ADULT PROBLEMS OF CHILDREN

It is well known that there are many problems affecting children in Azerbaijan. In overcoming them, children unfortunately grow up more quickly than adults would like. The expression "Children are flowers of life" is no longer justified because, in our country, the relevant agencies have quite a cold approach to their duties. The head of state adopts various programmes to improve the quality of children's life but, for some reason, they remain on paper. This was admitted quite recently by Sanubar Alizada, head of department for children's affairs at the State Committee for Women, Family and Children.

At an event dedicated to children's rights, Alizada said that the children's de-institutionalization programme (alternative support and the return of children from children's homes and boarding schools to their families - author) in Azerbaijan is being implemented at a very slow pace. Moreover, although almost a year has passed since the establishment of this committee, the organization has not carried out any serious research into the problems of homeless children and orphans with limited abilities. What is more, child labour is quite common in Azerbaijan. The state committee is planning to take effective measures on these problems after the president has adopted a suitable state programme, said Alizada. This raises the question: will we have the same problem in this case as was the case with the children's de-institutionalization programme? It is a fine initiative, but is a long way from being put into effect.

The head of UNICEF's Baku office, Hanaa Singer, said in an interview with R+ that there is no clear coordination between Azerbaijani government agencies on the tackling of children's problems.

"We have been working seriously with the Azerbaijani government for five years in order to solve the problems of children of limited ability who have no parents. Of course, Azerbaijan is a young state and I acknowledge this position in my approach to many issues. But all governments, including the Azerbaijani government, have serious obligations with regard to children. And they must be fulfilled."

The result of two years' lobbying

Hanaa Singer said that the UNICEF office in Baku is proud of the work that the Azerbaijani government has begun for children in connection with the presidential decree on de-institutionalization. "The thing is that the return of children from children's homes and boarding schools to their families is a large-scale reform. Almost the entire government of the country should be involved. In this case, it would be more correct to talk about reforming the system of child protection in the country, which should be implemented by such government agencies as the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and so on."

According to Singer, the Ministry of Finance is playing a great role in this reform. It has to increase social aid to the needy families who are forced to send their children to boarding schools, or to families where children are suffering from some sort of disability, which also forces their families to send them to special institutions. The Ministry of Health, together with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, must support alternative protection for disabled children, orphans and children suffering from various diseases.

The Ministry of Justice and the Interior Ministry play an important role in work with imprisoned young offenders. A prison is a state institution where the rights of children who have broken the law might be violated. What is more, these two ministries should control and regulate the issue of international adoption. Parliament must review the existing law and bring it into line with all international conventions signed by the Azerbaijani government. 

In this light, the State Committee for Women, Family and Children plays a special role, as it is responsible for monitoring the observance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Azerbaijan. This committee should coordinate the work of all government agencies in this sphere. In turn, the State Statistics Committee should update its database regarding children; this will allow both international organizations and the government to correctly coordinate their work and aid to children.

Singer also mentioned the Ministry of Economic Development which runs the poverty reduction programme in the country. It is important for this ministry to include all issues related to children in the programme.

"The Ministry of Youth and Sports is carrying out projects aimed at children under 18. All these organizations undertake various activities and they should be engaged in solving children's problems. However, at present they cannot unite their efforts. This causes great problems for us," she said.

Action is needed here

For all their love for children, people in Azerbaijan treat them in terms of charity, not in terms of protecting their rights, the international expert said.

The problems of children in Azerbaijan are similar to the problems of children in all post-Soviet countries. Great difficulties are observed in the sphere of children's health, which is at a very low level. The system for the protection of disabled children is also at quite a low level. In Azerbaijan such children are treated as being ill, which is the wrong approach. We are also seriously concerned about the quality of education and the reports that UNICEF is receiving about the decreasing number of schoolgirls, especially in the southern regions of Azerbaijan, in the recent period.

"Also, I would like to draw your attention to the latest surveys which show that children in Azerbaijan are the poorest stratum of the population," Singer said.

According to the international expert, children's problems should be solved at the highest political level, and Azerbaijan has all the means and human potential to achieve this.

"There are professionals in the Azerbaijani government. Throughout my career, I have often met such people. I think that in the light of the economic growth of your country, Azerbaijan has a much greater responsibility towards its children than other countries of the region. Since it borders on the European Union, it needs to develop a system as soon as possible and move forward in order to bring it in line with European standards. For this reason, we have called for immediate action. Everyone can take a lead in this work - media, government and parliament. We are talking about children - 25,000 of them are in Azerbaijan's special institutions and 45,000 have limited abilities. This is quite a high figure. As for de-institutionalization, according to the latest surveys, it is much more profitable for the state to support needy families which adopt children than have a child living in a children's home. A special institution needs about 30-35 manats to maintain a child. Isn't it better to pay this money to families? Thus, the establishment of an alternative system of guardianship is cheaper than maintaining a large number of children's homes. But the moral aspect is much more important in this issue.

Obligations of juvenile justice 

Singer also touched on the problems of convicted children, i.e. the issue of juvenile reform. During the first national conference on the development of juvenile justice last year, Singer said that this event should give impetus to the development of this issue. What has been achieved so far? What obligations has the country's government undertaken on this issue?

According to the international expert, the Azerbaijani government first committed itself to monitoring the current state of affairs in this sphere. "It is a beginning that gives hope. We also have surveys by the Open Society Institute, some NGOs and the ombudsman's office. There is one conclusion: children should not be deprived of freedom. This can happen rarely when children commit especially serious crimes, such as serial or mass murders and so on. Rehabilitation centres should be set up for young criminals where they would be given psychological aid - something like a closed school from which they can always return home. We have information that the rights of children who go into remand centres in Azerbaijan are seriously violated. For this reason, submitting these surveys to the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Justice, we want to discuss the establishment of such centres," Singer says.

UNICEF has already conducted a special course for all police officers working with children. NGOs and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees organized courses for judges. At present, the UNICEF office in Baku is lobbying for a policy of humane treatment for children if they appear before a court. They should not be handcuffed or put in a cage. "Unfortunately, for many people in the government, the problems faced by these children are not the main issue because they think that the situation is not disastrous," the expert stressed.

Singer actually thinks that if a child goes into prison just once, he is branded for life and will never be able to re-integrate into society.

"If we talk about specific results, we have spent six or seven months talking to the government about the establishment of a redirection system, but all in vain, whereas the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Interior Ministry are responsible for creating a pilot project based on this model," she pointed out. "At present, there are 60 children in prison, and the aforesaid government agencies do not regard this figure as a problem. Let's assume that today we have 60, but how many children have come out of prison and how many can go back to prison again?" Singer asked.

So, there are all the conditions necessary in Azerbaijan for solving problems in the children's sphere. We simply have to wait for the relevant government agencies to take a coordinated and serious approach to this issue.