Street children or orphans in some Eastern European countries face problems such as malnutrition, HIV, lack of resources, victimization though child sex tourism, social stigmatization and discrimination.
[1] Children living on the streets often come from a background of poverty and abuse, and a normal childhood is replaced by violence and crime.
Unemployment and the extremes of income inequality are some of the causes behind the phenomenon of street children in countries like Russia, Romania and Ukraine.
In the 21st century, Romania has taken drastic steps to stop the phenomenons of mistreatment and exploitation of children and child abandonment, and to improve the situation of orphans, especially as it prepared itself to become a member of the European Union.
[7] Child begging is a problem that Romania has taken many steps to prevent, including criminalizing it under the Penal Code, as well as through other civil sanctions that can be applied to parents.
61/1991 penalising the violation of public order and social standards, parents/legal guardians who fail to take "adequate measures" to prevent children under 16 from engaging in vagrancy, begging, or prostitution are liable to pay a contraventional fine (Law No.
[13] Homeless children in Ukraine typically sleep in manholes or basements, under bridges or on top of hot water pipes.
Homeless young people often inhale glue or inject cold and flu medicine as ways of taking drugs.
[14] Young people turn to inhaling glue as the fumes suppress feelings of cold and hunger and produce auditory and visual hallucinations.
Many homeless children in Odesa are at high risk for HIV due to the large number sharing needles and engaging in unsafe sex.
They are then “placed in priyuty, shelters that provide medical services, education and rehabilitation, and where children are received regardless of nationality and the legal documents they hold.