UNDER ARTICLE 44 OF THE CONVENTION
Periodic reports of States parties due in 1997
Addendum
RUSSIAN FEDERATION* **
[12 January 1998]
* For the initial report submitted by the Government of the Russian Federation, see CRC/C/3/Add.5; for its consideration by the Committee, see documents CRC/C/SR.62-64.
** The annexes may be consulted in the files of the secretariat.
* The annexes may be consulted in the files of the secretariat.
1. The initial report of the Russian Federation on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child was considered on 21-23 January 1993 at the third regular session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
2. This report has been prepared pursuant to article 44, paragraph 1 (b), of the Convention in accordance with the general guidelines regarding the form and contents of the periodic reports to be submitted by States parties (CRC/C/58) on the basis of materials supplied by federal ministries and departments whose remit includes the situation of children and ensuring and implementing their rights, information from the authorities of members of the Russian Federation, official statistics, special studies and information from organizations concerned with children's problems.
3. Part I contains general information on the country and its population, the political system and the main trends of changes in the situation of children during the period under review. The rest of the report contains information on the measures adopted by the Russian Federation during the period 1993-1997 in implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in accordance with the international obligations that it has accepted, on the progress achieved, difficulties encountered and further steps planned for future application of the provisions of the Convention.
4. The annexes contain a list of laws and other regulatory instruments of the Russian Federation adopted in implementation of the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child since submission of the initial report, and statistical data reflecting the changing situation of children.
5. The Russian Federation covers an area of 17,075,400 km2 . It comprises 21 republics, 6 territories (krai), 49 provinces (oblast), 1 autonomous region, 2 cities with federal status, 10 autonomous areas (avtonomny okrug), 1,092 towns (13 of which have more than 1 million inhabitants), 1,994 urban settlements and 1,869 administrative districts.
6. As of 1 January 1997, the population (currently resident within the Russian Federation) was 147.5 million, of whom 107.8 million (73.1 per cent) were living in urban areas and 39.7 million (26.9 per cent) in rural areas. Of the total population, 69.0 million (46.9 per cent) are male and 78.1 million (53.1 per cent) female. The population of Russia has been declining since 1992 (by 1.2 million between 1992 and 1997). That decline has been through natural causes. Natural population growth was 5.3 per 1,000 in 1996. The natural decline of the population is partly offset by the influx into Russia of migrants coming mainly from States that were republics of the former USSR.
7. The population density (numbers per km2) ranges from 320.8 in Moscow to 0.03 in the Evenki autonomous area.
8. There are 36.7 million children up to 18 years of age in the Russian Federation, which is 25.0 per cent of the total population; 57.3 per cent of the population are of working age (16-59 years in the case of men, 16-54 years in that of women), and 20.7 per cent are of pensionable age. According to the 1989 census data, there were in Russia at that time 23.5 million families with children up to 18 years of age (58 per cent of all families). Of the families with children, 51 per cent had one child, 39 per cent had two and 9.8 per cent had three or more. The returns of the 1994 microcensus reveal an increase to 54 per cent in the proportion of families with one child and a simultaneous reduction in that of families with two children to 37 per cent and of families with three or more children to 9.4 per cent. Families with three or more children are more prevalent in rural areas (18 per cent) than in urban areas (6 per cent). A majority of large families have three children (77 per cent). The number of children per 100 families has reduced during this period from 163 to 160.
9. According to the 1989 census returns, Russia is inhabited by more than 120 nationalities and peoples. There are 120 million Russians (82 per cent of the total). Other nationalities whose numbers exceed 1 million include: Tatars - 5.5 million (3.8 per cent), Ukrainians - 4.4 million (3.0 per cent), Chuvashes - 1.8 million (1.2 per cent), Bashkirs - 1.3 million (0.9 per cent), Belarusians - 1.2 million (0.8 per cent) and Mordvins - 1.1 million (0.7 per cent).
10. The returns of the 1994 microcensus show an increase in the educational level: 857 out of every 1,000 persons aged 15 years or over had received higher education or secondary education (complete or incomplete), as against 806 per 1,000 in the 1989 census. An increase in educational level was noted in nearly all age groups. Some reduction was noted in young people 15-19 years old, among whom the proportion with unfinished higher and secondary (complete and incomplete) education at the time of the microcensus had declined to 91 per cent, as against 95 per cent in 1989.
11. The real volume of the gross domestic product in 1996 was 27 per cent lower than in 1992.
12. In July 1997 the consumer price index was 91.5 times higher than in December 1992: 82.5 times for foodstuffs, 53.1 times for non-food items and 859.9 times for paid communal services. The rate of inflation has been declining since 1996. The proportion of the population with earnings below subsistence level was 21.4 per cent in the first quarter of 1997.
13. In the period January-August 1997 the money income of the most well-off 10 per cent of the population was 12.5 times greater than that of the least well-off 10 per cent. On 1 July 1997 there were 2.3 million registered unemployed, 44.7 per cent of whom had dependent children; 88.3 per cent of the unemployed are in receipt of unemployment benefit. The unemployment figure increased nearly fourfold between January 1993 and July 1997.
14. There were considerable changes in political, economic and social life during the period 1993-1997. A new State system has been created for the Russian Federation. The political structure of the Russian Federation has been shaped in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation adopted on 12 December 1993. The Russian Federation is a secular democratic federal State subject to the rule of law and with a republican form of Government. State authority is exercised on the basis of separation into Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. State authority is exercised in the Russian Federation by the President of the Russian Federation, who is the head of State, and the Federal Assembly, which is the parliament of the Russian Federation, a bicameral representative and legislative body - the Federation Council and the State Duma. Executive authority is exercised by the Government of the Russian Federation. Judicial authority is exercised through constitutional, civil, administrative and criminal legal proceedings.
15. In the members of the Russian Federation State authority is exercised by the supreme State bodies that they themselves form. Local self-government in urban and rural settlements is recognized and guaranteed in the Russian Federation. The local government authorities independently manage municipal property, draw up, approve and carry out the local budget, set local taxes and charges, maintain public order and decide other matters of local importance. They may also be vested by law with some State powers and shall be provided with the material and financial resources required for the exercise of those powers.
16. The transformation of the economy under way in Russia has encouraged the establishment of a market economy, the active encouragement of a non-State sector and the development of new relations in the labour market.
17. There have been considerable changes in the social sphere, with the introduction of insurance principles in health care, including a combination of compulsory and voluntary medical insurance; broader participation of the non-State sector in the provision of social services in, inter alia, health care, education and culture; the provision of a wider range of paid public services, and transformation of the social security system in the light of the changes occurring in the economy and in the social sphere.
18. Social and economic changes have proceeded under crisis conditions marked by declining industrial output, an increasing budget deficit, rising unemployment, a reduction in living standards and an increase in the scale of poverty. The most acutely negative changes were apparent in 1993-1994, when inflation was running at particularly high rates and there was a sharp fall in real incomes.
19. Legal and administrative measures were taken during the period under review, within the limits of the available resources, to protect the rights and interests of children and alleviate the effects of the social crisis upon them. The steps taken led to a reduction in infant mortality (from 19.9 per 1,000 live births in 1993 to 17.4 in 1996) and in juvenile mortality (including mortality in the first five years of life from 24.3 in 1993 to 21.4 in 1996, and in the range 1-14 years from 68.2 in 1993 to 56.3 in 1996 per 100,000 children of the corresponding ages). Immunization coverage against diphtheria, pertussis, poliomyelitis, measles, tuberculosis and other diseases has increased. The network of pre-school establishments and access to them has been successfully maintained on the whole, as has access to free education in ordinary secondary schools and to health care for children. New relief institutions for the alleviation of hardship among children and families have sprung up and spread dynamically (the number of new institutions of all kinds increased from 107 at the end of 1993 to 2,048 at the end of 1996); new forms of placement in a family setting have been developed for orphans and children deprived of parental care; an extended range of measures to improve the conditions for the social adaptation and rehabilitation of disabled children has been made available; more people are receiving State assistance on various grounds; and more commodities for children, including baby foods, have come on the market, although at considerably increased prices.
