According to the ombudsman for children, the situation is worse now than in the postwar years
1 June is International Children's Day. This is one of the oldest holidays celebrated since 1950, according to a decision made by the International Democratic Federation of Women at a special session in November 1949. At the same time, the UN supported this initiative and put the protection of the rights, life and health of children in the priority of its activities. It is noteworthy that the first international document, which enshrined the rights of the child, was adopted by the UN only in 1989 year. It was the Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed by 61 country, July 13 1990 was ratified by the USSR. In Russia, children's rights are enshrined in the Federal Law “On Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation” dated July 24 on 1998.
On International Children's Day, one should remember and speak not only about the virtues and joys of childhood, but, on the contrary, pay attention to the pressing problems of the younger generation, including such as the rights to life, health, education, recreation, freedom of opinion and choice of religion. The problems of children from low-income families, disabled people and orphans are no less relevant. Do not forget about crimes against children (violence, pedophilia, murder, etc.), as well as the increased crime among children. It is the upbringing of children that largely determines the future of any country. “What you sow, you reap” is an indisputable principle that encourages parents and adults to remember that it is in childhood that the personality of a person is formed, which means the future society.
On the eve of the International Children's Day in RIA "News»A press conference was held by Pavel Astakhov, an ombudsman under the President of Russia for the rights of the child, at which he spoke about the most painful and pressing issues of protecting the rights of children in the country. “Now in Russia there are almost 700 000 orphans and children left without parental care. More than in the USSR after the Second World War! ”, The ombudsman stressed, noting that this happens also because of the antisocial behavior of parents, with whom they must work, forcing them to work with children. “The issue of preserving the blood family is the main issue of the state,” stated Astakhov.
In addition, he expressed concern about the number of children in Russia, of which there are currently about 25 million, while in the US - 72 million of the younger generation. In the program “Morning of Russia” Astakhov noted that the number of children in our country is decreasing every year, and if this dynamic continues, by 2025, their number will be only 22 million, and in the US - about 100 million. “Therefore we cannot give our children to America, they should be protected, everyone, ”the ombudsman stressed. In his opinion, it is necessary to stop the adoption of Russian children by foreigners, because distributing them is an inadmissible luxury in the situation of reducing the number of minor citizens of the country.
In this regard, Astakhov recalled at a press conference and the long-playing stories Russian-American adoption agreement. “I hope that after all the new school year we will meet with this agreement,” he said. He noted that the text of the document was almost agreed, but now "a little bit stalled during the discussion in the Supreme Court." Recall, KM.RU already wrote that the deadlines for signing the agreement were repeatedly postponed, the last intentions - the end of May. However, today is already 1 of June, and “it's still there”.
The ombudsman also raised the issue of queues to kindergartens, which today is about 1 million people. In this regard, I would like to remind you that the movement “Russian Children - Affordable Preschool Education” is organizing an all-Russian action on kindergartens. Parents in 30 cities (Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, Belgorod, Biysk, Vladivostok, Vladimir, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Yoshkar-Ola, Kazan, Kirov, Kogalym, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Mytishchi, Nizhnevartovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Odintsovo, Omsk, Penza, Pervouralsk, Petrozavodsk, St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Sterlitamak, Sysert, Tomsk, Ufa) will hold rallies, demonstrations, picketing to draw the attention of the authorities to the problem of placing children in preschool institutions.
Participants in the action will make a demand to provide all children with places in kindergartens or to compensate a commercial institution in the amount of 80% payment. Also, parents will demand to bring the occupancy of the groups in accordance with the sanitary norms and rules in force up to 20 in December 2010 of the year, to increase the salaries of caregivers and nannies. A radical demand is the resignation of the Chief Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation Gennady Onishchenko and the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Andrei Fursenko. KM.RU already wrote about the seventh All-Russian hunger strike organized by the movement of caring parents, which took place on May 20-22 in many cities of Russia. Apparently, the authorities again do not heed the demands of activists who have organized the next action today and are planning to continue this business, involving all new parents throughout the country.
So, in Arkhangelsk in 18: 00, parents organize a city-wide parent meeting on Lenin Square. The campaign will collect signatures in support of the Law “On the monthly allowance for a child who does not attend a pre-school educational institution”, a board of shame will be set on which information on the shortage of places in pre-school institutions will be posted. Also, parents will demonstrate to the authorities that they can buy for a miserable monthly child benefit in the amount of 60 rubles.
Today, more than 30 000 children are in the queue at the kindergartens in the region, of which only 11 000 small Archangelsk residents are in the capital of Pomorie, reports the Patriot Pomerania portal.
At the press conference, Pavel Astakhov also touched upon the topic of protecting the rights of parents in court in the event of the removal of children by the guardianship authorities. At the same time, the Ombudsman noted that a person who committed a crime against a child has the right to a lawyer, and parents who have taken away children are not. “Why are parents who have their children taken away, but they have not yet committed any crime, do not have the right to a lawyer? It seems to me logical to introduce such norms, ”Astakhov wondered. In his opinion, in such cases, a lawyer should be provided to parents for free.
