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In May and June 2001, a number of international seminars and working groups were held in various regions of Russia to discuss the problems of protecting children’s health that are relevant today. These events were provided for by the World Health Organization’s program for mother and child health care development.
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A seminar was held May 13–18 in the Perm Region city of Berezniki, titled "Essential Newborn Care and Breastfeeding". At the seminar, 29 medical workers from the cities of Berezniki and Perm were given recommendations on the breastfeeding of newborn infants. The seminar was held jointly as part of the USAID/Russia project and the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
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A seminar was held May 14–18 in Samara, dedicated to training instructors in the problems of giving pre-natal, peri-natal, and post-natal assistance. The seminar was attended by 25 specialists from various birthing establishments in the city. The newly-trained instructors, acting on their own, then organized two more such seminars: one on May 21-25, for 13 participants in the city of Chapaevsk; and one on June 25-29, for 11 participants in the town of Krasnii Yar. The seminars were held with the help of experts from the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
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A conference was held May 28–29 in Moscow, dedicated to creating a mechanism for developing and expanding a multi-profile, interdisciplinary manual on evidence-based medicine for the RF health care system. The conference was organized by the British Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Development (DFID), and the British Embassy in Russia.
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The problems of adaptation of manual for the Integrated Management of Pediatric Diseases were discussed June 18–20 at a conference in Moscow. Twenty Russian specialists from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tver, Samara and Saratov, as well as experts from the WHO, took part in the conference.
For your UN file
8 September International Literacy Day
16 September International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer
3rd Tuesday of September International Day of Peace
Last week of September World Maritime Day
1st of October International Day of Older Persons
1st Monday of October World Habitat Day
2nd Wednesday of October International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction
9 October World Post Day
16 October World Food Day
17 October International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
24 October United Nations Day
24–30 October Disarmament Week
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Is the Russian Federation ready to ratify the Convention on Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour? Those who participated in a seminar-conference, organized jointly by the Moscow Bureau of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and RF Ministry of Labour and Social Development in late June, sought to find the answer to this question.
Throughout its history, the ILO has given special attention to child labour and the exploitation of youth. That the ILO adopted the first act relating to child labour – Convention No. 5 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Industry of Children Under the Age of 14 – in 1919, the first year of its existence, is indicative of this.
Unfortunately,
the almost century-old efforts of the international community to put an end
to the exploitation of children have yet to be crowned with success. Today,
some 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are being exploited in
the developing countries alone; of these, around 120 million work a full working
day. The majority of these children work in Asia, with Africa and Latin America
in second and third place. The scale of child labour in Central and Eastern
Europe has greatly increased.
In recent decades, the battle against child labour and its worst manifestations has become a main concern of the world community. Convention No. 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, adopted by the ILO in 1999, was an important milestone along this road.
According to the Convention, the worst forms of child labour are considered to be: all forms of slavery; the buying and selling of children; indentured servitude and serfdom; and compulsory and forced labour, including the conscription of children to serve in armed conflicts. The international treaty above outlaws such employment and conscription, as well as offering children for the purposes of prosititution, the production of pornographic works, or pornographic shows. Conscription, employment, and offering children for participation in illegal activities, particularly the production and sale of narcotics, have all been declared illegal. Finally, the Convention brands as illegal any kind of work which may be harmful to the health, safety, or morals of children.
Immediately after adopting the Convention, the ILO began an active campaign aimed at rousing the governments of the world to become signatories to the act without delay, and to assume the obligations that flow from it. This campaign, initiated by Juan Somavia, the General Director of the International Labour Office, quickly bore fruit. Today, more than 90 countries have already ratified Convention No. 182. Of the member nations of the CIS, Belarus and Ukraine have become signatories to the Convention. Others are examining the possibility of ratifying it in the near future. Among them is the Russian Federation.
At the June seminar, representatives from a number of Russian ministries and agencies stated their positions and the problems which, in their view, ought to be solved in the course of preparing for ratification. Corresponding measures should be introduced into national legislation. The need for immediate measures to combat the worst forms of child labour should be recognized by all those involved in a tripartite cooperative effort - government, employers’ unions, and workers. Individual government agencies should be required to prepare to take an active part in the battle.