20. Advances were made in 1993-1997 in legislation implementing the rights and interests of children in line with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. More than 100 pieces of legislation and regulatory instruments concerning the interests of children were adopted, including laws, decrees of the President of the Russian Federation and orders of the Government of the Russian Federation. There was considerable expansion in the activity of official bodies concerned with the family and children at the federal level and in the members of the Russian Federation. Extensive use was made of targeted programmes in dealing with various problems concerning the life of children at the federal, regional and local levels.
21. We should distinguish certain objective factors hindering changes in the situation of children, despite the steps taken. Those factors include the inertia of social processes, the appreciable time lag between the adoption of measures in the interests of children and achieving an effect from them, and the relatively slow formation of new protective arrangements in the social, moral and spiritual spheres as an adequate response to social and economic phenomena, some of them negative, connected with the greater openness of society and the substitution of democratic methods for authoritarian means of government.
22. The serious problems that exist in the Russian Federation in the main areas of the life of children are a cause of concern both for the authorities and for society at large. It is proposed that special efforts be directed towards dealing with them.
23. The rapid transformation of the social structure, taken in conjunction with the economic crisis, has had the result that many people have experienced difficulties for various reasons in adapting to the new social and economic conditions, which is leading in a good many instances to disorganization of the family, increased domestic violence, including violence towards children, deviant behaviour on a wider scale and, in consequence, neglect of children and social orphanhood.
24. Social orphanhood, when children whose parents are still alive are deprived of parental care for various reasons, is a problem causing special concern in Russia at the present time. During the period under review the number of children annually found to be orphans and lacking parental care has increased by nearly 70 per cent (from 67,000 in 1992 to 113,000 in 1996). The number of parents deprived of parental rights has quadrupled, partly in connection with the increasing scale of asocial parental behaviour, partly with a strengthening of the control exercised by the police and more active
defence of the rights of children by the social services. There has been an increase in the number of instances of children being removed from families when life or health have been at risk.
25. The prevention of social orphanhood is coming to be of prime importance in this situation, along with the task of providing effective care for those who are orphaned, including their social and psychological rehabilitation, the provision of guarantees for their education and employment, the provision of accommodation and job placement on completion of schooling. The key factors for the prevention of social orphanhood are the reinforcement of State support for the family, the development of active forms of social protection for families suffering hardship, including various kinds of assistance with employment, and the offering of a wider range of social services to the family with the aim of preventing adult and juvenile asocial behaviour.
26. The last five years have witnessed the adverse spread of such socially dangerous phenomena as drug addiction, alcoholism and crime, including juvenile crime. Although the increase in the number of offences committed by minors peaked in 1993, declined gradually thereafter and in 1996 was 101.2 per cent of the 1992 figure, the statistics for serious crimes were three times worse in 1996 than in 1993, the year when statistical returns on these kinds of crimes were initiated. Precocious alcoholism among adolescents is becoming more prevalent. A quarter of the adolescents registered with the commissions are on their lists as drinkers of spirits. The number of adolescents making non-medical use of narcotics and powerful stupefacients has increased. The number of registered drug addicts and substance abusers in 1996 was 20,200, three times higher than in 1993. If allowance is made for occasional drug users, the real number of users is 10 times greater.
27. Poverty in families with children is a long-term problem. The existence of juvenile dependants in the family has had the effect that the decline in the standard of living of families with children has been greater than in other social and demographic groups. Equally with the generally low recorded levels of household incomes, the emergence of intractable extreme poverty in families with children is a most disturbing factor. In 1996, the money income of 9.6 per cent of households with children did not exceed half the subsistence level and 9.6 per cent of households with children had money incomes below the subsistence level all year round. It is these groups of families that are priority recipients of social care under the regional programmes of social support and of various forms of assistance established at the federal level, which is targeted on families with many children and one-parent families. Given the shortage of resources, measures are being devised to target social assistance more rigorously, so as to provide it only to the families most in need. There are appreciable differences in the standard of living of families with children in urban and rural settings, primarily at the level of money incomes; there are also regional differences in living standards.
28. The combined efforts of all the members of the Russian Federation have been an important factor in making State policy more effective in the interests of children. During the last five years non-governmental organizations have become appreciably more active, but even so their potential is not being fully utilized.
29. The Russian Federation, recognizing the need to move steadily towards fuller implementation of the provisions of the Convention and, on that basis, to improve the situation of children, has largely developed the machinery for practical defence of the rights of children and has adopted a medium-term strategy for operations down to the year 2000. That strategy envisages measures to solve the problems that give the greatest cause for concern. In shaping its policy in the interests of children Russia takes as its starting point the recognition that it is harder to overcome negative trends that have already arisen than to maintain positive trends. In that context great importance is attached to measures of a preventive, precautionary and protective nature, as has been reflected in the National Plan for Children in the Russian Federation down to the year 2000.
30. The USSR ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child without any reservations. In taking over the obligations of the USSR stemming from participation in the Convention, the Russian Federation also supports the call from the World Conference on Human Rights for those States that made such reservations to consider withdrawing them.
31. In accordance with article 4 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, legislative, administrative and other measures are being taken in the Russian Federation for implementation of the standards of the Convention. The Constitution of the Russian Federation, adopted in 1993, proclaims that human and civil rights are recognized and guaranteed in the Russian Federation in accordance with the accepted principles and standards of international law. Under the Constitution, motherhood, childhood and the family are protected by the State, which creates the social, economic and legal prerequisites for the normal development, upbringing and education of children. The confirmation of government policy in this area in the new Constitution of the Russian Federation is in line with the international legal instruments in this sphere and, in particular, the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
32. During the review period 1993-1997 there were further developments of Russian legislation guaranteeing the rights and interests of children in conformity with the provisions of the Convention and the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the initial report of the Russian Federation. The ways and means of protecting the rights of the child have been appreciably expanded in connection with the adoption of the new Civil Code of the Russian Federation (1994), the Family Code of the Russian Federation (1995), the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (1996) and the Punishment Code (1997).
33. The adoption of the Family Code was of particular importance as a guarantee of the rights of the child in the light of the provisions of the Convention. The principles of legislation on the family have been brought into line with the basic principles and provisions of the Convention. There is a special chapter in the Code entitled "The rights of minors" which, in accordance with the requirements of the Convention, establishes the right to live and be brought up in the family, to protection, freedom of expression, protection of property rights, and recovery of maintenance, protection of the interests of the child in the case of improper treatment, and protection of the rights and interests of children deprived of parental care. The Code defines the ways in which children deprived of parental care are to be brought up, establishes the procedure for identifying and placing such children, including the legal procedure, and introduces a new institution, foster parents, for the raising of such children in a family environment. The Code is based on respect for parental rights, and on equality of the rights and obligations of the father and the mother.
34. Implementation of the standards of the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been assisted by the adoption of the Russian Federation's law on displaced persons (1995), the federal laws on State grants for persons with children (1995), on education (1996) and on additional guarantees for the social protection of orphans and children deprived of parental care (1996). Special measures for protection of the rights and interests of children are laid down in federal laws adopted during the period covered by the review - fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on health care (1993), principles of social services in the Russian Federation (1995), the social protection of the disabled (1995), on refugees (1997), and amendments to the Labour Code of the Russian Federation. The adoption of decrees of the President of the Russian Federation on prevention of the neglect of minors, juvenile crime and protection of the rights of minors (1993), on the presidential programme "The Children of Russia" (1994), and on approval of the main lines of State social policy for improvement of the social situation of children in the Russian Federation to the year 2000 (National Action Plan for Children) (1995) is helping to give expression to the rights of the child embodied in the Convention. Orders of the Government of the Russian Federation regarding the action plan for improvement of the situation of the children of the Russian Federation in the period 1995-1997 (1996), approving model regulations for an educational establishment for orphans and children deprived of parental care (1995), on the procedure for the handing over of children who are citizens of the Russian Federation for adoption by citizens of the Russian Federation and by foreign nationals (1995), on foster parents (1996) and on regulations governing concessions for disabled persons and families with disabled children concerning the provision of accommodation, payment of rent and provision of communal services (1996) are some of the provisions adopted in furtherance of the international obligations of the Russian Federation. / Annex I to the report is a detailed list of the regulatory instruments adopted in the period under review that contain measures specifically targeted on protection of the rights of the child. A detailed analysis of some of them will be found in the appropriate sections of the report.
