In the run-up to anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF Kazakhstan
UNICEF cooperates with the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan to uphold and ensure child rights enshrined in the CRC are achieved. The CRC was ratified by Kazakhstan in 1994. From then onward Kazakhstan has been fulfilling the rights of millions of children to survival, development, protection and participation, the press service of the UNIVEF Kazakhstan reports.
In August 2004 Kazakhstan adopted the Law on Child Rights which today is as important as a national child rights declaration. A sizable contribution to the development and adoption of the law was made by experts of UNICEF.
As a follow-up to successful cooperation with the Government of Kazakhstan and civil society, UNICEF also conducted a number of critical studies on the state of children in Kazakhstan in 2011. Among them was the study on Violence against Children in State Institutions of Kazakhstan. The purpose of the report was to identify nature and the scale of violence against children as well as to outline mechanisms for reforming the residential care institutions to make them more child friendly.
The study on child abandonment was conducted in Karaganda Region, which will allow a better understanding of the root causes resulting in social orphancy in Kazakhstan basing on situation analysis in Karaganda and neighbouring cities and urban-type villages. A set of actions derived from this study should enable the development of countrywide child abandonment prevention programmes.
UNICEF jointly with the Agency on Statistics of Kazakhstan carried out a Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). The purpose of MICS was to look into the status of women and children and key indicators to measure Kazakhstan's progress towards achievement of MDGs and the Plan of Action for "World Fit for Children". The MICS survey provides information using a number of new indicators on communities, health status, education, child development, domestic violence and other issues. These important set of indicators are normally difficult to be picked up in other surveys.
In parallel with these studies, UNICEF held a set of capacity building trainings for state bodies as well as for NGOs on development of integrated social services on provision of special services to vulnerable groups. In addition to that, UNICEF delivered a number of trainings on international standards on juvenile justice for faculty of the Academy for Public Administration under the President of Kazakhstan, Penitentiary Committee Academy under the Ministry of Interior of Kazakhstan, Interior Academy in Almaty and Karaganda cities, General Prosecution Institute and other academic and administrative institutions.
In summer 2011 a UNICEF training course on development of high quality communication materials "about children, for children and with children" (cartoons, child TV programmes, social video spots and animated films, posters and other media materials) was conducted for Kazakhstan media and production companies.
This year Iodine Reference Laboratory for Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States was set up at the Kazakh Academy of Nutrition with the support of UNICEF. The Regional Reference Laboratory on Iodine Deficiency Disorders will ensure sustainability of the continuous national monitoring system for iodine deficiency disorders.
On the anniversary of the CRC adoption, UNICEF wishes for further cooperation with the Government of Kazakhstan, civil society partners and business community for the full realization of the rights of children in this country. We would also like to remind all families in Kazakhstan that no services are capable of substituting parental and family love and care.
