Human Trafficking in [Ukraine] [other countries]Street Children in [Ukraine Child Prostitution in [Ukraine] [other countries] |
Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the
first ten years of the 21st Century - 2000
to 2009
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
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FEATURED ARTICLE *** ‘The Way Home’ works to protect the rights and lives of street children in Odessa For thousands of street children in Ukraine, daily life is a fight for survival. Their rights are often violated and normal childhood has often been replaced by drug addiction and violence. Miroslav, 17, for example, lives in squalor, with clothes and garbage strewn everywhere in the corner of an unused garage. He shares his makeshift home with two other youths – Vova and Taras. These are just a few of the estimated 4,000 homeless children on the streets of Odessa who lack the fundamental right to protection. A STEP FORWARD - Inhaling glue or injecting a cocktail of cold and flu medicines are common ways of taking drugs among homeless young people. Sharing needles and engaging in unsafe sex make them one of the groups most at risk of contracting HIV in Ukraine. Meanwhile, violence, sexual abuse and drug addiction often lead to crime. Many homeless children in Odessa say they expect to die on the streets. ***
ARCHIVES *** A Video Playlist for Ukraine - There are an increasing number
of street children videos now available that constitute a supplementary
source of information for researchers, especially for those who may not have
experienced the reality of street children.
[Playlist developed by Brian Horne of almudo.com & streetkidnews.blogsome.com] UNICEF - The
Big Picture Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 CHILDREN - The government was publicly
committed to the defense of children's rights, but budgetary considerations
severely limited its ability to ensure these rights. Few government bodies or
NGOs aggressively promoted children's rights, except for a small number of
faith‑based organizations that primarily worked with orphans and street
children. Education is free, universal, and
compulsory until the age of 15; however, the public education system
continued to suffer from chronic inadequate funding. Teachers were usually
paid their salaries during the year, but other monetary benefits due them
were not paid in some localities. Increasing numbers of children from poor
families dropped out of school, and illiteracy, previously very rare,
remained a problem. According to the State Statistics Committee, 5.731
million children attended primary and secondary school during the 2004-05
school year. The All‑Ukraine Committee for the
Protection of Children reported that lack of schooling remained a significant
problem among the rural population. The problem of growing violence and crime
in and outside of schools persisted, particularly in the notoriously violent
vocational schools, and discouraged some children from attending school. The number of homeless children,
usually children who fled poorly maintained orphanages or poor domestic
conditions, remained high. Estimates of the number of homeless children
varied widely. The vice premier for humanitarian and social affairs told the
press on April 21 that there were approximately 150 thousand homeless
children in the country, but the State Service for Minors reported on July 11
that there were only 30 thousand. In June the respected independent national
newspaper Ukraina Moloda quoted experts as putting the number at 129 thousand Concluding
Observations Of The Committee On The Rights Of The Child (CRC) - 1995 [14] The Committee regrets that
appropriate measures have not yet been taken to effectively prevent and combat
ill treatment of children in schools or in institutions where children may be
placed. The Committee is also preoccupied by the existence on a large scale
of child abuse and violence within the family and the insufficient protection
afforded by the existing legislation and services in that regard. The problem
of sexual exploitation of children also requires special attention. Caring
for the children who 'don't exist' www.worldhope.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59:sergiys-ottawa-citizen-article&catid=17:news-articles
Since the collapse of the Soviet
Union, nearly 120,000 Ukrainian men, women and children have been trafficked
abroad - more than any other Eastern European country. Some are effectively kidnapped. Others are
enticed by promises of money and a better life. Some parents even sell their
own daughters, Mr. Svystun said. Sadly, that no longer surprises him. Since
2001, he has worked with Odessa's street children, estimated at 5,000, but in
reality far more numerous. Some are as young as four. About 80 per cent are "social
orphans" who live on the street because their parents drink, use drugs
or abuse them sexually or physically.
Officially, many don't even exist. Their parents never registered
their births, so the state has no record of them. "That's why it's very easy for human
trafficking," said Mr. Svystun. "You can
take somebody who doesn't exist, so nobody cares." It
all began with a meal on a minibus www.telegraph.co.uk/news/telegraphchristmasappeal/4249090/Telegraph-Christmas-Charity-Appeal-It-all-began-with-a-meal-on-a-minibus.html
These are the street children of Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, just 40 minutes from the
border with Russia. As many as
200,000 such unaccounted-for children live rough in a country where daytime
temperatures can be -20C (-4F). They live in subterranean dens under the
manholes that cover the maintenance points for the city’s heating system,
where conditions are cramped, insanitary and
dangerous – many are burnt by the scalding pipes. But it is their means of
survival in a country beset by the problems of adaptation after independence
from the Soviet Union in 1991. Twelve-year-old Artom is one child among thousands in Kharkiv
to have chosen the freedom of the streets over the regimentation of the
orphanage. A lively, cheeky-looking boy, he says that he never knew his
father, his mother drinks and his stepfather is “not kind”, so he was put in
the orphanage three years ago. Soon after, he escaped to live underground ...
‘The Way Home’
works to protect the rights and lives of street children in Odessa For thousands of street children
in Ukraine, daily life is a fight for survival. Their rights are often
violated and normal childhood has often been replaced by drug addiction and
violence. Miroslav,
17, for example, lives in squalor, with clothes and garbage strewn everywhere
in the corner of an unused garage. He shares his makeshift home with two
other youths – Vova and Taras.