35. In addition to the federal laws, the members of the Russian Federation adopt legislation for protection of the rights and interests of children within their territory that take their own special features into account.
36. We are still working to bring national legislation and practice fully into line with the principles and standards of the Convention. An analysis was made in 1995 of the correspondence between Russian legislation and the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The results were submitted to the federal legislative and executive bodies. The conclusions testify to the progressive development during the period under review of Russian legislation in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the
Child. It is noted at the same time in the document that there is a need for further dedicated work to achieve implementation of the provisions of the Convention in Russian law. A similar analysis was made in 1997.
37. The status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, like that of the other international agreements to which the Russian Federation is a party, is defined by article 15 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation: "Universally acknowledged principles and standards of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation shall be a part of its legal system". This makes it possible for the standards of international law to be directly applied by the authorities, including the courts. Individuals and corporate bodies concerned may rely directly on the rules of international law in the settlement of disputes between themselves and State bodies, enterprises, establishments and organizations. The provision of the Constitution that acknowledges the priority of the standards of international law for the first time in the history of our country applies to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This means that should a contradiction be found between an agreement to which the Russian Federation is a party and the law, the rules established by the standards of the international agreement shall be applied. The agreement takes priority over all laws, whether they be federal laws or laws of members of the Russian Federation, adopted before or after conclusion of the agreement.
38. The standards of Russian legislation in the educational sphere do more for implementation of the rights of the child than do the provisions of the Convention. Compulsory free basic general education (nine school years) has been introduced in the Russian Federation, and there is also the guarantee of the general availability of free secondary (complete) education and basic vocational training. These rights are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and by the Russian Federation's Education Act.
39. Before 1993 it was not the practice for the standards of international law to be directly applied in Russia. That practice began to take shape after the adoption of the new Constitution in 1993. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation adopted a number of decisions in which reference was made to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. An order of a plenary session of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation adopted in 1995 gave guidance to the general courts on application of the standards of international law in the examination of specific cases. It remains a matter of some urgency to provide the courts with further clarifications and recommendations on this matter and, in particular, regarding application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Russian scholars are researching the theoretical and practical aspects of this problem.
40. During the last five-year period the system of legal means for safeguarding the interests of children has been further developed. Following the adoption of the new Constitution, a new institution, that of Commissioner for Human Rights, was included among the bodies providing such protection. The legislative changes extended the powers of the bodies traditionally responsible for protecting the rights of minors. In particular, the courts have been given wider powers to deal with administrative complaints and the function of the prosecutor's office and of the commissions on minors is coming to be a priority. The legal representatives of children have been given wider powers and minors themselves have been given more scope for the implementation of their rights (Family Code of the Russian Federation). The changes that have taken place in the legislation (the Family Code, the Civil Code and the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) have made the system of measures for protection of the rights of children more differentiated and refined.
41. The ordinary means of protection guaranteed by Russian legislation are employed when there are infringements of the rights defined by the Convention. Under the Constitution, everyone is entitled in accordance with the international agreements of the Russian Federation to approach the inter-State bodies for the protection of human rights and freedoms if all available domestic means of legal protection have been exhausted. Measures for defence of the rights of the child are examined more fully in the sections of this report.
42. The main lines of State social policy for improvement of the situation of children in the Russian Federation to the year 2000 (National Action Plan for Children) were approved by decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 1995. The National Action Plan was drafted in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for its implementation. The general aim of State policy in this sphere is stabilization of the situation of children and, in addition, creation of the real prerequisites for positive developments in their support system. The priorities of the main lines document are consolidation of the legal protection of children; support for the family as the natural environment for children; safe motherhood and health protection for children; provision for the upbringing, education and development of children; and support for children in especially difficult situations. This document has become the basis for practical activities to improve the situation of children during the next five years; all problems concerning implementation of the rights of children are in accordance with the proposals and recommendations set out in the concluding observations. The main lines of State family policy, one of the basic principles of which accords priority status to the rights of the child, were approved by decree of the President of the Russian Federation in 1996.
43. Machinery for the formulation and implementation of State social policy concerning the protection and implementation of the rights of children and guaranteeing their survival and development at the national level has been developed in the Russian Federation; the proposals made in the concluding observations were taken into consideration in that process. In accordance with the order of the Government of the Russian Federation concerning implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children, a Coordinating Committee reporting to the Government of the Russian Federation has been set up for operations connected with the implementation of the Convention. The Committee is headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation with responsibility for social policy. The members of the Committee are the heads of ministries, departments and public organizations concerned. An Interdepartmental Commission on Juvenile Affairs reporting to the Government of the Russian Federation has been established to coordinate the activity of ministries and departments concerning prevention of neglect of minors, juvenile crime and protection of the rights and legal interests of minors. The Commission is headed by the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation with responsibility for social policy. A Commission on Women, the Family and Demography reporting to the President of the Russian Federation has been established. The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation has a Committee on Women, the Family and Young People. The Ministry of Labour and Social Development of the Russian Federation has a department dealing with matters relating to the family, women and children. Protection of the rights of children is also a concern of the ministries of education and vocational training, health, and the interior, the State Commission on Juvenile Affairs, the Russian Federal Migrating Service and other departments.
44. In 1997, a federal constitutional law established the post of Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation to provide guarantees for State protection for civil rights and freedoms, including those of children.
45. A decision of the Government of the Russian Federation has introduced the practice of the preparation and distribution of annual reports on the situation of children in the Russian Federation; reports for 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 have been published. These reports, which monitor the situation of children in the Russian Federation, contain an in-depth analysis of the basic indicators and trends of changes in the situation of children, set out recommendations for its improvement and give an account of the implementation of the National Action Plan for Children. The reports are a tool for the assessment of progress at the federal and regional levels on implementation of the rights of children (as recommended in the concluding observations). The State reports on the situation of children in the Russian Federation are published and circulated among the federal authorities and the authorities of the members of the Russian Federation to give them practical assistance in developing and amending measures to deal with children's problems. The reports are also sent to public organizations and associations, including those concerned with children, for coordination of joint efforts for the welfare of children.
46. The social and economic potential of families has been monitored since 1995. Some of the approaches are a study of the social and economic situation of families with children below the age of majority and the demographic study of the family, including divorce and children born out of wedlock. These problems were a cause of concern to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as is reflected in the concluding observations, and they continue to be a central preoccupation of the State.
47. Work is in progress on the national system of statistical indicators characterizing the situation of children for the purpose of updating the statistical base and bringing it into line with international statistical indicators. For example, the live-birth criteria recommended by the World Health Organization were introduced in Russia in 1993, statistics on the development of social services for the family and children have been collected in Russia since 1994 and statistics on juvenile disability since 1996.
48. The practice has been instituted of holding parliamentary hearings with the participation of individuals and corporate bodies on matters concerning the situation of children. During the period 1994-1997 some 30 hearings were devoted to problems of this kind. They included hearings on "The actions of the Government of the Russian Federation to stimulate social policy concerning children", "Social protection of the family, motherhood and childhood", "The draft Family Code of the Russian Federation" and "Social problems of children and young people and the legal provisions for dealing with them".
49. A national conference on the situation of children, "Problems of childhood in present-day Russia: situation and prospects", held in 1995 and attended by many governmental and non-governmental organizations, had the aim of finding ways of making the measures taken in the interests of children more effective. Two national congresses held in the period 1994-1997 were devoted to health care for children and adolescents. International conferences were held on "The State and children: Russian realities" and "The family on the threshold of the third millennium" and national conferences on "The system of the development, rearing and health care of children and adolescents in curative establishments for children under present-day conditions". Ministries and departments have held seminars and conferences on specific trends of official policy in the interests of children attended by various public organizations, professional groups and associations. Non-governmental organizations have stepped up their seminar activity. From among the interesting initiatives we may mention national training seminars of the International Federation of Children's Organizations on "Problems of legal and social support for children and adolescents: forms, methods and interaction with ministries and departments concerned" and a round table meeting of the Russian Children's Foundation, "The State, society and the family: rights of the child". Arising from the public discussions on problems concerning the situation of children and the corresponding measures of State policy, recommendations were made in most instances to the authorities for consideration in their practical activity.
