Interview with head of UNICEF

Nearly 70 percent of Tajikistan's population of 6.2 million are under 30 years of age. This young nation faces high child mortality, disease, violence and discrimination. Moreover, it is one of the 20 poorest countries in the world. With more than 80 percent of its population living on less than US $10 per person per month. Women and children are most vulnerable. In an interview with IRIN, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for Tajikistan, Yukie Mokuo, said the country had a long way to go, and needed continued reforms to enhance social protection for its children and reverse declining education standards. QUESTION: How would you describe the state of children in Tajikistan today? ANSWER: I must say that the situation is still alarming because the mortality and morbidity rates in young children are very high. Although officially the mortality rate was 27.9 per 1,000 live births in 2001, the country uses a Soviet era definition, which means that the reported levels are much lower. If we apply the international standards it would naturally give a 25 to 30 percent increase. In addition, Tajikistan has a problem of low birth registration rates, coupled with higher numbers of home deliveries. The Tajik government has now agreed to implement the new definition. Among school children the number of dropouts and lower attendance levels are increasing, especially in secondary grades from fifth to nine. This is particularly high among girls. This means that more children are not completing the compulsory nine years of education, which was not the situation in Tajikistan many years ago. There is also a need for increased social protection for children. There are many children who go into [special] institutions. These are children coming from poor families, children with disabilities and children in conflict with the law. The problem here is that in Tajikistan social protection care is institutionalisation, and we estimate that nearly 85 percent of children in these institutions have either single parents or [have lost] both parents. We are working with the government to reform the social protection system so that children are not deprived of family care, but still there can be different means of social protection care. It is easy to say, and difficult to do, in a country where more than 80 percent of the population lives in poverty. So there has to be years of reforms in the area of social protection. Q: How bad is child malnutrition in this country and what is UNICEF doing to improve that? A: A group of NGOs do an anthropometric study every year and according to this study the rate of chronic malnutrition, meaning stunting, is nearly 30 to 35 percent, with a seasonal difference. Acute malnutrition, meaning wasting, is eight to 10 percent; in the season after summer it gets higher. These are alarming figures. Our understanding is that it’s the problem of feeding practices or dietary behaviours, but acute malnutrition is also associated with morbidity. When children get sick they tend to get malnourished. Another contributing factor to child malnutrition here is lack of micronutrients such as iron, iodine and vitamin A. Especially, the iron and vitamin A deficiencies contribute to mortality and morbidity. The vitamin A deficiency in [the southern province of] Khatlon is over 27 percent, which has to be considered a public health problem. Q: What is the status of immunisation in the country and which major diseases threaten children's health? A: Tajikistan used to maintain pretty good immunisation coverage and one major achievement is that now the country is certified as polio free, because no cases have been reported since 1997. We did a study in Khatlon and [the northern] Soughd provinces. The result was okay, but measles outbreaks occur every three years because the surveillance system is not very effectively functioning. There is no strong prevention in terms of immunisation of measles. So this is the most significant problem. The positive thing that we found about immunization is that health institutions cover 100 percent of the newborn because of their home visiting services. Q: How big a problem is illiteracy in Tajikistan given the fact that education standards in the country have fallen considerably since the disintegration of the former Soviet Union and the subsequent five-year civil war? A: There are no national figures to confirm the reality of the country now. But on the positive side the literacy levels remain high among the adult population. During the past decade there has been an increase in the dropout rate, meaning that unless major steps are undertaken now, these rates can easily drop. We can say that 15 to 20 percent of children do not complete compulsory education. This generation will soon become adults and, unless something is done now, in ten years time the literacy levels of this country will decrease. Q: What are you major concerns about education in the country? A: Access is a major problem and on the quality side, although assistance is coming; teachers are paid low wages and they need training; the curriculum is obsolete; so the education sector as a whole needs major reforms. I must say that there is a lot of commitment from the government with national plans, programmes and new legislation. These are positive but it’s not easy to automatically bring these into implementation. The infrastructure is also in seriously bad condition with roofs leaking, no windows and no heating during winter. Q: There are a lot of street children in Tajikistan. What are you doing to improve their conditions? A: Some of the figures show that some of the street children are not living in the street. They are with families, but because of poverty they are often sent to the streets to either work or beg. Parents might also have a problem in looking after their children and they are left on the streets. So the street children are not abandoned as such and are supporting their families. The problem is that children in the streets are more vulnerable and at risk of being abused and exploited. Especially, they are at more risk of being in conflict with the law, starting with petty crimes, drug abuse and trafficking. We think that the practices of law enforcement officials are not child friendly. We have witnessed that children can be taken to the so-called isolation units even if they do not commit crimes. Q: In Tajikistan’s neighbourhood, in countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan and even India, child labour is a big issue. Do you address this issue here and if so how? A: I can give you two things. One is in urban areas, in terms of street children, instead of going to schools poor families are sending children to the street. Although, relatively, the number may not be that significant, we may count a few thousand children. Another totally different question of child labour is cotton picking. This is very strong, I think that it's a tradition of Tajikistan, even during the Soviet time when the education system was so established - still children were mobilised to pick cotton. The question here is do children contribute to such national industries or not? I think that children could contribute, but the problem is when exploitation starts. It means that these children are deprived of educational opportunities. Very little has been done so far to respond to this problem. Now, we’re in discussions with the World Bank. They are conducting a poverty assessment and Tajikistan's living standard survey this year. We are now discussing that. Based on the study, we will do an in-depth analysis of this and other child labour issues so that we can have more strategic interventions. Child labour is a very sensitive issue. It’s not simple to say children should not work. In many countries there is an environment where children can work under proper protection. In the case of Tajikistan, we have no basis of judgment of this cotton picking, which is a very strong tradition in this country, we have no base line data to say this is abusive or exploitative. There are many anecdotal stories where schools are closed, children aren’t going to school and indulge in picking cotton, but we need to understand more systematically what is happening with children and their rights. So, we’ll try to do a bit more analysis with the World Bank. Q: What kind of future do you see for children in this country? A: It’s really conventional to say that I would like to see less children die, more children go to school, etc. In spite of the poverty when I see the children, many children look happy. Why? I think that that really comes to the question of protection. Even when a family is poor, there is a way children can smile which means that they really have to be protected in the family environment. To move that way we need to work with the government, we need to work on social protection so children do not get deprived of their integrity.