[child-rights] Millions of children bypassed by economic progress in Eastern Europe & Central Asia

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UNICEF Press release
Embargoed until 07.00 GMT, (11.00 Moscow) 13 October 2004

MOSCOW/GENEVA/FLORENCE, 13 October 2004 ­ A UNICEF report released today
finds that millions of children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia still
live in poverty despite economic progress in every country, indicating
that economic growth alone does not necessarily improve the lives of
children.

According to UNICEF's Innocenti Social Monitor 2004, of the 44 million
children living in nine countries with available data, 14 million were
living in poverty in 2001 as measured by national standards.

"Children are being bypassed by economic progress in this region and
poverty is distorting their childhood," said UNICEF Executive Director
Carol Bellamy at the launch of the report in Moscow. "Poverty means poor
nutrition and sick children. It means children unable to go to school
because they cannot afford books, uniforms or bus fares. At worst, poverty
means violence and desperation, with more children in institutions and
soaring drug and alcohol abuse among the young. Poverty is shredding the
social fabric of these new societies."

The report shows that economic growth in the region has rarely been
accompanied by initiatives to tackle the serious social disparities
affecting children.

"This raises two key questions. First, what is economic growth for if it
does not benefit children?" Bellamy said.  "And second, why are so many
countries failing to measure child poverty?  It's a critical indicator of
the success or failure of their social and economic policies, as well as
their prospects for the future. "

The Innocenti Social Monitor highlights the gaps between rich and poor
within the 27 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth
of Independent States , as well as between the more prosperous countries
of Central Europe and the poorer countries of the Caucasus and Central
Asia. It examines how unemployment affects children: in some countries,
including Bulgaria and Poland, large numbers of children are growing up in
families where neither parent is employed.

Employment statistics should focus on children living in households where
nobody is employed, or where earnings are low, the report suggests.
Incentives are needed to ensure access to social services to make it
easier for families to relocate to areas with high employment.

"We have to find ways to measure the consequences of poverty," Bellamy
said, "the exclusion from society, the lack of respect for human rights,
the lack of choice and the scale and impact of discrimination. We need
well-defined and regularly updated poverty lines that capture the constant
changes in child poverty. It is not enough to measure income poverty
alone."

The report also finds that across the region, the poor often pay for
health and education services that are meant to be free, while
unemployment benefits and family allowances fail to keep pace with their
needs. Recent data show that in Uzbekistan, fewer than 7 in 10 poor
children attend basic schooling.

Governments often measure poverty against a national subsistence minimum ­
the amount of money a household is estimated to need to buy a minimum
'basket' of goods and services. The report argues that such 'baskets'
reflect the judgement of policy- makers. A recent study in Kazakhstan
found that housing could not be met by the agreed minimum. In Georgia, the
national minimum does not reflect seasonal variations in food prices, so
even those living at or above the national poverty level may be
malnourished.

UNICEF works with families and communities in the region to tackle the
fallout of poverty: the institutionalisation of children, the trafficking,
and the consequences of alcohol and drug abuse, especially HIV. But
systemic change - policy and legislative reform to protect all children
and all their rights - is the cornerstone of UNICEF's programme with
governments and the surest route to achieving the Millennium Development
Goals in each country.



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