Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

The British Embassy in Armenia, together with the Ombudsman's Office prepared report on the activities of children's homes and psychiatric hospitals.

The report which is published in some independent media outlets in Armenia led to a great resonance in society.

The authors of the report noted that children at the orphanages staying hungry all day long hardly finding something to eat. Untidiness of blankets and mattresses creates skin diseases.

The minors and adults reside in the same place which is absolutely unacceptable. Without taking into account the rates of mental disorders all patients treated in the same way.

Touching upon the current situation in Yerevan`s psychiatric hospitals, the report says about a hundred of patients injected with only one syringe. There is lack of food provision.

The facts of beating, abasing, exploitation of children have been revealed. However, the state has not any financial opportunity to help pitiful children, as allocated miserable funds appropriated through corruption.

Meanwhile, the results of monitoring carried out at the boarding schools under jurisdiction of the Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Armenianreport.com website wrote on July 3.

The report said that it is unacceptable to have 10 orphanages, 8night stay care facilities and 23 special schools, which involve more than 4 thousand children in the country with population of 3 million people.

According to the results, the buildings are in need of repair. Toilets and bathrooms of the facilities are in poor condition. There is absence of hot and cold water as well as evacuation plans in most of facilities. Children can not get appropriate medical care at the facilities. Violation of education rights is mainly recorded in special institutions.

The monitoring was conducted in 19 special educational institutions of Yerevan, Lori, Gegharkunik, Kotayk, Syunik, Armavir, Aragatsotn, Tavush, Shirak, from Apr.15 to July 15, 2012 in accordance with the memorandum of cooperation signed between Save the Children, Open Society Foundations and the group of observers.

Children under the age of 14 account for nearly a third of the population of Armenia.
According to sos-childrensvillages.org, families are not given the support they need to be able to stay together. As a result, the majority of children who are taken into care are the so-called "social orphans" who have one or two parents still alive. They are often taken into institutions due to poverty, or issues related to it. Most continue to be placed in orphanages, some of which have existed since the Soviet era. Children growing up in these settings are often stigmatized and their future development is therefore limited.