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UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund |
The first ombudsman for the rights of children appeared in
Sweden at the beginning of the twentieth century. Now, ombudsmen operate in
Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, Romania, and other countries. At the initiative
of UNICEF and the Russian Federation Ministry of Labor and Social Development,
the first ombudsmen for the rights of children were installed in Russia in 1998,
in the Volgograd and Kaluga oblasts, and the cities of St. Petersburg,
Yekaterinburg, and Novgorod.
It is not always easy to be first, even more so when the post of ombudsman assumes an "uncomfortable nature". No one, unfortunately, comes to them happily. They come for help when they can not solve their problems at other official establishments.
Nine ombudsmen for the rights of children are at work in Russia (Chechnya included) today. A total of 11 posts have been authorized. At the start of 2002, there should be an ombudsman for the rights of children in Moscow.
"More
than a thousand people come to me for help each year," says Irina Strukova,
the ombudsman for children’s rights in Kaluga Oblast. "People come who
cannot solve their problems with the remedies available, who are having trouble
getting their children into day care centers or schools".
Those who are literally forced to flee for their lives also come to the ombudsmen.
"Right now, we have a mother and her two little daughters taking shelter here", says Nadezhda Lisitsina, ombudsman for Novgorod and recipient of the medal For Defending Human Rights. "The situation in their family is such that it would be life-threatening to stay at home while her husband – the father of her children – is acting the way he is. While we’re formulating all the necessary documents and arranging for her to live on her own, they can quietly stay in a separate apartment, and continue working and going to school.
"I raised the question of maintaining the living quarters of those who are leaving orphanages and homes for problem children", confides Tatyana Alekseeva, ombudsman for children’s rights in Volgograd Oblast. "By law, every citizen is entitled to housing, and if for some reason there’s no child living there, it must still be kept up".
"We’ve opened several public offices in Chechnya. Volunteers work there, taking requests for help from the local citizens", says Oleg Gaba, ombudsman for children’s rights in the Chechen Republic. "We’re now looking for three boys who have disappeared. I hope we’ll be able to find them".
"Most of the things St. Petersburgers come to us with", says Lyubov Ogneva, ombudsman for children’s rights in St. Petersburg, "have to do with housing problems, and questions regarding wards and guardianship".
Legislation in different regions covers the post of ombudsman for children’s rights differently; however, this does not change the essence of their work – guaranteeing that the rights of children are observed.
The problems of developing the institution of ombudsmen were discussed at the national seminar "Regional Models of Independent Control for Observing the Rights of the Child: Experience and Outlook", held in December 2001 at the Moscow Region by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, in accordance with its plan for joint work with UNICEF. The seminar’s participants came to the unanimous conclusion that the post of ombudsman for children’s rights must be implemented at the federal level.
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Every love story starts wonderfully, but far from all continue to be that way. Without pretending to the laurels of Leo Tolstoy, who wrote about this so beautifully, let us get down to the story of our contemporary, a young woman from St. Petersburg named Katerina.
When
she was 14, Katerina fell in love. Everything would have been wonderful, had
it not been for her later unplanned pregnancy. The young woman had to decide
on her own whether to have the baby. The child’s father, who was 36, vanished
of his own accord, while her parents told her plainly: "We don’t want you if
you’re having a baby. Get out, and go wherever you want".
Thus, at the age of 16, Katya found herself in an extremely difficult and unpleasant situation. No one knows how it happened, but some kind people gave Katya an address. They took her in and helped her without asking any personal questions. Katya lives there now with her wonderful little boy, Artyom. She feeds him and takes care of him – and goes to school.
Katya and Artyom found psychological help, a roof over their heads, food and clothing at the Little Mama social rehabilitation center, which, with the support of UNICEF, is now in its fourth year. The center was created and intended solely for those young women who want to have their baby – or those who have already had one but, due to various circumstances in their lives, have nowhere to stay and can expect no help from anyone.
Since Little Mama was opened, more than 50 young mothers and
their infants have found refuge and support at the center. They come here in
differing states of health, at different stages of their pregnancies, and with
differing experience in life. They have only one thing in common: they have
decided to have and take care of their babies. Katya says that they tried to
dissuade her from having her child during her gynecological consultation, offering
her an abortion instead. At the maternity home, they explained that it would
be better if she signed her little boy away and went home. Katya firmly resolved
to have the child, and has absolutely no regrets. Artyom is already more than
a year old, and is a constant source of joy to his mother, who hopes very much
that her parents will change their minds and take her son into the family.