Astakhov cited sad statistics, according to which in 2010, 1684 children were killed at the hands of criminals, of whom 700 children were killed. In addition, in 2010, about 100 criminal cases were initiated into child abuse and death. The ombudsman advocated tougher penalties for murderers of children. “For the encroachment on the life of a child, it is necessary to provide lifelong responsibility in the Criminal Code. He should not return to society, but should pay for his child’s life with his life, ”he said. Astakhov added that since a moratorium on the death penalty has been introduced in Russia, then such criminals require life imprisonment.
It was impossible not to recall the recent scandals with pedophiles, which shook the public and made officials seriously think about introducing the castration of such people and the abolition of parole for them. The ombudsman recalled that most criminal cases involving the sexual inviolability of children end with suspended sentences. “When conditional sentences are imposed on pedophiles, perverts, rapists - this is inexplicable. Over the past three years, the majority (70%) of cases related to articles on the sexual inviolability of children ended with either conditional condemnation or termination of the case for reconciliation of the parties, ”the ombudsman for children’s rights resented. However, he noted that there is no possibility to influence the court.
Astakhov said that children most often suffer from the hands of adults, but there is also an increase in juvenile delinquency. “Unfortunately, crime is getting younger. Moreover, we have a total figure for the reduction of juvenile and juvenile delinquency in the country, but there are figures related to the increase in the number of children who commit crimes before the age of 14. And you understand that until 14 years they are not subject to criminal liability. We have 7-8-year-old children-killers. In 2010, I saw an 6-year-old murderous boy who stabbed his father with a pitchfork. We have a growing number of girls committing crimes and offenses, ”he said.
The Ombudsman noted that the Internet plays a huge role in distributing child pornography. “For three months of 2011 of the year - 8 of criminal cases against distributors of child pornography in the social network“ Vkontakte ”. And the total number of criminal cases initiated in the first quarter of 2011 of the year under this article was 73, ”Astakhov said. According to him, it is necessary to strengthen the responsibility of providers for such actions.
In the air of Russia's Morning, Astakhov voiced another problem - child suicides, the number of which Russia ranks first in Europe (it seems our country always leads by sad characteristics with an “enviable” margin). According to the ombudsman, many children nowadays do not even understand the purpose of their life. “Friends do not want to communicate with him, the girls (if this is a teenage boy) do not pay attention to him, they have no time, they don’t understand him at school,” Astakhov called just some of the reasons that could lead to tragic consequences. He sees the solution to the problem of suicides in increasing the number of child psychologists in schools that would enjoy children's confidence and could prompt and help each child. In addition, psychologists should be in maternity hospitals, where you need to work with parents who voluntarily refuse children. Astakhov cited statistics that parents leave annually in maternity hospitals from 10 000 to 50 000 babies. To reduce the number of refusers in 2-3 times, it is necessary to implement special regional programs.
The spectrum of childhood problems is very wide, and their solution must be approached comprehensively. Only care about the health, upbringing, development, education of the younger generation, help for children in difficult life situations, can ensure the development of the country, determine its future. Investments in childhood are now more than paying off in just a few decades. “Thank you for our happy childhood!” - is this not the best praise for the authorities, officials, and parents? I would like to hope that 1 June will not be the only day of the year, when they will speak openly about the problems of childhood from all the stands, and the beautiful promises will necessarily translate into real deeds. Then next year (and later) we will be able to hear what exactly has been done for the near future.
Natalya Karpovich, First Deputy Chairperson of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children, shared her thoughts on the International Day for the Protection of Children with KM.RU:
- I think that this is a very big holiday, very significant, international. Worldwide 1 June is Children's Day. And on this day we are talking not only about the problems of children, but we can create a holiday for a family in which there are children. Cities that spend different holidays unite the family: parents are distracted for a minute from their problems, so that they come closer to their children, pay attention to them, and children - so that they can see how wonderful their parents are.
Today, there are still many problems that need to be addressed, but in the past 10 years we have seen how the system of family support and protection of children who do not have a family is developing. Issues that continue to be very acute are social orphanhood, i.e. 90% of orphans are children who have living parents, but the state assumes responsibility for the upbringing of these children. But not enough of the measures that often sound are housing, socialization and adaptation.
The big question today is street children. These are runner children, and children who for some reason find themselves in this position, even unaccounted children. Today divorces are continuing inside the country, there is a problem of children in marriages with foreign citizens. A special situation is in families with disabled children, because the problem is facing the family, where the state is not yet included. Much still needs to be done, but at the same time, today we have programs in almost every region to improve the quality of life of families with such children - this has all been developed in recent years. We see the attention of the state, the president, the government to the problems of children's medicine and public health. There are positive results, but, again, we must continue to work.
God grant that not only this day in the year was devoted to the issues of children and family. And on this day we could sum up the positive results and set new tasks, which still need to be done to make our children happy.
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