed that, after the opening of the state public shelter, such facilities for minors, but those operating under NGOs will not be closed. On the contrary, at the present time a "social needs" policy is being pursued in the country, within the framework of which President Ilham Aliyev has allocated 2m manats for boosting social protection for disabled children. The Ministry has conducted a tender among the specialised NGO. Provision for social needs will be provided to those organisations that win. Our measures are ongoing. We have already set about monitoring these projects. They are likely to be completed by the end of this year. We are planning to expand this work in the future. We are working to ensure that not only disabled children are covered by these social projects, but also the elderly and others,".

We note that today there are approximately 1,400 social workers at the ministry. They make roughly 15,000 home visits to elderly citizens. Today the ministry calculates that the work will be carried out by an NGO at the expense of the social needs provision, after which staff can be redirected into another job.

Many experts are of the opinion that setting up public and rehabilitation centres is very important for the development of a law-based state in any society. They do exist in Azerbaijan on the level of NGOs. But it is very important that such a policy should be conducted by the state too. True, there is one other important element that comes up with regard to this issue, namely that of children and adults who are in a high-risk group, when it comes to social problems. They not only need temporary assistance such as accommodation and so forth, but permanent help, subsequently finding them employment and other things they need for a happy life.

In the case of people released from prison, for whom it is difficult to fit back into society, it is necessary to do everything possible to make them feel that they are needed, so that they do not have problems getting higher and secondary education, finding a job and obtaining accommodation. It is also important for ex-offenders to be covered by this programme which is intended for all ex-offenders in Azerbaijan.

How is it done abroad?

Centres for ex-offenders exist abroad, in which prisoners are rendered assistance socially and psychologically in training to behave in a law-abiding manner, in social rehabilitation and adapting back into society after being released. The act of 1862 "On assistance to released criminals" was the first law in England in the history of developing a system of rehabilitation and rendering assistance to ex-offenders. Today a national association for assistance to ex-offenders and their re-education exists in England. The association is funded by charity donations and an annual grant from the Home Office. It brings together citizens who are volunteers. Hotel-type centres have been opened by it, which are outside the prison, and the bulk of the work is done by social workers.

In the USA, this type of law "On post-penitentiary care" was adopted for the first time in 1950. In accordance with the law, a rehabilitation period of up to six months is envisaged from the moment of release from prison, if the ex-offender is not averse to receiving this assistance (this period can be shorter). The law also envisages that public organisations can render assistance in rehabilitating the ex-offenders. A charity society, or the Hardman Trust are among today's public organisations rendering this type of assistance.

At the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s, so-called "Halfway Houses" were set up to provide advice on finding a job, social and restorative activity, creative activity for those who are unable to work, medical and psychiatric treatment, consultations for drug addicts and alcoholics, vocational training and general education classes, and provision of jobs or job transfers requiring a higher qualification. They have been the key to a successful return to society.

The "World of Law" public association of legal education is busy doing this in Azerbaijan. Within the framework of the project work relating to the legal protection and education of released prisoners is being implemented at 10 penitentiary institutions. The ex-offenders are assisted in obtaining identification documents, in obtaining one-off assistance after release, targeted social assistance, the eradication of discrimination and other things. It is believed that on the basis of the public rehabilitation shelters set up on a state level, ex-offenders will be able to get a job with the assistance of a departmental structure, and the problem of child homelessness and lack of supervision will ultimately be resolved.