State of Children in Serbia Report 2006: Poor and excluded children

[BELGRADE, 8 February 2007] – Despite the important steps that have been taken to improve the status of children in Serbia since the late 1990s, there are still over 300,000 children today who are living in poverty or are at risk of poverty according to a UNICEF report released on Thursday.

The State of Children in Serbia 2006 Report – Poor and excluded children, produced jointly by the Republic Statistical Office in Serbia, the Council for Child Rights of the Republic of Serbia and UNICEF Belgrade Office, is based on information and statistics from the unpublished Research on Family Beliefs and Care Practices and Survey on Child Poverty, and includes the most recent indicators and data from the 2006 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).

“Childhood is an opportunity that never comes back,” said UNICEF Serbia Representative Ann-Lis Svensson. “The future of Serbia depends on a healthy and educated generation, which requires inclusive policies that target poor and excluded children specifically and a ensure a better use of resources.”

The report finds that over 155,000 children in Serbia are poor and that an additional 155,000 are at risk of falling below the poverty line. These children are prevented from enjoying their right to education, healthcare, equal development and protection because of material, social and cultural deprivation. Analysis of data from rural and urban areas, from households of different sizes and structures reveal significant disparities within the country. The children who are most likely to experience poverty include:

• children from large families
• children living in rural areas, especially in southeast and western Serbia
• children belonging to certain minority groups, particularly Roma
• internally displaced people and refugee children.

These children are growing up beyond the reach of development and are often invisible in everything from public debate and laws, to statistics and news stories.

Improving the status of children will depend on whether they are given priority in the vast reform programme of a country in transition. It is essential to raise awareness and collect reliable data for evidence-based policy making and for monitoring the effects of these policies.

Over 80 per cent of Roma children living in Roma settlements are poor and most of the indicators reveal their unacceptable levels of deprivation and the multidimensional discrimination that they face. Research presented in the report shows that these children are more likely to suffer from illness and stunted growth as a result of malnutrition and hunger. The preliminary MICS survey results indicate that infant and under-five mortality rates are three times higher among Roma children than among the general population. These children often have to take on adult roles in the absence of sufficient government assistance, and often live in slums or cardboard and tin houses and have very limited access to services.

In Serbia, only 33 per cent of children attend pre-school institutions, but this percentage is drastically lower among Roma children. Six per cent of children living under the poverty line do not go to primary school and only 13 per cent of Roma children complete primary school. One of the most often cited reasons for non-attendance is poverty, and yet, education is key to breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty and exclusion.

There are also other children who are excluded – children deprived of parental care in residential institutions, children living with disabilities and children victims of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence. Children with disabilities are not only excluded from the healthcare and educational system, but are also exposed to isolation and discrimination by the community. Parents of children with disabilities are often left to cope without adequate support from government.

Lack of adequate social welfare services at local level to support poor or dysfunctional families, or to provide good quality foster care often lead to institutionalisation, which deprives the child of the right to grow up in a family environment.

Finally, the report points to the fact that corporal punishment of children, among other forms of violence, is still common in both the family and in schools. Interferrence in domestic relationships is still considered unacceptable, and it seems that there is still insufficient public condemnation of ‘disciplining’ children.

Further information

• State of the World's Children 2007: Women and Children - the double dividend of gender equality (December 2006)
• The State of the World's Children 2006: Excluded and Invisible (December 2005)
• CRIN's information page on Serbia