UNICEF Says Russia Has 150,000 Homeless Children

According to Rosemary McCreery, the representative of UN's Youth Foundation, UNICEF, in Russia, there are 150,000 homeless children.

Mrs. McCreery said this figure was way bellow the official number. 'Such a great difference', she added, 'between our and Russia's official statistics is due to that we call homeless only those children who indeed have lost their parents and are not controlled by any adults whatever. In the meantime, Russia's government calls homeless the children who periodically run away from home and other categories of problem kids who in fact are not homeless'.

The representative of UNICEF believes that most homeless children are victims of the events in Chechnya. The war has undoubtedly displaced many Chechen children. Mrs. McCreery positively estimated the work done by Russia's authorities and UN's personnel as concerns children and adolescents living in camps for displaced persons in Ingushetia and Chechnya. She said practically all school age children went to either regular schools in Ingushetia or the ones set up in their camps.