50. The interaction that has developed between the authorities, public associations and non-governmental organizations at the federal, regional and local levels has been an important result of the democratization process of recent years. There are now 90 organizations registered with the Ministry of Justice whose main activity is concerned with solving the problems of children. Of those organizations, 19 have international status, 19 are pan-Russian and 52 are interregional. There are also 30 registered children's organizations (3 with international status, 10 pan-Russian and 17 interregional). Similar organizations are being created regionally and locally. There is traditionally a close interaction between the authorities, professional associations, the Russian Children's Foundation, the Federation of Children's Organizations and the Russian Red Cross. It is increasingly the practice for many other public organizations to be involved in the carrying out of federal and regional targeted programmes concerning the interests of children, in the preparation of draft legislation, the development of social services, including family planning services, the medical and social reintegration of children with disabilities, the organization of summer holidays and recreation for children, and social assistance and reintegration of children who have been in crisis situations. In Russia as a whole more than 500 non-governmental organizations are now carrying out individual projects concerning the problems of children. Adoption of federal laws on charitable activity and charities (1995), on State support for youth organizations and children's organizations (1995), on non-commercial organizations (1996) and on public associations (1995) has helped to encourage the activity of non-governmental organizations in implementation of the provisions of the Convention and the suggestions of the Committee on the Rights of the Child made in the concluding observations.
51. The most topical problem in the short term is to ensure the full practical implementation of these laws and to improve the machinery for the interaction of State structures with individuals and corporate bodies.
52. In accordance with the Constitution, State social policy, including policy towards children, is conducted jointly by the Federation and the members of the Federation. It is financed from the State budget and from the resources of State social funds outside the budget. Measures of a local nature are financed from the resources of the corresponding local budgets. The State budget consists of a federal element (federal budget) and the budgets of the members of the Russian Federation; it is the latter that are entrusted with the bulk of the expenditure of the State budget for social purposes, including the interests of children. Allocation of the resources of regional budgets is the province of the regional authorities, which apportion expenditure on health care, education, social protection and physical culture. These budgetary headings are most considerable for regional budgets.
53. The Russian Ministry of Finance estimates that expenditure on the protection of children and on maternal and child health as a proportion of the total expenditure of the consolidated budget on health care, education and social policy was 12.5 per cent in 1993, 13.2 per cent in 1994, 13.4 per cent in 1995, 14 per cent in 1996 and 16.7 per cent in 1997 (according to returns on 1 September 1997).
54. The proportion of resources devoted to social needs differs from region to region. In some regions it is less than 30 per cent of all expenditure, while in others it is more than 60 per cent, depending both on the actual economic and social situation of the regions and on the priorities that the authorities of the members of the Federation set for themselves.
55. The fairly high quota of financial resources earmarked for the strengthening of maternal and child health care is proof of the priority accorded to the problems of children by many members of the Russian Federation: 34.5 per cent of total health care expenditure in Kirov Province, 35 per cent in Belgorod Province, 35 per cent in Samara Province, 41 per cent in Stavropol Territory, 30 per cent in the Kalmyk Republic and 36 per cent in the Kabardinian-Balkarian Republic. On average more than 20 per cent of the resources for health care in the territorial budgets are expended on medical care for children.
56. In order to overcome the disproportions that have developed in the financial situation of individual republics a federal financial support fund for members of the Russian Federation that lack sufficient resources of their own to carry out State social policy, including the policy towards children, has been set aside annually since 1993 to provide additional resources. The fund takes into consideration expenditure on child allowances, the development of social services for mothers and children, and health care and education.
57. It is not the practice in Russia to record all resources directly allocated for children under all social needs expenditure headings.
The resources devoted to the most considerable and major measures of social policy in the interests of children are covered, as a rule, by a separate heading in budgets at all levels. They include targeted programmes.
58. During the period under review there was development of the programme goal method for dealing with specific problems. Its use ensures closer interdepartmental interaction, the targeting of allocated resources, and the attraction of additional sources of finance.
59. In 1994 the federal programme "The Children of Russia", first devised in 1993, was accorded the status of a presidential programme, as a mark of its priority importance. It initially had 6 target programmes, but by 1997 the number had risen to 13: Disabled children, Children of the North, Children of Chernobyl, Orphan children, Family planning, Development of the baby food industry, Safe motherhood, Children of the families of refugees and involuntary migrants, Gifted children, Prevention of social deprivation, security and juvenile crime, Development of social services for the family and for children, Organization of summer holidays for children, and Development of the pan-Russian "Orlenok" and "Okean" children's centres. The main thrust of the presidential programme "The Children of Russia" is the prevention of social deprivation. Programme implementation is continuously monitored by the Government of the Russian Federation and by bodies reporting to the President of the Russian Federation and the State Duma.
60. There are also federal programmes aimed at guaranteeing the rights of the child. These include the Preventive Immunization and AIDS Prevention programmes, the federal programme for the development of education, the federal target programme on employment, and the presidential programme "The Youth of Russia".
61. The budget deficit is a problem that is complicating the implementation of State social policy in the interests of children, reducing the scope for the full financing of the measures envisaged. The practice of having dedicated subheadings of the budget, the expenditure on which cannot be reduced, is being used to alleviate the adverse consequences arising in this connection. The programme on "The Children of Russia" was among the subheadings of the budget protected in this way in 1995 and 1996. Despite the tightness of the budget and other economic difficulties, various measures were applied to ensure that children should suffer as little as possible from the effects of the reforms. This problem, which was a cause of concern to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as was noted in the concluding observations, is at the centre of attention when formulating the social policy of the State.
62. Funds for measures in the interests of children are also earmarked in State social funds outside the budget. For example, provision is made in the budget of the Pension Fund for the payment of pensions in the event of loss of the breadwinner and of social pensions for disabled children. The budget of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation provides for the payment of a grant on the birth of a child, an allowance for the upkeep of the child to the age of one and a half years, for temporary inability to work in connection with caring for a sick child, and also for the organization of a summer holiday for children and for restoration of the health of parents and children. Resources for maintaining the maternal and child health service are earmarked from the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund.
63. The drafting and implementation of programmes in the interests of children is a widespread practice in non-governmental organizations. There are, for example, 29 pan-Russian programmes in the children's movement, more than 170 regional and interregional programmes and some 500 private programmes. This ensures that children are able to choose activities in line with their interests.
64. The international cooperation of the Russian Federation in promoting the implementation of the aims of the Convention was developed in the period 1993-1997. We may note collaboration with UNICEF, WHO, ILO, UNESCO, UNHCR, the World Bank, the Council of Europe, the European Union and the Red Cross. Joint projects have been carried out at the bilateral level with Canada, the United States, France, Germany and others. Interaction has been developed with international charitable organizations (the Salvation Army, Medecins sans frontières and others). Russia, however, does not have the facilities to monitor the overall level of financing of international projects at different levels and of various kinds. In that context it is difficult to determine the extensiveness of international programmes, including those for implementation of the rights of children and improvement of their situation.
65. We have worked to publicize the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child among children and adults. The text of the Convention has been repeatedly published by the authorities and by public organizations: the Russian Federation's Ministry for Social Protection and Ministry of Education, and the Russian Children's Foundation. The initial report of the Russian Federation on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child were published in 1993. Publications have included a collection of regulatory instruments, "Main lines of State social policy concerning improvement of the situation of children in the Russian Federation" (1996); a collection of universal and regional international documents including the text of the Convention (1997); a collection entitled "The Convention on the Rights of the Child (reference materials)"; a book "The rights of the child"; the first version of the Convention adapted for children in the journal Shkolnaia roman-gazeta; and a collection of articles, "Protect me", illustrating the provisions of the Convention. The text of the Convention has also been published in Semya v Rossii, Materinstvo and other journals.
