Situation with children's rights grave in Volgograd region

The Department for Control over Execution of Laws on Minors and Youth at the Volgograd Regional Prosecutor's Office has checked the execution of laws against cruel treatment of children on the part of their parents or other persons entrusted with duties of their upbringing.

A considerable number of children in the region do not have due parental care of their health and physical, psychological, mental and moral development. There are more than 5,600 disadvantaged families in the Volgograd region and this figure has practically not decreased this year, according to the Regional Family Committee's information.

Prosecutors have revealed numerous violations in the activities of the Minors Commissions which the law entrusts with coordination of the activities of agencies and institutions in the child neglect and crime prevention system. "Their work is obviously insufficient," says Ms Varlamov of the press service of the prosecutor's office. "There is no system and purposefulness in the work of the Commissions and no significant influence is exerted to change the situation with protection of adolescents' rights from infringements on the part of adults. In the first half of the year alone, the prosecutor's office has introduced 86 prescriptions for eliminating violations of law in the activities of the commissions and appealed against 152 illegal directives."

In especially serious cases the extreme measure of stripping parents of parental rights is applied. The grounds for that have often been cruel treatment of children and deliberate crimes against their health and sexual integrity. A total of 46 crimes connected with parents' failing to perform their duty of upbringing minors coupled with cruel treatment of them were revealed during six months of 2005.

"Failing to 'see' sufficient grounds for stripping parental rights, prevention system agencies sometimes leave children in the same conditions of living with parents who continue to abuse strong drinks and live an antisocial life," Ms Varlamov remarked.

Parents often not only keep off upbringing children, but also draw them into antisocial and criminal activities.

Disadvantaged family as the main cause of neglect of minors is a favourable environment to commit crimes against them. During six months of this year alone, children became victims of criminal assaults in 793 cases. This includes 19 cases of deliberate infliction of light injuries, 63 cases of battery and 94 cases of sexual violence.