"We don’t just work with the girls themselves", says Little Mama center director Marina Grechishkina. "We meet with the parents, and organize visits for them with their daughters and grandchildren. Our aim is to return the girls to their own families. This doesn’t always happen, but sometimes it does. If we see that a family reunion is impossible, we do our best to see to it that the young mother and her child are given their own place to live, a room in a communal apartment. By this time, the girl has usually received her secondary school diploma and is finishing a professional training course, either as a hairdresser or a seamstress".
At Little Mama, the conditions are wonderful. Babiess are given food and clothing; the mothers are also fed; accommodation is, of course, free of charge; and it is possible to finish school and get a professional education – the other mothers look after your child while you’re attending class.
"They really depend on us", Ms. Grechishkina continues. "We give them a chance to see that there’s another way to live, and that they’re responsible for it. We give the girls help and support in their most difficult moment, but we cannot and should not provide them with a carefree existence for the rest of their lives. We prepare them for making their own decisions in the future. We’re very happy when, on the anniversary days of our center’s opening, our girls come back to visit us with their children. Most of them go on to live normal lives: they work, get married, and their children quickly grow up".
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UNODCCP United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention |
Marking World AIDS Day the UN in Russia presents to our readers the extract from the United Nations system position on policy and strategies to prevent the transmission of HIV among drug abusers
Currently, 114 countries have reported HIV infection among drug injectors. Injecting drug abuse is the main or a major mode for transmission of HIV infection in many countries of Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America.
In 1998, 136 countries reported the existence of injecting drug abuse. This is a significant increase as compared to 1992, when 80 countries reported injecting. This illustrates a worrying trend for diffusion of injecting into an increasing number of developing countries and countries in economic transition, where previously the behaviour was often virtually unknown.
Numerous studies have also found drug injectors to be disproportionately likely to be involved in the sex industry or to engage in high-risk sexual activities. Drug injecting may also contribute to an increased incidence of HIV infection through HIV transmission to the children of drug injecting mothers, and through sexual contacts between drug injectors and non-injectors.
Many types psychoactive substances, whether injected or not, including alcohol, are risky to the extent that they affect the individual’s ability to make decisions about safe sexual behaviour. Studies have associated crack-cocaine use with elevated levels of high-risk sexual behaviours, for example in the United States, where crack-cocaine abusers account for an increasing proportion of AIDS cases.
HIV transmission among injecting drug abusers can be prevented and the epidemic already has been slowed and even reversed in some cases. HIV prevention activities, which have shown impact on HIV prevalence and risk behaviour, include AIDS education, access to condoms and clean injecting equipment, counselling and drug abuse treatment.
Patients participating in drug substitution treatment such as methadone maintenance, therapeutic communities, and outpatient drug-free programmes decrease their drug consumption significantly. Longer retention in treatment, as well as completion of treatment, are correlated with reduction in HIV risk behaviours or an increase in protective behaviours. However, studies have found more effectiveness for changing illicit drug use than changing sexual risk behaviour.
Various outreach activities have been designed to access, motivate and support drug abusers who are not in treatment to change their behaviour. Findings from research indicate that outreach activities that take place outside the conventional health and social care environments reach out-of-treatment drug injectors, increase drug treatment referrals, and may reduce illicit drug use risk behaviours and sexual risk behaviours as well as HIV incidence.
Several reviews of the effectiveness of syringe and needle exchange programmes have shown reductions in needle risk behaviours and HIV transmission and no evidence of increase into injecting drug use or other public health dangers in the communities served. Furthermore, such programmes have shown to serve as points of contact between drug abusers and service providers, including drug abuse treatment programmes. The benefits of such programmes increase considerably, if they go beyond syringe exchange alone to include AIDS education, counselling and referral to a variety of treatment options.
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1993–2002 Second Industrial Development Decade for Africa
1993–2002 Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons
1993–2002 Third Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination
1994–2004 International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People
1995–2005 United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education
1997–2006 First United Nations Decade for Eradication of Poverty