66. The text of the Convention has been distributed to government offices at the federal level and in the members of the Russian Federation and disseminated amongst public, scientific and educational organizations providing training and refresher courses for teachers, doctors, staff in the offices and establishments of the Ministry of the Interior and specialists in social work.
67. Study of the standards of the Convention has been included in school curricula, in the courses of institutions of higher education and in postgraduate training programmes. The text of the Convention has been translated into the national languages of peoples of the Russian Federation.
68. Children's organizations are involved in popularizing the main provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. They have produced and carried out various programmes, including "Social protection of children in the activity of children's organizations" and "The school of parliamentary culture", and they produce teaching aids and instructions, such as "Where should the rights of the child be sought? In their defence" and "I am a citizen of the Republic!". Organizations that are actively engaged are "The school of democratic culture", an interregional children's organization "Children's Business Club" and the Children's Order of Charity.
69. This report has been prepared by a wide range of specialists. A working group was formed with representatives of the Ministries of Labour and Social Development, Education, Health, Foreign Affairs, Justice, the Economy, Finance, and the Interior, committees on the development of the North, statistics, young people, the migration service, and scientific and public organizations. Independent experts, specialists on the defence of human rights, the rights of the child and international law, contributed to the drafting of the report. The drafting process and the draft itself were discussed in meetings of the Coordinating Committee for implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the Russian Federation. Official statistics, information documents and analyses from federal ministries and departments and from the executive authorities of members of the Russian Federation, and special studies were used in the preparation of the report.
70. Just as was done for the initial report, a separate edition of this report is planned with the aim of informing the general public about the problems of implementing the rights of the child. Further steps will be taken to publicize the report (press conferences, press releases, publication in the mass media, etc.).
71. Under current Russian legislation:
(a) The age of majority is 18 years;
(c) The minimum age for medical treatment or for surgery without parental consent is 15 years (Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on health care);
(d) The requirement for compulsory basic general education (nine school years) as applied to a specific pupil remains in force until the pupil has reached the age of 15 years (Education Act of the Russian Federation);
(e) Nobody less than 15 years old may be hired for work. It is permissible for a pupil who has reached 14 years of age to be hired for light work in his or her free time, with parental consent, provided that there is no risk of damage to the child's health and no disruption of education; the amount of time that may be worked is reduced for workers less than 18 years old; the employment of workers less than 18 years old on heavy work, on work under harmful or hazardous conditions, work underground or work the performance of which may damage moral development is prohibited (Labour Code of the Russian Federation);
(f) The minimum age for marriage is 18 years. Should there be valid reasons the local authorities may permit the marriage of individuals who have reached the age of 16. On the basis of the laws of members of the Russian Federation, marriage below the age of 16 years may be permitted as an exception (Family Code of the Russian Federation);
(g) Sexual relations of an individual who has reached 18 years of age with an individual known to be below the age of 16 years is a criminal offence (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
(h) The minimum age for call-up to the armed forces (and for voluntary enlistment) is 18 years (Military Service Act of the Russian Federation);
(i) The minimum age for active service is 18 years;
(j) The minimum age for purposes of general criminal liability is 16 years, while for offences legally deemed to constitute a serious threat to the public is 14 years (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
(k) The minimum age for purposes of deprivation of liberty, including custody and detention, is 14 years for custody as exceptional preventive detention, 16 years for custody as a means of punishment; minors are not imprisoned as a means of punishment (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
(l) No minimum age has been established for an application for the granting of asylum and accommodation for children in establishments of the social security and health care system;
(m) Sentence of death or of life imprisonment is not pronounced for crimes committed before the accused reached the age of 18 years (Criminal Code of the Russian Federation);
(n) A teacher is required to be present when witnesses up to 14 years of age are being questioned in a court hearing and when witnesses between 14 and 16 years old are being questioned. If necessary, their parents, adoptive parents, foster parents or legal guardians may also be summoned to be present (Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation);
(o) When the rights and legitimate interests of a child are infringed in relations between the child and the parents or persons in loco parentis, the child shall be legally entitled to approach the child-care authorities to seek their protection (no minimum age has been set for such an approach -Family Code of the Russian Federation) or a court on reaching the age of 14 years;
(p) A child is entitled to be heard in any legal or administrative hearing. The opinion of a child who has reached the age of 10 years must be taken into consideration, other than when so doing would be against the interests of the child (Family Code of the Russian Federation);
(q) The minimum age of consent for a change of personal status, including a change of family, family relations, adoption, fostering and wardship, is 10 years (Family Code of the Russian Federation);
(r) Every child is entitled to know who its parents are, so far as is possible, and no age limit is set on that right (Family Code of the Russian Federation). At the same time the confidentiality of adoption is protected by the law;
(s) Irrespective of age, the child is entitled to property received by it as a gift or through inheritance (Family Code of the Russian Federation); a minor between the ages of 14 and 18 years has property accountability for transactions that he or she enters into in accordance with the law; children between the ages of 6 and 14 years may conclude minor transactions for non-returnable gain and certain other transactions, but the property accountability concerning these transactions shall be borne by the parents (Civil Code of the Russian Federation);
(t) The opinion of a child who is 10 years old or older must be taken into account in matters concerning choice of religion or attendance at religious schools provided that it is not against the interests of the child;
(u) The acquisition of tobacco goods and alcoholic beverages is restricted for children up to the age of 18 (Regulations governing retail trade in alcoholic products in the territory of the Russian Federation approved by order No. 987 of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 19 August 1996).
72. The minimum age at which children may be hired for work coincides with their age of completion of compulsory schooling and is 15 years.
73. There are no differences in Russian legislation between girls and boys regarding the age for marriage and sexual relations, nor for application of the criterion of sexual maturity in criminal law.
74. The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees equality of human and civil rights and freedoms to all, irrespective of age, race, nationality, language, origin, property status, place of residence, attitude to religion, membership of public associations or other circumstances. Any forms of restriction of civil rights on grounds of social, racial, national, linguistic or religious affiliation is prohibited. Everyone is equal before the law and the courts. Basic human rights and freedoms are inalienable and belong to every person from birth. See also paragraphs 46-50 of the initial report.
75. Foreign nationals and stateless persons, including refugees, enjoy the same rights in the Russian Federation as citizens of the Russian Federation except where specified to the contrary by federal laws or by an international agreement of the Russian Federation. The social legislation of the Russian Federation also embodies the principle of non-discrimination concerning the basic rights and freedoms set out above. Stateless children and refugee children have the right to social security and social protection, medical care and education extended to citizens of the Russian Federation.
76. Human and civil rights and freedoms have direct force. They determine the sense, content and application of laws and the activity of the legislative and executive authorities and local government, and they are guaranteed by the judicial system in accordance with the Constitution.
77. Actions aimed at inciting national, racial or religious hostility, detracting from national dignity or propounding the superiority or inferiority of citizens on grounds of their attitude towards religion or of their national or racial origin are criminal offences.
78. In accordance with the federal law on the social protection of disabled persons in the Russian Federation, disabled persons, including children with disabilities, are guaranteed a system of economic, social and legal measures providing the conditions for them to overcome (find substitutes for) the restrictions on their activity and aimed at giving them equal opportunities of taking part in the life of society along with other citizens.
79. The State takes special measures to alleviate the inequality of children arising from economic and geographic differences, and state of health. Depending on their category, families with only one breadwinner are given additional material assistance in the form of a pension or a larger State child allowance. Families with many children are given concessions concerning payment for medicines, children's travel, school meals, and accommodation for the whole family, and the children are provided with their school uniform free of charge. The dependent burden on families with many children is also taken into consideration in the assessment of unemployment benefit. Unemployed persons with children receive a higher benefit.
