Child Rights Situation - Save the Children

1 Child Rights Situation analysis : ArmeniaYerevan, 2015 Child Rights Situation analysis : ArmeniaYerevan 20153 TABLE OF CONTENTLIST OF TABLES .. 4 LIST OF ACRONYMS ..5 CHAPTER 1. METHODOLOGY .. 9 CHAPTER 2. COUNTRY CONTEXT ..102 .1 POPULATION AND DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS ..102 .2 DEVELOPMENT TRENDS ..10 CHAPTER 3. analysis OF THE UNCRC Rights Situation .. 133 .1 Child Rights GOVERNANCE .. 133 .1 .1 General Measures of Implementation: Legal Reforms and Fulfilment of the Rights of the Child ..133 .1 .2 Civil Rights and Freedoms: Right to Registration, 3 .1 .3 Child Participation .. 273 .2 Child PROTECTION .. 283 .2 .1 Child Protection Including the Family Environment.

2 283 .2 .2 Child Protection: Special Protection Means .. 383 .3 Rights TO EDUCATION AND CULTURE .. 453 .3 .1 The Right of the Child to Preschool Education .. 453 .3 .2 The Right of the Child to School Education .. 463 .3 .3 Education of Children in Vulnerable Groups .. 503 .3 .4 Children s Participation in Cultural Life .. 523 .3 .5 The Right of Children to Receive Primary and Secondary Vocational Education .. 533 .3 .6 Funding of Educational Programmes .. 533 .4 Rights TO HEALTH AND WELFARE .. 543 .4 .1 Maternal Health: Access and Quality of Reproductive Health .. 543 .4 .2 Child (6-18) Health and Nutrition.

3 553 .4 .3 School Health and Nutrition (SHN) .. 573 .4 .4 Health of Children with Special Needs .. 594 LIST OF TABLEST able 1: The reporting Clusters of UNCRC .. 9 Table 2 : The dynamics of Child poverty in 2008-2013 (by their percentage rate) ..18 Table 3: Number of Crimes Against Children .. 28 Table 4: Number of preschool education establishments and the Children attending .. 325 LIST OF ACRONYMS ADHS Armenian Demographic and Health SurveyBBP Basic Benefit PackageCRC Child Rights ConventionCRSA Child Rights Situation AnalysisECD Early Childhood DevelopmentGDP Gross Domestic ProductMES Ministry of Education and ScienceMLSI Ministry of Labor and Social IssuesMOD Ministry of DefenseMOE Ministry of Education and ScienceMOH Ministry of Health NCD Non-communicable diseasesNCPCR National Commission for the Protection of Child RightsNGO Non Governmental Organization NSS National Statistical ServicePHC Primary Health CarePIU Project Implementation UnitPRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy

4 PapersRA Republic of ArmeniaRA CC Republic of Armenia Criminal CodeRA CPC Republic of Armenia Criminal Procedure CodeRA FC Republic of Armenia Family CodeSCI Save the Children InternationalSMS State Migration ServiceUN United NationsUNCRC United Nations Child Rights ConventionUNDAF United Nations Development Assistance FrameworkUNFPA United Nations Population FundUNICEF United Nations Children s Fund6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARYIn all countries of the world in which Save the Children operates, Children face many problems . To develop and deliver need based programs, there was a need to implement a Child Rights Situational analysis (CRSA) in Armenia.

5 A CRSA is an in-depth description of the extent to which Children s Rights are being exercised and an analysis of the obstacles to, and enablers of, their realization . The aim of CRSA is to gather sufficient information to produce a good enough analysis to inform strategic methodology of the assessment included (a) a review of secondary data, and (b) meetings with key informants to gather data from primary sources. CRSA reviewed the following UNCRC Rights : Child Rights Governance; Child Protection; Rights to Education and Culture; Rights to Health and Welfare . Below is the summary of the main Rights Governance: The study revealed that the Republic of Armenia has ratified the key international treaties concerning the Rights of the Child ; however, a few very important optional protocols still remain not ratified.

6 At the same time, the newly adopted draft laws on the Rights of the Child are not required to be assessed according to RA legislation, in contrary to the legislative requirement to assess the impact of legal acts in a number of other fields. Regarding the RA Law on the Rights of the Child , the activities for the protection of the Rights of the Child are carried out in the manner and timeframe foreseen by the annual programmes, however, the assessment showed that these programmes have a lot of shortcomings . Child Protection: According to the results of the study, RA legislation associated with protecting the Child from an insult, absence of care, indifference or rude treatment is not clear: in particular (a) the description of these phenomena and a struggle against them are still in the state of drafting.

7 (b) not all incidents of violence are punishable under criminal law in the RA, (c) any manifestation of violence against the Child is conditioned by the fact that the Child is either not perceived or is partially perceived as an individual by the society, (d) Children are still subjected to physical and psychological violence as methods of upbringing, (e) there is no separate legal act or a single and comprehensive document on physical and psychological integration of Children and their social reintegration, (f) so far there is no legislation in the RA on juvenile justice . Rights to Education and Culture: The assessment showed that school age Children enjoy the opportunity to attend general schools.

8 The study revealed vulnerability of inclusive schools which are severely underequipped in terms of their physical conditions . The access to Early Childhood Development (ECD) institutions in general is quite low . In urban communities it is higher than in rural communities, as in rural communities Children are mostly deprived of the opportunity to attend ECDs. Moreover, there is a lack of adjusted preschool centres for disabled Children at preschool age . Rights to Health and Welfare: According to the findings of the assessment, the citizens of RA have access to health. Health services are paid for except for Children under the age of 7 and certain groups of people.

9 However, Children and adults with disabilities face barriers in accessing the health and rehabilitation services they need in many settings, and particularly in rural areas . Nevertheless, there are different medical and social support programs provided by the State for free for Children with special needs .7 INTRODUCTION Protection of Children s Rights and provision of a safe and non-violent environment for Children are of high priority for every country . Therefore the issues concerning Child abuse, neglect, violence and exploitation are prioritized by state and key action takers, like Save the Children , who implement various programmatic interventions and contribute to the improvement of the resources and policies.

10 Current report explores the Child Rights Situation in Armenia using the methodology of Child Rights Situational analysis . A CRSA is an analysis of the Situation of Children and their Rights . It also identifies obstructions that may their Rights being realised . The CRSA is informed by a range of perspectives, including those of Children and young people. It looks at the trends in, and causes of, Child Rights issues, the key stakeholders involved, and the policies, programs and services already in place to prevent and respond to them . While the principal use of a CRSA remains as an input into strategic planning, CRSAs potentially have a significant value to other aspects of work, such as feeding into our program planning processes, coordinating our work with partners, governments, donors and other civil society actors, supporting policy design and implementation at various levels of the country, etc.