Human Trafficking in  [Azerbaijan]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Azerbaijan]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Azerbaijan]  [other countries]
 

Prevalence, Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children

In the first ten years of the 21st Century  -  2000 to 2009

Republic of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan shares all the formidable problems of the former Soviet republics in making the transition from a command to a market economy, but its considerable energy resources brighten its medium-term prospects. Baku has only recently begun making progress on economic reform, and old economic ties and structures are slowly being replaced.

Long-term prospects will depend on world oil prices, the location of new oil and gas pipelines in the region, and Azerbaijan's ability to manage its energy wealth to promote sustainable growth in non-energy sectors of the economy and spur employment.  [The World Factbook, U.S.C.I.A. 2009]

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Azerbaijan.  Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false.  No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

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Real Lives - Azerbaijan Diary: A Sting In The Tale

“We have regular customers who park their cars and we wash them. When they leave work, they pay us."  The police don’t hassle them on the proviso that they take 60% of the boys’ earnings. So net profit usually ends up as approximately a dollar per boy per day.  The boys drop in and out of school. Ridicule appears to be a feature of the alienation process. "They jeer at me for not having a change of clothes. Even the principal told me not to come to school if I didn’t wear the right clothes"

 

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UNICEF - The Big Picture

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

CHILDREN - Public education was compulsory, free, and universal until the age of 17. The Ministry of Education reported 100 percent elementary school attendance, 97 percent middle school attendance, and 88 percent high school attendance during the year; the UN Children's Fund reported the elementary school figure was approximately 88 percent. The highest level of education achieved by the majority of children was high school. In impoverished rural areas, large families sometimes placed a higher priority on the education of male children and kept girls to work in the home. Some poor families forced their children to beg rather than attend school.

A large number of refugee and IDP children lived in substandard conditions in camps and public buildings. In some cases, these children were unable to attend school.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1997

[21] The Committee is deeply concerned about the consequences of armed conflict on families, in particular the emergence of a population of unaccompanied children, orphans and abandoned children.

[23] While welcoming the fact that the State party has recently released a study on children working and/or living on the street, the recent increase in the number of such children is a matter of concern. The Committee also expresses its serious concern at the increase in the number of child prostitutes, and that the State party does not have a clear strategy to combat the abuse and sexual exploitation of children.

Azerbaijan State Committee on Family, Women, Children Requires Additional Authorities

news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1037598&lang=EN

This article has been archived by World Street Children News and may possibly still be accessible [here]

According to her, Azerbaijan has no official statistical data on its street-children, because most of these children return to their families after some time. Educational institutes are also responsible for the problem. Most street-children go to secondary school, where control over attendance is poor, she said.

Street Children Beg For Livelihood In Baku

Fagan lives in the Bileceri district with his mother and brothers. He didn’t want to say how much he earns in a day, but whispers that he has to pay out half of this money as ’protection’ for working on the street. His story is more common than ever. In Soviet times, to call someone a "street child" amounted to an insulting exaggeration. Since the Soviet Union collapsed, it has become more and more a descriptive term.

Real Lives - Azerbaijan Diary: A Sting In The Tale

“We have regular customers who park their cars and we wash them. When they leave work, they pay us."  The police don’t hassle them on the proviso that they take 60% of the boys’ earnings. So net profit usually ends up as approximately a dollar per boy per day.  The boys drop in and out of school. Ridicule appears to be a feature of the alienation process. "They jeer at me for not having a change of clothes. Even the principal told me not to come to school if I didn’t wear the right clothes"

Helping Street Children

Some of them have mothers, but no fathers; some have fathers, but no mothers.  They’re in difficult financial situations, and so, they are forced onto the streets to earn money for their families.  But these boys face a major problem when they become 18.  They have nothing to do, they can’t find work and so they can’t eat.  They need some sort of profession.

Consortium for Street Children

www.streetchildren.org.uk/resources/details/?type=country&country=133

At one time this article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]

Street children in Azerbaijan are particularly at risk to be exploited through labor, particularly drug and sex trafficking. Neglect and economic status is often the main cause of children taking to the streets where they are also in danger in becoming involved in Azerbaijan's ongoing conflict with Armenia.

Special Rapporteur On The Sale Of Children, Child Prostitution & Pornography [DOC]

3. INFORMATION ON INITIATIVES (a) INSTITUTIONAL AND POLICY MEASURES - It was decided to create a children’s police force (taking account of international experience) and to recruit persons trained as teachers, particularly women specialists, as members of the police force, to establish crisis centers (psychosocial rehabilitation centers), to set up anonymous telephone lines (hotlines) and to conduct special training for this purpose.

Azerbaijan Probes Child-Organ Traffickers

STREET CHILDREN - During the Soviet system, there was a specific government plan and specific policy which was directed towards the welfare of each individual but unfortunately, after gaining independence, this old system just collapsed and there is no alternative, which could - which should - replace it.

The Protection Project - Azerbaijan

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - Poor social and economic conditions for women and children make them vulnerable to trafficking. Women’s lower social status and lack of decently paid work opportunities compel them to seek employment outside of Azerbaijan.  Furthermore, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the social welfare system ceased to function effectively in Azerbaijan, thereby forcing many children onto the streets, where they are vulnerable to exploitation. - htsccp

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Human Trafficking in  [Azerbaijan]  [other countries]
Street Children in  [Azerbaijan]  [other countries]
Child Prostitution in  [Azerbaijan]  [other countries]