80. Disabled children are provided with free medicine and essential medical items, free hospital and health resort services and free travel to the place of treatment, and concessionary rates for accommodation. Disabled children are provided with pre-school education and are educated in accordance with their individual rehabilitation programme. Steps are being taken to establish the conditions for their training and instruction in children's pre-school and general educational establishments of the ordinary type, or in special establishments if their health precludes them from attending establishments of the ordinary type. When it is impossible for disabled children to receive training and education in ordinary or special pre-school and general educational establishments they are taught at home under the full general educational syllabus or under an individual programme. Following adoption of the federal law on the education of individuals of limited health potential (special education), they will be educated in accordance with their capacity and abilities in a teaching environment suited to their state of health. A network of establishments for the social reintegration of disabled children is being developed, the task of which is to establish the potential of these children, help them to realize it and promote their active entry into social life. See also paragraphs 233-246 of this report.
81. Steps are being taken to protect the rights and interests of homeless children and street urchins. A network of social refuges and reintegration centres providing social reintegration and adaptation has been under active development since 1993, and new forms of family placement of children are being developed so that they may be brought up in a family environment.
82. In order to level out differences in the situation of children arising from the geographic factor, and above all from living in regions of the Far North, State children's allowances have been increased, special forms of medical service for children have been provided (mobile teams of doctors) and vitamin supplements are given. Mobile teams of doctors are being increasingly used in rural areas.
83. The legislation of the Russian Federation does not contain any discriminatory provisions against girls. Children have equal rights, irrespective of sex, to education, social security and health care. There are at the same time some restrictions on vocational training for girls for a number of occupations in accordance with the Schedule of industries, occupations and work under heavy and harmful conditions in which the employment of female labour is prohibited. There has been public discussion in recent years on a review of this Schedule and a further reduction in the restrictions on girls being trained for certain occupations.
84. There are official statistics in the Russian Federation on disabled children in receipt of a social pension, orphaned children and children deprived of parental care, the children of refugees and displaced persons, and the children of the indigenous peoples of the Far North; there are also statistics on families with children below the age of majority, including the number of children in them. Records are kept in the members of the Russian Federation on families with many children, single mothers and also badly off families with children.
85. There is no such social phenomenon in Russia as prejudice against children on ethnic and other grounds. Neither are children persecuted for the opinions of their parents.
86. There are still appreciable differences in the Russian Federation in the material security of families with children below the age of majority, and the fact that the proportion of families with a low per capita income remains high is an obstacle to full implementation of all the rights of the child. There has been an increase in the number of families with children and also of children in need of State support, the scope for which is limited by the continuing high level of the budget deficit. The legal standards aimed at guaranteeing the rights and interests of children in difficult situations, including disabled children, the children of refugees and displaced persons and orphaned children are not being fully implemented. De facto differences in opportunities for implementation of the rights offered to children de jure have not been eliminated in present-day Russia.
87. Fuller implementation of the provisions of article 2 of the Convention will be facilitated by the carrying out of the already approved target programmes and measures in the interests of children, including the prolongation to the year 2000 of the presidential programme "The Children of Russia", implementation of the main lines of State social policy for improvement of the social situation of children in the Russian Federation to the year 2000 and the medium-term programme of the Government of the Russian Federation for the period 1997-2000 entitled "Transformation and economic growth", and the Programme of social reforms in the Russian Federation for the period 1996-2000. Improvement of the conditions for the upbringing and development of children in the family will be objectively aided by ensuring income growth and improving the well-being of families on that basis.
88. The principle of best interests of the child and the need to take those interests into account in all measures affecting children is enshrined in the existing Russian legislation in the Family Code, the Criminal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Labour Code, Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on health care, the Education Act of the Russian Federation and federal laws on additional guarantees for the social protection of orphaned children and children deprived of parental care, on social protection of disabled persons in the Russian Federation, and on refugees. The National Action Plan for Children is based on this principle.
89. The task of ensuring the best interests of the child is taken into consideration by the courts and the authorities in cases concerning divorce, deprivation of parental rights, placement of orphaned children and children deprived of parental care, and in other instances when deciding the subsequent fate of a child.
90. Parental rights may not be exercised in contravention of the interests of children. Parents who exercise parental rights to the detriment of the rights and interests of the child are legally liable. All matters concerning the upbringing and education of children shall be decided by the parents on the basis of the interests of the children and having regard to their opinion. When differences of opinion arise between parents in this respect both parents or one parent is entitled to seek resolution of the differences through the child-care authorities or through the courts. When the parents are living apart the place of residence of the children is decided by agreement between the parents. In the absence of such agreement the matter is decided by the court on the basis of the best interests of the children and having regard to their opinion. Should the parents (or one parent) deny close relatives (grandfather, grandmother, brothers, sisters, etc.) right of access to the child, the dispute may be settled by the court, which shall arrive at its decision on the basis of the child's best interests and having regard to its opinion. When a court considers a demand by parents for the return of a child it is entitled, having regard to the opinion of the child, to reject the suit of the parents should the handing over not be in the child's best interests. When a court considers the question of the restoration of parental rights to both parents (one of the parents) it is entitled, having regard to the opinion of the child, to reject the application should the restoration of parental rights not be in the child's best interest. Once a child has reached 10 years of age the restoration of parental rights is possible only with the consent of the child.
91. When there is a direct threat to the life or health of the child, the child-care authorities are entitled to remove the child forthwith from the parents or from persons having care of the child. When a child deprived of the care of parents is to be placed, consideration is given to the child's ethnic origin, the fact of belonging to a particular religion or culture, the mother tongue and the feasibility of ensuring continuity in upbringing and education. The legislation of the Russian Federation specifies that priority should be given to upbringing in a family when deciding the placement of a child deprived of parental care.
92. The need to safeguard the interests of children is taken into account when making allocations from the budget and from State social funds outside the budget, as is reflected in the laws on the federal budget, the budgets of members of the Russian Federation and the budgets of the corresponding State funds not forming part of the State budget (see paras. 52-63 of this report). Social standards approved by the Government of the Russian Federation in the sphere of culture, mass information, health care, physical culture and sport, social protection of the population and education are used when formulating social and economic policy in construction, transportation and the environment.
93. The status of child refugees accompanied by their parents is decided in accordance with the principles of the unity of the family and the decision taken on the asylum application made by an adult. The father or the mother is entitled to include in the application the children who have come seeking asylum with them. When the head of the family is recognized as a refugee, asylum is granted to all his or her under-age children that are with them. A child who has arrived seeking asylum unaccompanied by parents or guardians is also issued with a certificate for admission to a temporary accommodation centre. The migration authorities help the child to obtain information on the existence and whereabouts of the parents, relatives or guardians.
94. Legal procedures in cases concerning minors are governed by the general rules of the criminal procedural legislation. There are additionally special rules concerning minors. A defence lawyer must be present at the court examination in cases concerning minors. The parents or other legal representatives of a minor against whom a charge is brought must be summoned to attend the court hearing. The legal representatives of an accused minor shall be present in the courtroom throughout the court examination. When an accused minor below 16 years of age is being interrogated, a teacher may be present at the discretion of the investigator or public prosecutor or at the request of the defence lawyer. At the end of the interrogation the teacher is entitled to examine the interrogation report and to comment in writing on the correctness and fullness of the record.
95. A child below the age of majority who has committed a minor offence or a moderately serious crime for the first time may be relieved of criminal liability and be placed under the supervision of the parents or persons acting in loco parentis, or of a special State authority. In that case the leisure time of the child may be restricted and special requirements regarding his behaviour may be imposed. Minors between 11 and 14 years of age who commit punishable acts may be sent to special residential schools for children and adolescents with deviant behaviour. Minors between 14 and 18 years of age who have committed moderately serious crimes may be relieved of punishment and sent to special residential educational and training establishments. In these cases the criminal proceedings are abandoned and the accused is relieved of criminal liability. The pupils have the right to complain about the activity of these establishments to the administrations of the establishments, their hierarchical superiors and inspectorates, and international organizations, and also to petition non-governmental organizations concerning protection of their rights.
