From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 12 Nov 92 09:06 PST
Subject: RUSSIA: Children face up to a harsh
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700794:000:4899
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Nov 12 09:06:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: RUSSIA: Children face up to a harsh

/* Written 12:03 am  Nov 12, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in
igc:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: RUSSIA: Children face up to a harsh reality -- they are not
wanted

an inter press service feature

by jennifer gould

moscow, nov 9 (ips/moscow times) -- seven-year-old klava has
discovered a harsh reality: her mother doesn't want her -- at
least not at the moment.

''my mother is very ill, and when she is ill she gets very angry
with me,'' said klava, looking like a displaced angel in a bright
red dress with peter pan collar. ''when she is better, she will
take me home.''

the russian government is placing klava in an orphanage that she
was promised would be ''better'' than the abusive one she left. in
the meantime, she lives at the moscow receiving- distribution
centre, the city's holding cell for runaway and unwanted
children.

the dreary concrete compound, located north of moscow's
sheremetyevo airport, has much in common with a russian prison.

in order to reach the children, one must pass through a security
building guarded by dogs, across a courtyard and then into a
second detention centre. that building is manned by uniformed
guards who work behind locked doors.

in essence, the holding cell is a children's prison that is used
as a dumping ground for youth picked up by the police for a few
weeks or months until they can be identified and placed
elsewhere.

in the past six months, the number of such children at the holding
cell has doubled and is at a record high, according to igor
markov, the centre's personnel director.

many of the centre's children are prostitutes, a few as young as
nine years old. sexually transmitted diseases and alcohol and drug
addictions are also common, markov said.

more than 100 criminal charges have been brought against children
here this year, said lubov ulanova, a criminal investigator at the
centre. ''there is a kind of violence here,'' markov acknowledged.
''children are far more aggressive than before.''

moscow's children suffer more now in part because the
deteriorating economic situation which is forcing parents to do
more odd jobs, work longer hours and thus spend less time at home,
markov said.(more/ips)

russia: children face up to a harsh reality -- they are not
wante(2-e)

russia: children (2)

as the communist social welfare system collapses, some parents
even ask the centre to keep the children because they receive food
and education here, he added.

one quarter of the centre's 300 runaways come from the moscow
region and about 80 percent are russian. the rest are from ex-
soviet republics, markov said.

the children, aged three to 18 are generally fleeing abusive
parents or orphanages. others, like klava, were removed from their
abusive homes by the police by court order.

there is no social welfare system set up to help these youths:  no
laws to protect children from abuse, and only one social worker
has been appointed to help treat psychological wounds.

''we have no rights to give the children to public
organisations,'' markov said. ''if they are involved in criminal
activity they are sent to the local police, or else to their
parents.''

yulya, a wispy 13-year-old, is at the centre for her fourth time.
she desperately wants to go home, she explains through silent
tears, but her mother does not want her. ''my family knows i'm
here but won't come to pick me up. all i want is to go home.''

runaways, though, are sent back to the abuse they fled. ''we have
to give the children back -- even to parents who are alcoholics,''
markov said. ''it's easy to say no if the child's father shows up
drunk. but he will come back sober the next day and take the
child.''

at least 100,000 runaway youth live in moscow's streets, according
to one of president boris yeltsin's youth advisers. they live in
railway stations, abandoned buildings, and in apartments owned by
street gangs.

about 3,700 children have passed through the centre this year,
markov said. that is up significantly from 1,500 runaways in
1987.

during the same time, sexually transmitted disease cases have
doubled, said dina silkina, the centre's chief doctor, adding that
such diseases are regarded as status symbols here.

rape and violence is also common, according to markov, referring
to that fact that 40 girls are on the centre's roll.  last year,
six interior ministry guards were fired as a result, added
markov.

three of the girls at the centre claim to be pregnant. but, unlike
their predecessors, these girls want to keep their babies.
''these children (the girls' babies) will be coming to stay with
us in ten to 15 years time,'' said a pessimistic silkina.
(end/ips/cw/jg/cpg/92)