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Alexander Bastrykin holds meeting of Advisory Council of Investigative Committee on Helping Orphans and Children Left without Parental Care

Today the Advisory Council of the Investigative Committee on Helping Orphans and Children Left without Parental Care held a meeting chaired by Alexander Bastrykin.

The meeting was devoted to problems of providing orphaned children with well-appointed housing and issues of the upbringing of juveniles and juvenile crime prevention.

The event was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia Elena Leonenko; Deputy Minister of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation Tayana Sinyugina; children’s Ombudsman for Russian Federation Anna Kuznetsova; Head of Directorate on Procedure Control over Certain Crimes Investigation of the Investigative Committee of Russia Evgeniya Minayeva; Acting Rector of the Moscow Academy of the Investigative Committee of Russia Anatoly Bagmet; Chairman of the Presidium of the National Association of Investigation Veterans Organizations and the Union of Investigation Veterans Vladimir Dontsov; children’s Ombudsman in St. Petersburg Svetlana Agapitova; Chairman of the Search for Missing Children Fund Dmitry Vtorov; Chairman of Public Organization Association of Children’s Homes Graduates “Children of the Whole Country” Albert Sarbalaev; Head of the Buryatia Republic Alexey Tsydenov; Deputy Chairman of Ingushetia Republican Government Maryam Amrieva; Deputy Chairman of Tyva Republican Government Organa Natsak; Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation Alexander Marshal; representatives of Presidential Office of the Russian Federation, regional investigations directorates of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Russian Youth Union, Alexander Nevky Cadet Corps, and other invitees.

Opening the meeting, Alexander Bastrykin noted that the Investigative Committee of Russia pays special attention to orphaned children. Children of this category study in educational institutions of the Investigative Committee of Russia, where they receive full allowance and scholarships. Apart from that, they take an active part in cultural and entertaining events: excursions, study tours, specialized shifts in recreational camps.

According to the Chairman, the Investigative Committee constantly faces problems related to failure to provide orphaned children with housing or provision them with the housing of substandard quality. Thus, in the Republic of Buryatia, a whole street of houses built for orphaned children failed to meet the required standards. The Investigative Committee of Russia is investigating probes into this matter.

Deputy Minister of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation Tatyana Sinyugina described the work carried out by the Ministry for the protection of rights of orphaned children. She noted that for today there are 186,000 persons--orphaned children and children left without parental care--on a housing waiting list. Due to slow construction and other reasons, a number of regions failed to use funds allocated for these purposes. In this, 34 billion rubles are annually allocated for provision of housing to the orphaned children; however, 240 billion rubles are required to cover the arrears.

Children’s Ombudsman for Russian Federation Anna Kuznetsova noted that in December 2019 Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev set a goal to clear the debt owed to orphaned children within 6 years through allocating sufficient funds for that. She added that due to this decision the regions are to present submissions to this program as soon as possible.

Participants of the meeting underlined that the most complicated situation with providing living premises to orphaned children is in the Republics of Buryatia, Ingushetia, Tyva, and Omsk Region. A representative of the Tyva Republic Organa Natsak explained that the main problem is in the underpriced value of square meter of housing used for calculation of funds required for the purchase of apartments. Apart from that, in the region, there are many people from the waiting list that are older than 35 years of age and have to judicially pursue their housing.

Head of Buryatia Alexey Tsydenov in his turn suggested issuing certificates for the purchase of housing in a settlement of choice with a possibility to add their own money to those orphans who are socially stable and have a family. Also, it was suggested to reduce terms of first-hand housing contracts for such children so that orphaned citizens were able to acquire ownership rights for such hosing as soon as possible. Alexey Tsydenov also added that Buryatia has solved the issue of purchasing housing for orphaned children on the secondary market. Previously the citizens who were selling their apartments refused to undertake further commitments of control over the housing. Now there is a regional mortgage corporation that buys apartments on the secondary market and undertakes the required commitments.

Chairman of Public Organization Association of Children’s Homes Graduates “Children of the Whole Country” Albert Sarbalaev stated that their organization has been created not too long ago, but has already brought together over 600 persons from 40 constituents of the Russian Federation. All members of the Association are graduates of children’s institutions with an active living position, who solve the problems together. Albert Sarbalaev added that some regions lack regulatory acts on surveillance of orphans after children’s homes. Apart from that, some children have nowhere to register after graduating from a children’s home, while they are waiting for an apartment, which leads to the inability of employment and receiving different compensations. Alexander Bastrykin offered the Association members to enter the Public Council at the Investigative Committee of Russia to jointly solve the existing problems.

Summarizing the meeting, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia underlined that the orphaned children are the most vulnerable category of citizens for various unscrupulous manipulations and engagement in the criminal environment. The goal of all specialized agencies is to do their utmost to engage the children in society, enable them to get employed and start a family. For this, it is important not only to solve their social problems but also to pay attention to their moral upbringing. Experience of Volgograd Region having restored pioneer movement several years ago was provided as an example. Children say the oaths, visit senior people and help them around the house, organize visits to social institutions.

The Head of the Investigative Committee of Russia instructed to put all the suggestions announced today together in one document to bring it to the attention of the country’s leadership.

In conclusion of the event, Alexander Bastrykin awarded some members of the Advisory Council commemorative medals of the Investigative Committee of Russia “75th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945”.