96. The rights of the child are best ensured in various forms in the social security system: provision of allowances (pensions) to some categories of children and to families in connection with the upbringing of children (including a monthly child allowance); provision in kind for a number of the needs of the child; full maintenance of the child in social security establishments (when appropriate).
97. A diversified network of child-care establishments that has been developed in the Russian Federation operates within the educational, health care and social security systems. They include children's homes, boarding schools for disabled children, ordinary boarding schools, pre-school establishments, summer camps, children's centres, social refuges, medical social centres for disabled children, social reintegration centres for maladjusted children, etc. The best interests of the child are a prime consideration in the placement of children in these establishments, in which the need for care, upbringing, education and medical, psychological and social reintegration are considered, along with the need for the child to be looked after in connection with the occupation of the parents (pre-school establishments, summer convalescent camps).
98. The activity of State and municipal establishments responsible for the care or protection of children is governed by regulations approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. The qualifications that the staff of such establishments are required to have are specified in their regulations. The establishments and their equipment must conform to the health standards and regulations that ensure the safety of the children. The activity of
non-State establishments is licensed by the authorities and they are required to satisfy the same requirements regarding health safety and staff qualifications as State establishments.
99. Pupils of the various kinds of establishments are able to realize their rights with the assistance of non-governmental organizations (including children's organizations) which use the existing legislative basis to present, advocate and defend the rights of the child. They include the Children's Order of Charity, the Association for the Protection of Children, the Russian Children's Foundation, the Union for the Social Protection of Children, and the Pupils' Association of Children's Homes and Residential Schools.
100. In accordance with article 3, paragraph 2 of the Convention a number of measures were taken in the Russian Federation during the period under review for protection of the rights of children which are essential for their well-being, including the rights and obligations of their parents and guardians, as well as of other persons with legal responsibility for them. The changing socio-economic conditions of social life are taken into consideration in this process. See also paragraphs 31-36, 52-63, 88 and 90-99 of this report.
101. A paediatric service with a network of treatment facilities and trained medical staff has been created to implement the rights of children to health care. The health-care establishments providing treatment and preventive medical care for children consists of paediatric polyclinics, children's wards and hospitals, the clinics of medical institutes and medical schools, specialized centres providing high technology forms of paediatric care, sanatoria, children's homes and children's centres, forming a four-level system of paediatric establishments capable of providing almost all forms of medical care for children, including organ and tissue transplants and plastic surgery.
102. The maternal and child health care that is being developed at an accelerated rate in the health service in order to provide children with the best medical care includes medical techniques aimed at a reduction of juvenile and infant mortality, prevention of infant disability (prenatal diagnosis, medical genetic advice service, resuscitation and intensive care, the nursing of premature and sick newborn infants, and the development of various kinds of rehabilitation service and immunoprophylaxis.
103. All treatment establishments concerned with the provision of treatment are subject to compulsory licencing and certification in order to ensure that children receive health care of a high standard. In 1996 the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation approved Regulations on departmental control of the quality of medical care. Private medical establishments are also subject to licencing and certification. With the aim of ensuring that the work of medical personnel reaches an appropriate level a system of licencing and certification has been introduced for them, medical education has been overhauled, and higher and secondary medical teaching establishments are being licenced. In accordance with the recommendations in the concluding observations, qualification tests for personnel working with children have been devised for all the main medical specialities.
104. The inadequacy of the machinery for ensuring that some of the provisions of the existing legislation are implemented and failure to apply them to the fullest extent are unresolved problems concerning the best interests of the child. Lack of finance is a factor that adversely affects measures in the interests of children. There are gaps in the legislation of the Russian Federation regarding legal definition of the position of migrant children who arrive without their parents.
105. The vocational training of specialists working with children is being actively developed, as recommended in the concluding observations. New specialisms are being introduced, training syllabuses are being continuously updated and the number of special practical sessions that bring out the specific features of work with children is being increased. As an example, a new specialism, that of paediatric nurse, was introduced in 1997. There is a diversified network of specialized secondary and higher educational establishments in the Russian Federation for the training of specialists for work with children, including medical workers, among them paediatricians, a range of teachers and care attendants and psychologists.
106. The inspectors of the Ministry of the Interior whose work is concerned with the prevention of juvenile crime must have higher education in the legal or educational sphere.
107. Special attention is being paid to the development of what is a new area for Russia - occupational training and refresher courses for social workers. Such training is now being provided in 67 of the higher educational institutions of 47 members of the Federation.
108. How to take into account the principle of the best interests of the child is an important element in occupational training. Effect is given to it in various ways: by ensuring an adequate level of theoretical and practical training for social workers, teachers in the social work field, lawyers, doctors, schoolteachers and other professionals working in the social field: study of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international legal instruments and the legislation of the Russian Federation; use of foreign experience (study of the foreign specialist literature, involvement of foreign specialists in the teaching process, practical work and work experience in foreign establishments and organizations, the holding of international conferences, seminars, symposia and so on).
109. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation every citizen has the right to life, to the protection of health and to medical care.
110. In the field of criminal law, the right of the child to life is ensured by stiffer penalties for attacks on the life and health of the child. In 1997 the killing of a newborn baby by its mother was made a crime. The list of punishable acts relating to children has been increased and the scale of punishments for crimes against children has been stiffened: for torture, infection with venereal disease, HIV infection, knowingly leaving a minor without assistance in a life-threatening situation, trafficking in children, involvement in committing crimes and antisocial acts, engaging in prostitution, inducement to use narcotics and psychotropic drugs, kidnapping or holding as a hostage. The death penalty is not given for crimes committed before the perpetrator reached 18 years of age. See also paragraph 169 of this report.
111. The Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on health care contains an article entitled "Rights of minors", which defines measures for the monitoring and treatment of children in clinics, the provision of medical and social care to them and hygiene and health education for children.
112. The changes made in 1992 to the criteria of live birth in accordance with the recommendations of WHO were the forerunners to an expansion of the criteria for the resuscitation of newborn children previously treated as stillborn. The guidelines for the intensive care and nursing of newborn babies with a very low and extremely low birth weight have been revised, common standards have been introduced for primary resuscitation treatment of newborn babies in the delivery room, and steps have been taken to strengthen the resuscitation and intensive care services in maternity homes, to provide them with up-to-date equipment and also measures for the care of greatly premature babies. As a result the death rate of children in maternity homes and children's clinics has been considerably reduced.
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113. Special measures to safeguard the lives of children affected by radiation disasters are defined in the 1996 draft of the federal act on the social protection of citizens exposed to radiation as a result of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and in the federal acts on the accident in 1957 at the Mayak production association and discharges of radioactive waste into the River Techa, and on the social protection of persons exposed to radiation as a result of nuclear tests in the Semipalatinsk test grounds.
114. The procedure followed in the Russian Federation when recording deaths of children, including the indication of the cause of death, has been approved by a decree of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation on further improvements to the keeping of medical records certifying cause of death and the recording of births and deaths. The same decree also approves the statistical report forms "Doctor's death certificate", "Paramedical worker's death certificate", "Perinatal death certificate" and instructions for the completion of these forms. Completed statistical forms on deaths of children are submitted to registry offices, which then forward them to the offices of the Russian State Statistical Committee, where they are processed in accordance with the concise list of causes of death based on the ninth revision of the International Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death.
115. The practice in Russia of conducting a compulsory autopsy on dead children makes it highly likely that the diagnosis of cause of death will be verified. All deaths of children are subjected to expert scrutiny and are examined in hospital conferences. Deaths of children other than in hospital are subject to forensic examination.
116. Deaths of children up to 15 years of age, including death not through natural causes, are on the decline (from 150.6 in 1993 to 131.5 in 1996 per 100,000 children of the corresponding age). The highest mortality statistics, including deaths other than from natural causes, which also includes suicide, were recorded in 1993-1994. Deaths of children by suicide between the ages of 5 and 9 years per 100,000 of the population were as follows:
118. In the legislation in force in the Russian Federation respect for the views of the child is reflected in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Family Code of the Russian Federation, the RSFSR Code of Criminal Procedure and some other laws. In the context of the basic human rights and freedoms belonging to the individual from birth, everyone is guaranteed freedom of thought and of speech. See also paragraph 66 of the initial report.
