Azerbaijan: Helping Street Children

Like most of the former Soviet republics, Azerbaijan has struggled with its independence, which it gained in 1991. This small nation of eight million people on the Caspian Sea is battling widespread poverty and unemployment.

Children, in particular, are suffering from these conditions. It has given rise to a phenomenon unheard of during the Communist era: children who live and work on the streets. Dilara Babayeva, UNICEF’s child protection officer in Azerbaijan, says the number of children on the streets is increasing. "Many of these children are ending up on the streets due to poverty."

"Some of them have mothers, but no fathers, some have fathers, but no mothers," adds Sudaba Shiraliyeva, director of the children’s refuge in the capital, Baku. "They’re in difficult financial situations, and so, they are forced onto the streets to earn money for their families."

During the Soviet era, the phenomenon of street children simply did not exist. Babayeva, who helped start the first refuge for street children in Baku, explains that after gaining independence, the system of social protection and the system of services collapsed.

"During the Soviet system, there was a specific government plan and specific policy which was directed towards the welfare of each individual," she says. "But unfortunately, after gaining independence, this old system just collapsed and there is no alternative, which could -- which should -- replace this system."

Shiraliyeva says that far from improving, the situation with street children is getting steadily worse. "It is rather a serious problem." But, she adds, the government is not necessarily to blame. "It is a sign of the times. Azerbaijan is a young republic and that’s why this problem exists." The phenomenon of street children appeared in all the former Soviet republics, she says.

In Baku, the children’s refuge welcomes about 50 or 60 children every day. Shiraliyeva says it is mainly boys, who live and work on the streets.

Boys in a poor neighborhood in Baku

These boys face a major problem when they reach the age of 18. "They have nothing to do, they can’t find work and so they can’t eat," she says. "They need some sort of profession."

For example, one of the children wants to be a photographer, one wants to be a jeweller, another wants to be a cameraman. "Their greatest desire is to have a proper profession. But we can’t offer them opportunities like that," Shiraliyeva says. "We simply don’t have the means."

As well as providing the children with a hot meal and somewhere to warm up, the refuge tries to encourage them to return to their families. "We have a team of psychologists who work with them, talk to them about their lives and their problems," Shiraliyeva says. "These children aren’t without hope. It is possible for them to return to ordinary lives. They have the same interests as other children."

A UNICEF-assisted kindergarten in Azerbaijan

Nevertheless, many of the children have problems with their development, she says. "Some of the children have difficulties reading and writing. We try to help them improve these skills. Some of them don’t even know the different colors, so we teach them those. A lot of them have simply missed out on their childhoods and so we try to get them to do the things children ought to do, like drawing and painting."

However, Shiraliyeva’s work is anything but easy for her personally. "It’s very hard to see these children in such a miserable situation. I am human, too. When it’s freezing cold, it breaks your heart to see children out on the street washing cars," she says. "They come here and they need to be properly fed, they need to be properly clothed. But we simply don’t have the means to feed and clothe all of Azerbaijan’s street children."