Human Trafficking in [Tajikistan] [other countries]
Street Children in [Tajikistan] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Tajikistan] [other countries]
 

Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children

Republic of Tajikistan [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The Republic of Tajikistan [map] is bordered by China (E), Afghanistan (S), Kyrgyzstan (N), and Uzbekistan (W & NW). Dushanbe is its capital and largest city. Tajikistan is the poorest country in the CEE/CIS and Baltic region. Access to and the quality of basic services such as health and education and access to safe drinking water are a problem. The impact of poverty is significant and the condition of women and children remains precarious within the context of widespread social vulnerability.

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UNICEF - The Big Picture

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

CHILDREN - Education is compulsory until age 16 and public education was free and universal. The law was not enforced and, while most children were enrolled in school up to the mandatory secondary level, actual attendance was estimated to be lower because children supplemented family income by working in the home or in informal activities.

SECTION 6 WORKER RIGHTS – [d] Child labor remained a problem, and the government neither effectively enforced child labor laws nor strengthened existing regulations on acceptable working conditions for children.

The minimum age for children to work is 16, although children may work at age 15 with local trade union permission. By law children under the age of 18 may work no more than 6 hours a day and 36 hours per week. Children as young as seven may participate in household labor and agricultural work, which are separately classified as family assistance. Many children under 10 worked in bazaars or sold goods on the street.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 2000

[28] The Committee is concerned at numerous and continuing reports of ill-treatment of persons under the age of 18 by the militia, including psychological intimidation, corporal punishment and torture. The Committee is also concerned that victims of such treatment are largely from vulnerable groups, such as children living and/or working on the streets; and that fear of reprisals and inadequate complaints procedures discourage children and their parents from filing complaints.

[30] The Committee is concerned about the large number of children, especially children with disabilities, who are abandoned or are otherwise deprived of a family environment. It is also concerned that foster care, or other forms of family-based alternative care, are not sufficiently developed and available, and that, as a result, children are placed in institutions which, owing to lack of resources, provide children with very low quality housing and care. Further, the Committee is concerned at the absence of effective mechanisms for children to communicate concerns and complaints about their placement. Moreover, in the light of article 25 of the Convention, the Committee is concerned at the inadequate system to review placement, monitoring or follow-up of the situation of children in institutions.

[42] The Committee is seriously concerned at the deterioration in the quality of education, especially infrastructure, teaching and curricula. The Committee is concerned at declining pre-school enrolment and the persistence of high drop-out, repetition, and absenteeism rates in primary and secondary schools.

[48] The Committee is concerned that the negative effects of the current economic crisis have resulted in an increasing number of children dropping out of school and taking up work.

Tajik street children help each other

BACK TO SCHOOL - Members of the youth committee reach out to these children by telling them they do not have to work and live on the streets, and that going back to school is the key to a better future. Their efforts seem to be working.

Many street children have left their jobs washing cars or peddling goods in the bazaar and have gone back to school. Several have joined the youth committee, where they receive $20 a month and learn about computers, languages and leadership skills. The committee has expanded from 20 children two years ago to around 60 today, organiser Sukhrob Kurbonov says.

"Street kids have their own rules and don't allow just anyone close to them," he says. "Because these kids we work with were from that group, they can speak to them more easily and get information from them. We wanted to know why these kids start stealing and begging and what problems they face."

Tajik Street Children Face Daily Struggle

Hamza sleeps in his ragged and dirt-encrusted clothes in a bid to keep the cold at bay. His arms are thin and covered with new sores and old scars. He has never been to school and cannot remember a day without work or responsibility. But he is the sole breadwinner in his family, and even if he is caught by the authorities and sent to a state boarding school, he will have no choice but to run away and start working again.

Protecting and Assisting Street Children

Ten-year-old Parvina can neither read nor write, because she has never attended school. "I can count up to 500," she said proudly, adding that she learnt to do so when she started working, selling plastic bags in the city's main market. She was making around US $ 1 a day. Her younger brother Akram earns about $ 3 a day.. Parvina gives most of the money to her mother. "We live on the money they make.”

Interview with Head Of UNICEF

Q: There are a lot of street children in Tajikistan. What are you doing to improve their conditions?

A: Some of the figures show that some of the street children are not living in the street. They are with families, but because of poverty they are often sent to the streets to either work or beg. So the street children are not abandoned as such and are supporting their families. The problem is that children in the streets are more vulnerable and at risk of being abused and exploited. Especially, they are at more risk of being in conflict with the law, starting with petty crimes, drug abuse and trafficking.

World Food Program

COUNTRY OVERVIEW - Many families are unable to provide their school-age children with clothing and shoes. This is creating increasing numbers of street children, who are easy prey for criminals, drugs, and child-labor abuse scams. Tajikistan used to boast a literacy rate of almost 100%. After the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the grueling civil war, the educational system is now in disarray. Primary school attendance rates have fallen to about 65%.

Nasiba's Wedding Song

According to UNICEF, 18 % of Tajik children between the ages of five and 14 are working. Many of them are homeless. The number of children grows in the summer. They come to the capital from different villages [around Tajikistan] to earn money. Street children live a dangerous life, and the police use force against them. As a young girl, Nasiba did not go to school. She remembers carrying huge bags of fruit and vegetables to the market every morning and then back again at night. She was also responsible for taking her little brothers and sisters to the market or school. The police, she says, would continually harass her for hanging around the town.

British Embassy Opens Its Doors - Personal Testimony of Children¹

KHURSHED’S STORY - Khurshed is 12 years old and is from Dushanbe. His family consisted of 2 younger brothers and a mother who started drinking when his father left for Russia. When his mother gets drunk, Khurshed runs away from home, and sleeps in basements and doorways. He sells plastic bags in the market for which he earns about 2 somoni per day. But sometimes he loses even this money when he is robbed by older boys or the militia.

A Community Response to HIV/AIDS¹ [DOC]

Estimates of international and national experts indicate that there are in all about 10 000 street children in the country. Many of these use drugs and some of them are engaged in prostitution. The majority of them has no idea about safe sexual behaviors and consequently is especially vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

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Human Trafficking in [Tajikistan] [other countries]
Street Children in [Tajikistan] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Tajikistan] [other countries]