Adopt and enforce strict standards to protect against forced labor. Work must not interfere with or be used in place of education, habilitation or treatment. Where the opportunity to work is made available to adolescents and young adults, it should be strictly voluntary and age-appropriate. Such programs must provide wages to residents commensurate with standards in the community. Establish oversight mechanisms to protect the rights of children and adults living in institutions or served by community programs. While institution residents are particularly at-risk of violence and exploitation, oversight mechanisms are also important to protect children and adults in community-based services and foster care. In order for rights enforcement to be effective, the monitoring and oversight system should: operate independently of the social service system; be empowered to conduct regular, unannounced visits to facilities and programs; include specialized age and gender specific programs, including programs focused on the identification of sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking; engage peers in monitoring and advocacy, including young adults, orphanage graduates and persons with disabilities; publish findings and issue recommendations for reform; make recommendations to criminal justice authorities to prosecute abusers and follow-up on such reports to ensure that existing laws are being enforced; provide opportunities for children or adults to be heard in a supportive and safe environment as part of a monitoring mechanism and in the development of recommendations. Limited oversight mechanisms that now exist in Ukraine should be extended to ensure that every institution in the country is regularly monitored. DRI recommends the creation of specialized independent oversight systems at the national and oblast levels. Peer groups made up of current and former institution residents, as well as organizations representative of persons with disabilities, should receive training and funding to participate in independent monitoring and advocacy programs. Individual complaints and safe spaces for whistleblowers should be established to children and adults to report abuses in institutions or community programs. Safe spaces for children should be provided to whistleblowers, including emergency foster care programs or homes in the community, so that individuals alleging abuses are not under the direct care of their alleged abusers. Create a registry of children in institutions. This should include a system for tracking admissions, discharges, and transfers of children between institutions or from institutions to other placements so that children cannot disappear from public record – and the protection of oversight systems. Information and statistics gathered by this authority should be used to inform local and national planning for social services,
Adopt and enforce strict standards to protect against forced labor. Work must not interfere with or be used in place of education, habilitation or treatment. Where the opportunity to work is made available to adolescents and young adults, it should be strictly voluntary and age-appropriate. Such programs must provide wages to residents commensurate with standards in the community. Establish oversight mechanisms to protect the rights of children and adults living in institutions or served by community programs. While institution residents are particularly at-risk of violence and exploitation, oversight mechanisms are also important to protect children and adults in community-based services and foster care. In order for rights enforcement to be effective, the monitoring and oversight system should: operate independently of the social service system; be empowered to conduct regular, unannounced visits to facilities and programs; include specialized age and gender specific programs, including programs focused on the identification of sexual abuse, exploitation, and trafficking; engage peers in monitoring and advocacy, including young adults, orphanage graduates and persons with disabilities; publish findings and issue recommendations for reform; make recommendations to criminal justice authorities to prosecute abusers and follow-up on such reports to ensure that existing laws are being enforced; provide opportunities for children or adults to be heard in a supportive and safe environment as part of a monitoring mechanism and in the development of recommendations. Limited oversight mechanisms that now exist in Ukraine should be extended to ensure that every institution in the country is regularly monitored. DRI recommends the creation of specialized independent oversight systems at the national and oblast levels. Peer groups made up of current and former institution residents, as well as organizations representative of persons with disabilities, should receive training and funding to participate in independent monitoring and advocacy programs. Individual complaints and safe spaces for whistleblowers should be established to children and adults to report abuses in institutions or community programs. Safe spaces for children should be provided to whistleblowers, including emergency foster care programs or homes in the community, so that individuals alleging abuses are not under the direct care of their alleged abusers. Create a registry of children in institutions. This should include a system for tracking admissions, discharges, and transfers of children between institutions or from institutions to other placements so that children cannot disappear from public record – and the protection of oversight systems. Information and statistics gathered by this authority should be used to inform local and national planning for social services,
No-Way-Home-final.docx