These are just a few of the estimated 4,000 homeless children on the streets
of Odessa who lack the fundamental right to protection. A STEP FORWARD - Inhaling glue or injecting a
cocktail of cold and flu medicines are common ways of taking drugs among
homeless young people. Sharing needles and engaging in unsafe sex make them
one of the groups most at risk of contracting HIV in Ukraine. Meanwhile, violence, sexual abuse and drug
addiction often lead to crime. Many homeless children in Odessa say they
expect to die on the streets. Charities:
You can't help everybody, but everybody can help somebody It is a Ukranian tradition that at a certain time of the year,
people leave food on the graves of their loved ones as a memorial. Starving
street children, desperate for any scrap of food they can get their hands on,
often raid the graveyard at night. New shelter, clinic
open to fill needs of Ukraine’s street children NEW
DROP-IN CENTER - On
April 20, Doctor’s of the World (DOW), a US-based NGO that provides
underprivileged and vulnerable populations in different countries with
quality healthcare resources, recently held the grand opening of a new
drop-in center for street children in Chernihiv. Funded by the United States Agency
for International Development and the World Childhood Foundation, the center is
based on an innovative outreach model, offering a multi-dimensional approach
to healthcare for street children, combining medical, psychological,
pedagogical, social and legal services. Swiss extend help
to Ukrainian street children Ukraine has experienced strong
economic growth since independence in 1991, but still faces a mountain of
social problems inherited from the Soviet era. The freshly painted edifices stand
in stark contrast to the desolate Pioneer Park situated close by, right next
to the famed Potemkin Stairs. It is in the empty
park that Oleg, Igor and Sergey live - in a building that formerly housed an
electricity transformer. They are three of around 120,000
children who, according to Unicef, live on the
streets in Ukraine. Many are orphans. Their families are among those that
lost out following the break-up of the Soviet Union. "Many parents were and still are
forced to work in other countries. The children remain, in the best of cases,
with a relative, but often they are left with a neighbour,"
said Tatyana Bassyuk. Local man helps
Ukraine's sewer children There are no foster families in
Ukraine "because no one can afford another child," he said. Street children are often fleeing from
abusive families or became orphans as a result of the AIDS epidemic. They try to survive through begging,
washing cars, stealing and becoming prostitutes. For escapism, "many
sniff glue," Gamble said. Mission Possible - CPA seeks to change the hardknock life of Ukrainian orphans www.theviewnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=7682&paper=91&cat=187 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
THE UNDERGROUND - He happened across a homeless
boy of about three rummaging through garbage for food. The sight made him
think of his own children. He couldn’t conceive of them thrown out to fend
for themselves. He came to learn that an estimated 800,000 children live on
their own (abandoned, orphaned or fleeing abuse). Japan
grants aid for the street children of Ukraine The government of Japan has
allocated $34,000 for the Project of Sanitary Conditions Improvement for the
Street Children in Kyiv. Crouched down near the manhole,
Stas takes a defiant drag on his cigarette. His fingernails are covered with
dirt, his oversized green jacket dirty and torn. He is 12 years old, and has
been living on the streets of Prevention Of Addictive
Behavior Among Street Children In Ukraine 60,4% of
neglected children are drug users.
Among homeless children, about 100% use drugs. The most popular drugs
are glue and other chemical substances.
Most often (56,1%) children buy drugs,
friends give drugs to 55,3% of the children, 8,8% get drugs in other ways
(steal glue, cultivate cannabis and so on), parents offer drugs for 7,9%. Program
Feeds Street Kids in Ukraine Vitalik and his friends don't know
anything about Jews, and in fact they do not care much. But twice a week they look for a white bus
decorated with Hebrew, Russian and English words where they can get some
food: a sandwich, some fruit and a can of juice, all packaged in a white
plastic bag. Rescuing Children from the Streets Without the help available through
outreach programs run by the organizations and individuals of Father's House,
MIR Foundation, Help For Ukraine's Street Kids, From Two Us Women www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/streetkids.htm At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
In the narrow space around the
pipes in a The Way Home - Odessa Charity Fund www.wayhome.org.ua/estrch.html At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
WHAT IS HAPPENING? - How do the children survive out in the street? They united into groups, worked out their rules and habits. They earn their living in every possible way honestly and not very honestly. They wash cars, carry heavy things, beg, steal, get engaged in prostitution… Naturally, the children who stay out of doors do not go to school. – SC, CP LifeNets
Commits to Helping Orphans and Street Children in Vinogradov Children have had to fend for
themselves. Many of them are orphans
or have lost one of their parents. It
is sad, but many of the children know their parents only as alcoholics and
know only sickness, cold and hunger.
The children's lives are often accompanied with beatings, addition to
drugs, criminality, prostitution and begging. Constantly we see children
searching through garbage cans to something edible. Kyiv's Street Children Find Guardian Angels On a weekly sortie into a rundown
Kyiv suburb, a small group of teenagers lugs bags of bread and bouillon cubes
to a street corner, where some younger children stand waiting. The contrast between the two groups is
stark. The first is clean, well dressed and smiling. The second is dusty,
rumpled and ill clad in oversized sweaters that don't keep out the chilly
Spring air. ADRA Ukraine Nourishes Hungry Street Children www.interaction.org/newswire/detail.php?id=1677 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
"Street children live in
abhorrent conditions including basements, abandoned buildings, city garbage
sites, and sewage systems. ADRA is not only trying to feed the children, but
also seeks to create positive changes in their lives," said Andriy
Chuprikov, country director for ADRA Ukraine. There are thousands of poor
children on the street of All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin,
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Human Trafficking in [Ukraine] [other countries]Street Children in [Ukraine Child Prostitution in [Ukraine] [other countries]