ID :
178644
Thu, 04/28/2011 - 14:16
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/178644
The shortlink copeid
HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, /MONTSAME/
(continuation)
Children
Citizenship is derived from one's parents. Child abuse was a significant problem, principally in the forms of violence and sexual abuse. According to the governmental National Center for Children, both problems were most likely to occur within families.
Although against the law, the commercial sexual exploitation of children--involving those under 18 years of age--was a problem. According to NGOs there were instances wherein teenage girls were kidnapped, coerced, deceived, and forced to work as prostitutes. The minimum age for consensual sex is 16. Violators of the statutory rape law are subject to a penalty of up to three years in prison. The law prohibits the production, sale, or display of all pornography and carries a penalty of up to three months in prison. The country was not believed to be a destination for child sex tourism.
Police raids freed some teenage victims of commercial sexual exploitation; however, NGOs claimed other police officers worked with procurers and brothel keepers. Teenage victims of sexual exploitation were often detained and punished for the crime of prostitution.
Although society has a long tradition of raising children in a communal manner, societal and familial changes orphaned many children. Child abandonment was a problem; other children were orphaned or ran away from home as a result of parental abuse, much of it committed under the influence of alcohol. An MSWL official stated there were no effective legal deterrents for child abandonment.
According to the MSWL, there were 41 temporary shelters and orphanages, seven fewer than in 2009 after inspections found them to be noncompliant with the standards adopted in 2008. The MSWL reported that there were six government-funded shelters, classifying the Address Identification Center (AIC) as a shelter. Of these, officials stated that facilities run by the AIC, National Center for Children, and Ulaanbaatar city government failed to meet the government's standards for shelters. Approximately 1,500 children lived in shelters countrywide. In the winter an estimated 60 children, and in the summer hundreds of children, were estimated to be living on the street.
Minors who ran away from or were lost or abandoned by their parents are brought to the police-run AIC in Ulaanbaatar for the purpose of reconnecting children with their families. With a capacity of 45, it was often overcrowded with as many as 70. Police officials stated that children of abusive parents were sent to shelters rather than back home, but some observers suggested that many youths were sent back to abusive parents. The AIC was unable to provide adequate medical attention to the children, many of whom could not access public health services for lack of an identification card. Officials stated that the state allocated 24,000 tugrik ($20) a month for all medical expenses despite officials' estimates that 80 percent of the entering children were sick, in many cases severely so. Since many of the children lacked their identification cards, public hospitals refused to provide those children even rudimentary treatment. The Law on the Provisional Detention of Homeless Children states that children should be kept in the AIC for no longer than seven days, yet in practice they were kept for up to 180 days. Children residing at the AIC for such long durations were not integrated into regular schools.
The government began implementation of a "Road Home Program" to provide educational and recreational activities for 35 children who were regular entrants to the AIC. All funding for this program came from outside donors.
The country is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
(to be continued)
(continuation)
Children
Citizenship is derived from one's parents. Child abuse was a significant problem, principally in the forms of violence and sexual abuse. According to the governmental National Center for Children, both problems were most likely to occur within families.
Although against the law, the commercial sexual exploitation of children--involving those under 18 years of age--was a problem. According to NGOs there were instances wherein teenage girls were kidnapped, coerced, deceived, and forced to work as prostitutes. The minimum age for consensual sex is 16. Violators of the statutory rape law are subject to a penalty of up to three years in prison. The law prohibits the production, sale, or display of all pornography and carries a penalty of up to three months in prison. The country was not believed to be a destination for child sex tourism.
Police raids freed some teenage victims of commercial sexual exploitation; however, NGOs claimed other police officers worked with procurers and brothel keepers. Teenage victims of sexual exploitation were often detained and punished for the crime of prostitution.
Although society has a long tradition of raising children in a communal manner, societal and familial changes orphaned many children. Child abandonment was a problem; other children were orphaned or ran away from home as a result of parental abuse, much of it committed under the influence of alcohol. An MSWL official stated there were no effective legal deterrents for child abandonment.
According to the MSWL, there were 41 temporary shelters and orphanages, seven fewer than in 2009 after inspections found them to be noncompliant with the standards adopted in 2008. The MSWL reported that there were six government-funded shelters, classifying the Address Identification Center (AIC) as a shelter. Of these, officials stated that facilities run by the AIC, National Center for Children, and Ulaanbaatar city government failed to meet the government's standards for shelters. Approximately 1,500 children lived in shelters countrywide. In the winter an estimated 60 children, and in the summer hundreds of children, were estimated to be living on the street.
Minors who ran away from or were lost or abandoned by their parents are brought to the police-run AIC in Ulaanbaatar for the purpose of reconnecting children with their families. With a capacity of 45, it was often overcrowded with as many as 70. Police officials stated that children of abusive parents were sent to shelters rather than back home, but some observers suggested that many youths were sent back to abusive parents. The AIC was unable to provide adequate medical attention to the children, many of whom could not access public health services for lack of an identification card. Officials stated that the state allocated 24,000 tugrik ($20) a month for all medical expenses despite officials' estimates that 80 percent of the entering children were sick, in many cases severely so. Since many of the children lacked their identification cards, public hospitals refused to provide those children even rudimentary treatment. The Law on the Provisional Detention of Homeless Children states that children should be kept in the AIC for no longer than seven days, yet in practice they were kept for up to 180 days. Children residing at the AIC for such long durations were not integrated into regular schools.
The government began implementation of a "Road Home Program" to provide educational and recreational activities for 35 children who were regular entrants to the AIC. All funding for this program came from outside donors.
The country is not a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
(to be continued)
