VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN IN ARMENIA - Abstract
Presented by: Naira Avetisyan, UNICEF Armenia

In 2002-2003 UNICEF/Armenia in partnership with the  "Armenian Relief Society" Inc and it’s local branch in Armenia conducted the first household sociological survey on violence against children in Armenia. The survey aimed at identification of the causes, forms and prevalence of child abuse and neglect in the country and development of recommendations for prevention, identification and treatment of child abuse and neglect cases.

 More than 2147 interviews were conducted in all regions of the country (among them 975 children; 858 parents, 53 experts, 161 teachers, etc). The vast majority of survey respondents were women. On the whole 28 urban and 83 rural habitats throughout the country were selected for the interviews.  As survey objects two types of families were included: vulnerable families where there are children deprived of one or two primary caregivers and two/three generation families (traditional families with parents and extended family members).

The study found that in Armenia the common form of child abuse is psychological. Physical abuse, especially beating or slapping are also used against children in families, however the numbers are smaller. About 33 percent of parents interviewed were in favor of slapping as a means of bringing up children. Psychological abuse and slapping children as a means of punishment was registered high in some schools. The survey shows that sexual abuse occurs occasionally and only few cases of sexual abuse were reported. Some of the reported cases were about children in residential care institutions.

 Majority of the respondents mentioned socio-economic poor conditions bringing to tension within the families and psychological status of care providers as the main reason for the child abuse in the country. According to the answers the most important ways of preventing violence against children in Armenia are improvement of financial conditions of families and the knowledge of care providers on positive child rearing practices, as well as provision of community-based legal, psychological and social services to children and families at risk.

 Based on the survey findings, the  following major recommendations were made:

 - Development of state policy on prevention, early identification, referral, registration and treatment of child abuse and neglect.

 - Development of professional guidelines on mandatory reporting and treatment of child abuse and neglect cases (for police, health care providers, social workers, teachers and other professionals working with children)

 - Promotion of  parental education and raising the awareness of parents and child protection professionals on child abuse and neglect on

 - Establishment of hot-line services, consultation services, and legal services accessible to children and families at risk.

Based on all those recommendations in 2003 an inter-sectoral Working Group on child abuse and neglect was established to review the legislative framework and to develop the state policy. Meantime in few regions of the country community centers were established to provide services to children at risk and their families and primary health care providers and psychologists were trained to identify child abuse and neglect cases. A telephone hotline is now available at Children’s Reception and Re-orientation Center in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. By the end of 2005 the draft regulation on child abuse and neglect will be presented to the Government for the endorsement and Child Protection structures will be established at the national and local levels.