Children’s Day in a Women’s Prison

1 June is International Children’s Day. Children are our most precious treasure, our joy and our hope. They are the future of our state.
It is the duty of the state, the family, the school, the authorities, and the public to do everything possible to protect children from the bitterness of disappointment and despair, and to create decent conditions for their life and development.
On 1 June 2011, charity events dedicated to International Children’s Day were held at Chernihiv Correctional Colony No. 44. A Baby Home operates within this institution, where 33 children are currently residing.
There are two institutions within the criminal-executive system in Ukraine where approximately 100 children under the age of three are kept together with their mothers: the Chernihiv and Odesa women’s correctional colonies. According to existing rules, since 21 January 2010, convicted women have the right to reside in the Baby Home together with their child, and those who have not expressed a desire to reside together have the right to communicate with their children without restrictions.
All the conditions necessary for the normal life and development of a child have been created in the Baby Home at the Chernihiv Correctional Colony.
Caring for children who, unfortunately, are serving a sentence alongside their mothers who have committed a crime, without a court verdict, must become one of the focal points for the public, which is concerned about the future of its state.
With the charitable funds collected, representatives of the Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre purchased and handed over sweets and nappies to the colony’s management. Father Artemiy presented the children with sets of toys.
The educators of the Baby Home, together with the children, prepared a festive concert for the guests.
Correctional institutions today have a clearly defined social task: the moral regeneration of people who have committed crimes and are serving sentences. The implementation of this process without the involvement of public institutions is virtually impossible. That is why representatives of the charity organisation “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre” have been participating in charity events dedicated to International Children’s Day at the women’s colony on 1 June for many years.

A. Lepekha – Director of the charity organisation “Chernihiv Women’s Human Rights Centre”