Armenia, in the southern Caucasus, is the smallest of the
former Soviet republics with a total land area of 29,800 sq
km. It is bounded by Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the
east, Iran to the south, and Turkey to the west. The Armenian
Constitution was adopted in 1995 and the counry is divided
into 11 provinces called Marzer. According to the 2001 census,
it has 3. 2 million people: 97% are Armenian and the rest
include Russians, Greeks, Ukrainians, Kurds, Yezids, Jews
and Assyrians. 964,000 are under 18 years old.
Armenia is still recovering from the collapse of the Soviet
Union and subsequent social and economic deterioration. Economic
decline and disruption of social infrastructure have particularly
affected the lives of children and women, turning them into
the most vulnerable groups. Although there has been substantial
growth in real GDP over the past five years this has not had
a substantial impact on the population living standards. At
the beginning of 2005 almost half of Armenia’s population
was still living below the national poverty line with one
in seven people unable to meet the basic requirements for
survival. Families with children under-five comprise almost
60 per cent of the poor. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Armenia
has yet to resolve its conflict with Azerbaijan over the Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave (largely Armenian populated)
Child protection concerns
• Widespread poverty forced many vulnerable families to rely
increasingly on public care institutions as a form of social
safety net. The number of children in residential care has
increased by almost one-third since 1999, with around 11,000
children in 53 special/ boarding schools and 900 children
living in eight state orphanages. Most of these children have
at least one living parent.
• Once children are admitted into institutions, there is
little attempt to re-integrate them with their families. Those
who leave these institutions are vulnerable to trafficking,
abuse or are at risk to come in conflict with the law.
• More than 10,000 children with disabilities were registered
in the Disability Database of the Ministry of Labour &
Social Issues in 2003. While the government realizes that
institutionalisation is detrimental to child development,
Armenia continues to rely mainly on institutional care for
children with disabilities, rather than family and community-based
alternatives. Poverty compels parents to place their children
in special boarding schools, where most children with mild
or moderate disabilities have to get their basic education.
• The UNICEF survey carried out in 2003 revealed that violence
against children exists both within families and in institutions.
However, the existence of the problem is not publicly admitted.
Partners
UNICEF’s partners in Child Protection Programme include the
Ministry of Labor & Social Issues, the Ministry of Justice,
the State Police, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry
of Public Health, Armenia’s regional authorities, international
and local non-governmental organizations such as World Vision,
Douleurs Sans Frontieres, EC Food Security Programme, Fund
for Armenian Relief and Armenian Relief Society.
