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Armenia: Children at risk of violence need more effective system of protection
13 Oct 2009
Extreme poverty and lack of an adequate social safety net since the fall of the Soviet Union have had considerable impact on Armenian families, seen in increased family disintegration, violence within the home and child abandonment. According to the US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2007, the number of reported cases of physical and psychological abuse towards children in Armenia has increased; however, sexual abuse of children is not believed to be a serious problem.
Today, many impoverished families often abandoned their children to institutional care where inadequate resources, as well as the lack of monitoring mechanisms contribute to an environment that leave children susceptible to violence: violence by staff, violence as a guise of treatment and violence as a form of lack of care.
Though the Government of Armenia has undertaken reforms to improve the protection of children, the country’s three-tier child protection system could function much more effectively by addressing the roles and responsibilities of its various departments.
World Vision Armenia will support the formation of an experts working group to identify the contradictions and gaps that exist in the current legislative acts and to recommend necessary reforms. World Vision will work with the National Commission for Child Protection, the Ministry of Justice of Armenia and the Steering Committee of the National Assembly on Social, Health and Education Issues to help improve the local, regional and national system.
“Recommending reforms to eliminate the gaps and contradictions will enhance the government’s work to ensure the protection for children from violence and abuse”, said Liana Poghosyan, World Vision Armenia Design, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager.
To improve the identification and the referral of children exposed to violence at the community level World Vision will pilot the government-planned approach of enlisting a paid social worker in each local Guardianship Trustee Body. “Our government has planned to pilot this in 2011; having implemented the pilot of this plan, World Vision will later advise the government on how best to implement its own initiative in 2011”, explains Poghosyan.
The establishment of a resource centre aims to build the capacity of the staff of state bodies. ‘Malatia Child Development Centre Foundation’, supported by World Vision, will use its expertise on child protection issues to provide ongoing and on-the-job support to the members of some 37 Guardianship Trustee Bodies, three Child Protection Units and four residential care facilities in Vanadzor, Kapan and Yerevan cities of Armenia.
The professional staff of these four residential facilities will be trained around the Child Developmental Assets framework, which addresses the competencies and opportunities needed for young people to be successful.
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