Regional situation

In 2002, there were more than 1.1 million children in public care (guardianship, foster care and residential institutional care) compared to 850,000 in 1990. In the face of decreasing birth rates, this increase is alarming.
Out of the 1.1 million children in public care, 600,000 lived in residential institutions. (Data do not include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey.)
In 2002, 7 out of 1,000 children lived in residential institutions. However, many more children are thought to have, at one time or another, been placed in the care of an institution, as there is a high turnover rate.

Country data on children who are adopted, living guardianship, foster care, infant homes or residential institutions in the CEE/CIS Region (table)
In 2003, 70,000 children under age 5 died—a mortality rate of 15.8 deaths per 1000 live births. Violence or poisoning caused about 10% of these deaths but it is clear that much violence and child abuse goes unreported. (Data do not include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey and Tajikistan.)
In 2003, 7,000 children under age 5 died as a result of violence or poisoning. While overall child-mortality rates are decreasing, the number of deaths due to violence or poisoning remain unchanged (Data do not include Tajikistan, Turkey and Ukraine). Non-lethal violence and abuse are even more prevalent. However, legal definitions and standards related to violence against children are weak across the region. A telling indication is that only four countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, and Ukraine) specifically prohibit corporal punishment in any setting.

Human trafficking has become a serious problem. A number of countries, especially in South Eastern Europe serve as source, transit and destination for this illicit trade. Trafficking is a clandestine and elusive enterprise and trafficking routes change constantly. To different extents, every country in the region is a point of origin, transit or destination for trafficked human beings.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that the number of trafficking victims identified and assisted in South Eastern Europe decreased from 1,329 victims in 2003 to 1,227 in 2004. However, there are concerns that law enforcement approaches have driven trafficking deeper underground. IOM also reports that a greater number of identified victims are trafficked internally in the subregion.
Importantly, minors made up a significant and growing share of trafficking victims assisted in South Eastern Europe in 2003 and 2004. Research shows that in 2003 in Bulgaria, half of all victims assisted were under 18 years of age.

South East European Regional Initiative aGainst Human Trafficking (link)
Guidelines for Protection of the Rights of Child Victims of Trafficking,
April 2005 (PDF)
Child labour is a reality in the region, though it is more prominent in some subregions than others and it takes different forms and levels of severity.

- The worst forms of child labour—virtual enslavement in situations of domestic, commercial and sexual exploitation–frequently involve also trafficking.

Albania report on trafficking of children to Greece (PDF)

- In some Central Asian republics, reports have surfaced of underage children being forced to work in the cotton fields.

The Curse of Cotton: Central Asia's Destructive Monoculture (PDF)
Poverty is a key factor driving children into the labour market—whether it is household economics that put a rural child in the fields instead of in school, or family breakdown that makes an urban child vulnerable to grey marketeering and sexual exploitation. A 2004 post-conflict research project in the UN-Administered Province of Kosovo showed that, on average, children in the province start work at age 10 and often as young as age 4.
Child labour in Kosovo, A Study on Working Children (PDF)
Complete data on the average time or numbers of children who are deprived of their liberty in the region is not available since pre-trial detention data is not systematically collected in the countries in the region. However, it is known that in 2002, 136,000 children in the region were sentenced for criminal activity. Russia alone accounted for two out of three of these numbers. (Data do not include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Serbia and Montenegro, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).
Law enforcement and justice systems in the region are typically inadequate in terms of recognizing and redressing the risk factors and behaviours of children in conflict with the law. Instead they commonly use deprivation of liberty, such as police custody and pre-trial detention and many children convicted of petty crimes serve heavy sentences.

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