Monika Luik Tallinn, Eesti 2003 Excursion into Child Protection Issues in Estonia from the...
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Transcript of Monika Luik Tallinn, Eesti 2003 Excursion into Child Protection Issues in Estonia from the...
Monika LuikTallinn, Eesti
2003
Excursion into Child Protection Issues
in Estoniafrom the Perspective of WGCC
Priorities
Contents
Organization of child protection in Estonia
Sexual exploitation and abuse of children
Unaccompanied and trafficked children
Street children and children without a family
Children in institutions
Young offenders
Policy responses
Organisation of Child ProtectionState level
Legislative, investment and supervision activities for the organisation of children’s health care, education, work, rest, recreational activities and welfare.Child protecion in state level is co-ordinated by the Ministry of
Social Affairs
Level of local government bodiesOrganisation of and supervision over child protection and
assistance by the social services departments of the local governments (127 child protection specialsists)Legal guardian function
Non-governmental levelSupervision excercised by the Legal Chancellor
UN CRC
Estonia ratified the convention in 1991
In 2001 we presented our initial report and in January 2003 the Committee on the Rights of the Child issued their concluding observations and made their suggestions
One of the suggestions to Estonia was to create a comprehensive rights-based plan of action for the full implementation of the convention
In October 2003 Estonian Government approved “The Strategy for Implementation of the Rights of the Child”
Strategy to Guarantee the Rights of the Child
Initiated by the Ministry of Social Affairs (MSA) in 2001Ordered from the Union of Child WelfareFinalized in MSA in 2003, approved in OctoberSets goals until the year 2008Action plan for every yearIn the end of every year MSA presents a report to the government Three groups of goals
Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Children
In 2002 the number of registered sexual offences against children was 84.
10284
143
84
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
1999 2000 2001 2002
Number of offences
Number of offences
Network of specialists
Competence center
4 special examination/hearing rooms for making interviews with children who have been sexually abused
Optional protocol to the convention on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
Discussions
Need for more data/statistics
Unaccompanied and Trafficked Children
The number of under-age prostitutes according to estimates of different experts which correspond to the opinion of public organizations, there may be between 100 and 120 under-age prostitutes in Estonia, of whom the majority are young women aged 16‑17
No police records of sale or purchase of a child since 1998
During the last 5 years 8 convictions for disposing minors to engage in prostitution or aiding prostitution involving minors
No cases of cross-border trafficking of minors are known to the border guardNo cases are known in Estonia where trafficking in a child has found place through adoptionDuring the years 1999-2002 6 refugee children or asylum seekers, none of them unaccompaniedDomestic cooperation neededInternational cooperation needed, appointment of NCPs
Street Children and Children without Families
Official statistics show the number of children who have turned to/brought to shelters because of the reason of vagrancy which in 2002 was 508
Depending on the definition estimations say that there are about 4,000-5,000 children in the streets or approximately 100-200.
Mostly in Tallinn and North-East Estonia
Children left without parental care, new cases (2002 – 1249 cases)
1752
1227 1255 1249
0200400
600800
1000
120014001600
1800
1999 2000 2001 2002
Number of new cases
Number of new cases
Of 1301 cases children were placed followingly:
Three main reasons for staying in shelters and rehabilitation centers were: vagrancy, negligence at home and drug abuse
18%
30%34%
18%To social welfareinstitutions
To foster families
To biological families
To shelters
Insufficient coverange with counselling services, especially in rural areas
Improvement of both preventive activities and rehabilitation services are needed
Mandatory registration of the place of residence could also give good results
Children in Institutions
There are 1542 children in social welfare institutions (children’s homes)
Challenges:Qualified personnel
Children with behavioral problems
Size of “families” and institutions
Legal guardianship
Mechanism of complaints from children
Young Offenders
In 2002 children committed 2400 crimes, that is 9% more than in previous year. From all known crimes in 2002, children were accountable in 13.3% of casesThe Committees for Minors discussed 1902 cases in 2002A juvenile committee may apply the following means of influencing minors:a warning; special school arrangements;referral for a consultation with a psychologist, an expert in narcology, a social worker or other specialist; conciliation;the obligation to live with a parent, guardian, foster parent or at a children’s home; community service; surety; participation in youth programmes, social programmes or medical treatment programmes; referral to a young offenders’ institution; a court’s permission is needed to apply this means of influencing.
Definitely sentenced juveniles by type of principal penalty imposed in 2002 (nr of cases 1650)
Imprisonment21%
Conditional sentence
64%
Arrest3%
Fine12%
By the end of 2002 there were 54 minors incarcerated in penal institutions (convicted), in 2000 the number was 64
341 juveniles (<18) were incarcerated while investigation and procecution, the number is increasing
Three special schools for juvenile delinquents, 220 places
ChallengesConditions in institutions
Rehabilitation services
Good practice – special classes
Policy Responses
Preventive measures:Public awareness campaign to promote every
citizen’s responsibility to inform the authorities about children at risk
Enhancing employment opportunities for parents
Availability of free leisure-time activities, enhancement of youth work
Discuss the opportunity to offer free school meals and free books to all children in basic level education
Policy Responses
Improved cooperationAssigned case-worker to every child in risk
Improving the cooperation of specialists around the child, effective networking, training of network members and detailed manuals how to react to child’s problem
Engaging volunteers to work with children
Effective procedure of receiving, controlling, investigating alerts and intervention has to be worked out in order to protect children from abuse
Policy Responses
Improved availability of counseling and rehabilitation services
Systematic approach in offering and financing psychological and psychiatric counseling and therapy in order to guarantee complex and thorough response to the special needs of children
Effective and accessible rehabilitation services to street-children, young drug addicts, delinquents etc.
Policy Responses
Improved quality of institutional care and development alternative care possibilities
Requirements for qualification and training of childcare institution workers
Program that reorganizes big orphanages to smaller orphanages
More attention to developing alternative care possibilities to allow the child to grow up in family environment
Policy Responses
Improving access to education and prevention of school drop-outs
Ensure that every child has a ‘sure start’ at school by making pre-school education available in either kindergartens or preliminary classes at school
Develop more flexible learning opportunities for disabled students as well as other disadvantaged groups
Develop teacher-training programmes
Reduce the number of children in classes