News

A joint meeting of public council under the Russia’s Investigative Committee and consultative council on helping orphans and abandoned children chaired by the Chairman of the Investigative Committee Mr. Alexander Bastrykin has taken place today.

The meeting was attended by representatives of state authorities, educational institutions, non-governmental organizations, personnel of the Central Office of the Russia’s Investigative Committee and heads of a number of regional investigations directorates.

The meeting discussed the issues of preventing teenage suicides, provision of psychological aid for children and using criminal responsibility for incitement of underage to suicide; organization of system of holidays and health improvement for orphans and abandoned children.

In his report Mr. Bastrykin noted that children’s right protection, first of all those of orphans and abandoned children and prevention of teenage suicide are of especial importance for investigating bodies of the Russia’s Investigative Committee.

Over the past two year only the number of teenagers, who killed themselves have reached almost a thousand and a half (in 2011 – 711, in 2012 - 730) and the number of attempted suicides over the past two years have made up 5,312 (in 2011 – 2,639, 2012 – 2,673).

Each child has their own reasons for being suicidal. Children, who don’t have attention from their parents, teachers, psychologists have to face their problems alone, being exposed to the risk to become victims of criminals or become criminals themselves.

Such a situation demands quick elaboration of the necessity to take measures in order to provide all schools with specialists in the field of age-related and educational psychology, who will be able to detect and prevent suicidal behavior in children.

Among the reasons affecting suicidal behavior in children the specialists note numerous violations of federal laws in the area of protection of children’s rights and their legal interests.

The Investigative Committee has held a careful study of files of checks and criminal investigations into children’s suicides and inciting suicide, which shows that in many ways the situation is due to lack of integrated system controlling children’s behavior.

In this view, one of the most serious threats to children’s life and health is information posted in the Internet about ways to commit a suicide and often even calls to do that.

Mr. Bastrykin noted the necessity of active elaboration of the necessity to introduce criminal responsibility for illegal distribution of products containing information inciting children to commit actions dangerous for their health or lives, including harming their health or a suicide if that entailed by negligence a child to commit such actions.

The participants of the meeting also raised a question of the necessity to prohibit access of children to Internet resources incompatible to the educational missions, to the websites containing pornographic materials, information about drugs and other information harming their health, moral and spiritual development.

Mr. Bastyrkin also pointed out the necessity to change cardinally the attitude of regional authorities to the children’s problems and for that to include in the list of efficiency index of executive authorities in the subjects of the Russian Federation the number of suicides committed by children, registered grave and especially grave crimes committed against the underage and the proportion of dissolved marriages where there are small children.

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee emphasized as the priority – provision of safe holidays for children and prevention of children’s injuries especially in summer.

The members of the public council and the invited guests took active part in the discussion. Participants of the meeting came up with a number of propositions directed on protection of children’s rights, lives and health and organization of a system of holidays and improvement of health.