IN THE HANDS OF ADULTS…

Azerbaijani society, which always protects the welfare of its children and their future and never thinks of life without the future generation, is not used to reports that a five-year-old girl died from parental beating and injuries somewhere on the outskirts of Baku. We think these things can happen anywhere but in Azerbaijan. The world today is full of reports that somewhere far away, but not here, parents put their child on a chain like a dog, occasionally giving him food, that parents were so drunk they beat their own son to death, that a stepfather abused his daughter for years by keeping her locked up. This is scary and unthinkable for us. But what happened to Sevinc Hasanova in Baku in February this year made it clear that this can happen not just somewhere else. Although there is almost a cult of the child in Azerbaijan, children are treated cruelly here too. Not everything is as good as it sounds. There are cases of stepfather violence against a stepdaughter, stepchildren are not always treated well. And while Sevinc Hasanova is an exception to the rule, there are families where violence does take place. We just do not know about them, and not every situation becomes public. But does someone have to die for this to reach the public?

Children are not property 

Why do so many cases of child abuse in Azerbaijan remain unknown? Because we are calm, believing that such problems do not exist. We do not always wonder why the boy next door has a bruise under his eye or on his wrist. There are guardianship institutions in Azerbaijan: the Commission for the Protection of Minors and the State Committee for Family, Women and Children's Issues. These bodies are doing some work to protect children's rights in society. But there is no monitoring of children within the family and society is not ready for it. We do not have the practice of applying to child welfare authorities over the beating of children by parents. It is believed that such punishment is a purely family affair in which no-one should interfere. Perhaps it is permissible once, twice or three times, but when this turns into a system, it should not leave anyone indifferent. Such action cannot be accompanied by the tacit indifference of society. It is hard to imagine the beating of a child going unnoticed somewhere in Europe. If it is ignored by a neighbour, the child's school is sure to apply to guardianship institutions. And the parents who have resorted to corporal punishment will have to face the consequences - they will not only be deprived of parental rights, but also be brought to book. True, some decisions of European guardianship bodies reach the point of absurdity - children may be taken away even in the case of a light punishment, but the essence of such educational work is to raise children as people well aware of their rights. If necessary, the state will come to the defence of a youngster and when a child is old enough to approach an appropriate institution over the violation of their rights, they will surely know where and how to do it.

In June 2011, the Committee on Social Policy of the Azerbaijan Milli Maclis considered changes to the country's Family Code, whereby parents committing violence against their children may be stripped of parental rights. And most likely these amendments will be considered and adopted by parliament in the autumn session. However, the procedure of stripping parents of their rights in cases of child abuse is already carried out by district or local commissions for the protection of minors under the relevant executive authorities.

The authority to strip parents of their rights has also been delegated to the State Committee for Family, Women and Children's Issues as the body dealing with international adoption issues. A source in the committee says that there have been no problems since the central adoption authority was set up. If anything does occur, the committee has the authority to raise the question of denying adoption.

Burned fingers  

It is quite surprising that relevant committees have not submitted a single application to the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan in the past year regarding the deprivation of parental rights, except for the proceedings related to the case of Sevinc Hasanova. Although the girl died, her parents were not only prosecuted, they were also stripped of parental rights. What's this all about? Clearly, it is good that such cases almost never make it to court in Azerbaijan. But this is also worrying because it may also suggest that many instances of child abuse by parents remain in the shadows and never reach the courts. Even if it happens in front of witnesses, the latter prefer to remain silent. A source at the Supreme Court says that even when registering instances of child abuse courts prefer not to press for the deprivation of parental rights, because that would entail the transfer of a child into custody, a children's home. "In Azerbaijan, on the contrary, after the announcement on the deinstitutionalization of children's homes, efforts are being made to reduce the number of such kids and return them to their families if they have parents. This means that one clause contradicts the other. One way or another, these are parents. In any case, a child would be better off living in their own family than in an orphanage."

The fact that children may be abused and even killed by their parents in Azerbaijan, albeit not very often, is confirmed by recent events in Baku and Bilasuvar District. In May 2011, a resident of Baku's Nizami district resorted to a sadistic method of educating her child - she burned the hands of her children for quarrelling with each other. And the worst possible punishment for such cruel treatment is a fine. The Azerbaijani news agency Vesti.az was informed of this by Lt Rovsan Nacafov, an investigator from Police Department No 24. He said the actions of Xatira Talibova fall under Article 128 (deliberate infliction of minor bodily harm) of the Criminal Code and are punishable with a fine of up to 300 minimum monthly wages or correctional labour for up to one year. But since the woman has underage children, she won't be deprived of her liberty. Her husband, Mehman Talibov, who, incidentally, has filed for divorce, filed an application with the police saying that his wife had heated up a large kitchen knife on the gas stove and inflicted burns on his son Ugur, born in 2005, and daughter Sama, born in 2007. Burns have been recorded on the fingers of the right hands of both children. The mother confessed to the crime.

In Bilasuvar District, a mother killed her newborn child. The incident occurred in the village of Cayli. The corpse of the baby was found in a canal. Measures were taken to establish the identity of the criminal. It turned out that it was the mother of the child, Gulara Qarayeva, born in 1972. She smothered her baby immediately after he was born. Afterwards, Qarayeva put the body in a bucket, took it to the canal and threw it in. The investigation has established that Qarayeva has a 10-year-old son and her husband died a few years ago. The woman had the baby with a man with whom she lived in a civil marriage. Qarayeva was prosecuted under Article 121 (murder of a newborn child by a mother) of the Criminal Code.

Psychologist Dayanat Rzayev remembers examining a case when a mother, suffering from a pronounced form of psychopathy, was kicking her two-year-old baby. There have also been parents who asked him for advice in healing the "beating of children" disease. Dr Rzayev believes that it is time to carry out educational work to raise awareness amongst Azerbaijani society of the inhuman treatment of children.

What happens to children facing parental cruelty? They may develop hatred for others. This trauma may manifest itself in any form. Subsequently, such children "earn" a lifetime package of psychiatric complexes, are afraid of many things and turn in on themselves. A child with a traumatized psyche may become a criminal.