The seminar’s participants outlined a number of concrete tasks, among which were coordinating the activities of the ministries and agencies in eradicating the worst forms of child labour in Russia, and making an intensive study of the main reasons and factors for child labour’s existence inside Russia. The experience gained from the "Street Children" program, implemented in St. Petersburg as part of the International Program for the Elimination of Child Labour, was widely discussed at the seminar, along with the possibility of using it in other areas of Russia, especially to train social workers for these regions.
The seminar’s participants considered it vital that nationwide statistical research be done to clarify the scale of children’s involvement in labour activity. A separate program of action at the federal level must be developed to combat the worst forms of child labour. This problem demands a great deal of attention from both regional governments and non-governmental organizations as well.
The various opinions and sometimes heated discussions heard at the seminar did not prevent the overwhelming majority of its participants from voting unanimously at its end: Russia must become a signatory to Convention No. 182.
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"You stand accused of having pushed hundreds of thousands of young men and women onto a criminal path, and of slowly killing tens of millions of people", the judge told the defendant sternly. He was trying to preside over his first trial as best as he could. The judge could then be granted with an unscheduled visit with his mother – and, later on, an early release.
This unusual trial took place outside of Moscow on June 16, in the Mozhaisk Penitentiary Facility for Minor Offenders. All those taking part – from the judge and prosecutor to the defendant and jurors – were at the facility involuntarily. On this day, however, they willingly prepared and presented their own "Putting Drug Addiction on Trial" role play.
They received help in writing the script from members of UNESCO’s Moscow Region Optimalist Club –a non-governmental organization that has spent the last five years working to prevent substance abuse in the Mozhaisk and Ikshansk reformatories. A number of young people, aged 14 to 21, from Moscow and Moscow Region serve their terms in these penitentiary facilities. They’re no angels: 94% of them smoke, 97% of them use alcohol, 61% of them take drugs, and 14% of them are infected with HIV.
Judging from the data obtained from surveys and medical examinations, these young people have firsthand knowledge of drugs and drug addiction. How can it be arranged that they won’t slip back into their old habits once they’ve been released? The facility’s administration is working to solve this difficult problem. The young people sent there have a school, library, and gymnasium at their disposal; psychological counseling is also available. The members of the UNESCO Optimalist Club are also helping them find their way in life; they never tire of coming up with interesting events like "Putting Drug Addiction on Trial".
There were other events to interest the inmates and their guests that day; a contest to design the best anti-drug poster, for example. One out of every ten residents took part in the competition. The rest got caught up in it as well: they examined and graded the posters against one another, and, understandably, rooted for their friends. The jury, made up fellow teens, named V. Malyshkin of Group 2 the winner of the contest.
The artists from the Kashira Youth Center got an even warmer
response: the facility’s residents gave their performance a thunderous 
ovation.
All these events were part of the "Say "No!" to Drugs" Program, which was timed
to coincide with the International Day Against Drugs and the Illegal Drug Trafficking.
The day ended with the awarding of commemorative prizes and diplomas for those
who participated in the program, and the winners of the anti-drug poster competition.
The "Say "No!" to Drugs" program at the Mozhaisk facility was one of the events held by the Moscow Region Optimalist Club as part of the campaign to prevent drug abuse among minors. The program was designed with the support of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP) Regional Office for Russia and Belarus, and is part of a larger project, the Global Initiative for Prevention of Narcotics and Substance Abuse. The Global Initiative project is being implemented jointly by UNODCCP and WHO in the most critical areas of the world, so far as widespread drug use and trafficking are concerned: Southern Africa, Russia, and Southeast Asia.
In Russia, the implementation of the Global Initiative began in March 2000 with a series of seminars and training sessions being held for NGOs which work with youth at the municipal and regional levels. The seminars’ participants got recommendations from WHO on conducting their own research on drug abuse in their regions, developing prevention programs, and how to implement them most effectively. Following the seminars, each NGO was awarded a UNDCP grant. One of these went to UNESCO’s Moscow Region Optimalist Club. How highly do those affected by the club’s work value it?
A survey taken after the "Say "No!" to Drugs" program at the Mozhaisk reformatory revealed that the inmates gave the program a grade of 4.8 out of a possible five points. Forty-two percent of the respondents said that the program they had seen had made them re-examine their attitude toward narcotic substances and stop using them.
Project Manager
Nadya Gazbarrini
Tel.: (7 095) 787-21-27
Fax: (7 095) 787-21-29