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