119. In accordance with the Family Code a child has the right to express an opinion when any matter affecting its interests is decided in the family, as well as the right to be heard during legal or administrative proceedings. See also paragraphs 90-99 of this report.
120. In some instances the wish of a child who has reached the age of 10 years has legal force. Certain actions concerning the child cannot be carried out if the child objects. Change of the child's given name and family name, restoration of parental rights to the parents, adoption of the child, change of the child's given name, family name and patronymic on adoption, registration of the adoptive parents as the parents of the child, change of the child's given name and family name on revocation of adoption and the handing over of the child to a family for fostering are all impossible without the agreement of the child. In accordance with the Education Act of the Russian Federation a school pupil has the right to respect for his human dignity and the right freely to express personal views and opinions.
121. Social service is based on the principles of voluntary participation and humanity. Social services are provided as a priority to minors living under difficult conditions.
122. Russian legislation makes provision for measures aimed at ensuring the right of the child to express personal views when brought before a juvenile court, and also when being sent to a child-care establishment and during the time spent there. See also paragraphs 90-99 of this report.
123. In accordance with the Education Act of the Russian Federation a pupil has the right to participate in the running of the educational establishment in a manner laid down by the rules of the establishment. This right is implemented both directly, through participation in general school meetings, and indirectly, through the organized body of children, when the collective (the group of children) elects the most authoritative leader (representative), bestowing certain powers or rights upon him, which he is in turn obligated to defend in a self-governing body: teachers' council, parents' committee, council of the educational establishment, parliament, etc.
124. In accordance with the federal act on public associations, matters affecting the interests of public associations, including youth organizations and children's organizations, are decided by the State and local government authorities with the participation of the public associations concerned or in agreement with them.
125. Arising from the collaboration between legislative bodies and children's associations a new kind of work has developed during the last 3-4 years - the Children's Parliament, the Children's Chamber, the Children's Duma, etc. under the legislative assembly (Moscow, Kemerovo, etc.). These are bodies that have the right to initiate legislation, to make an expert appraisal of decisions taken, and to move additions and amendments to existing legislation.
126. The vocational training of specialists working with children (teachers, branch personnel of the Ministry of the Interior, and social and medical workers) includes study of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Syllabuses have been produced on human rights and the rights of the child and teaching materials for them have been published. We may take as an example the publication of a teaching aid "Teaching human rights in classes 5-7 of the secondary school" issued by the Youth Centre for Human Rights and Legal Culture. Instruction on human rights and the rights of the child is an area of teaching new to Russia. Special courses are being introduced into teaching practice in educational establishments in the light of the increased social interest in legal knowledge and of the recommendations set out in the concluding observations.
127. "Law" is being introduced as a compulsory discipline in the curriculum of higher teacher-training establishments; the subjects covered include study of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, international legal standards in the educational sphere and the legal foundations of the work of teachers. The classificatory manual on specialisms in teacher training includes teachers having a qualification as a "teacher of law, teacher-psychologist, psychologist working with children with developmental abnormalities, teacher of sociology", etc. The requirements for the psychological and pedagogical training of future teachers have been considerably expanded.
128. The principles and provisions of the Convention have been reflected in the syllabuses at medical higher education institutes and training institutes for middle-level medical staff, and in postgraduate medical training for doctors. In postgraduate training on aspects of child development one or two sessions are included on the content of the Convention; the same amount of time is allocated in the syllabuses of medical institutes and establishments and in courses for nurses. Study of the provisions of the Convention is obligatory in educational establishments providing training for social workers, and since 1997 study of the Convention has been included in the training syllabuses for branch personnel of the Ministry of the Interior. Higher educational establishments decide for themselves how many hours should be devoted to study of this material for each category of worker.
129. The opinions, needs and interests of the child are taken into consideration when defining additional educational disciplines, in the organization of activity outside school and in the children's movement. In recent years there has been a radical shift in the approach of children's organizations to implementation of the principle of the best interests of the child: they have switched from a dictatorial and unitary approach, monopolism and uniformity to a democratic approach and have given the children the opportunity of choosing not only the kind of activity, but also the organization (association) that is in keeping with the personal interest of each child. The existing legal basis enables every child (personally or through a children's association) not only to express opinions on various aspects of daily life, but also to have those opinions taken into account in the adoption of economic, legal, political and other decisions.
130. During the drafting and discussion of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and of legislation on privatization, public associations, State support for children's organizations and other matters, children put forward their proposals, comments and amendments. The opinions of children are discussed in the assemblies of children's and young people's organizations, in conferences and in "round table" meetings of youth leaders before being formulated and generalized in a composite document sent to the Federal Assembly of Russia, the Government, the Administration, the President, individual deputies and the heads of ministries and departments. The proposals of children, children's organizations and associations are, as a rule, attentively considered: the document "Remember! We are the children!" was well received; many of the proposals on the law of the Russian Federation on State support for youth organizations and children's associations were taken into consideration, an amendment initiated by children to the 1995 federal law on public associations which was accepted, changed the minimum age for membership of a children's organization; in accordance with the 1997 amendment the minimum age for joining a children's organization, formally 10 years old, is now 8 years old.
131. Basic human rights and freedoms, including the right of every individual to citizenship, free expression of opinion, freedom of thought, conscience and religious belief, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, inviolability of the home and private life, personal and family privacy, confidentiality of correspondence, access to information, and the right not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, are enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The constitutional standards are given concrete expression in relation to the child in the Family Code of the Russian Federation, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and federal laws on associations, on State support for youth organizations and children's associations, and the Punishment Code of the Russian Federation.
132. The birth of a child is registered in registry offices in cities and towns and in local government offices in rural areas. The birth has to be reported verbally or in writing within a month of the date of birth by the parents or by one of them. In the event of the illness or death of the parents, or should they be unable to make the declaration, the birth is registered on the basis of a declaration of the relatives, neighbours, the administration of the hospital where the mother was at the time of the birth, or other persons at the birthplace of the child or the place of residence of the parents (parent). The entry in the Register of Births records the given name, patronymic and family name of the child, information on the parents, nationality, and the place and time of birth.
133. In accordance with the Family Code the child has the right to a given name, a patronymic and a family name. The given name of the child is that agreed by the parents and the patronymic is taken from the father's given name, unless otherwise provided by the legislation of members of the Russian Federation or unless not based on national usage. The family name of the child is the family name of the parents. When the parents have different names the child is given the family name agreed by the mother and father, but in the absence of agreement concerning the given name and/or the family name of the child the disputes are settled by the child-care authorities.
134. The entry concerning the mother of a child whose parents are not married to each other is completed on the basis of a declaration by the mother, and the entry concerning the father of the child on the basis of a joint declaration of the father and the mother, or of the father alone, or by court decision. In the event of a child born to an unmarried mother and in the absence of a joint declaration of the parents or in the absence of a court decision establishing paternity, the entry for the family name of the father of the child in the Register of Births shall be the family name of the mother, and the entries for given name and patronymic are those indicated by the mother.
135. An adopted child retains his given name, patronymic and family name. At the request of the adoptive parents the court may decide that the adoptive parents should be recorded in the Register of Births as the parents of the child whom they have adopted.
136. Children born in the Russian Federation to asylum seekers and to refugees are registered in the same way as the children of citizens of the Russian Federation.
137. Every child has the right to live and be brought up in a family, insofar as may be possible, the right to know its parents, the right to be cared for by them, and the right to live with them, other than when so doing would be against the interests of the child. The rights of the child are not affected by dissolution or nullity of the marriage of the parents, or by their living apart. Children born to parents not married to each other have the same rights and obligations concerning their parents and relatives as children born to parents who are married to each other.
138. The procedure for acquisition or change of the citizenship of children is set out in paragraph 69 of the initial report. The basic criteria for the citizenship of the child are the citizenship of the parents and the place of birth of the child.
139. Refugees have priority over ordinary foreign nationals for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation. The granting of asylum in the Russian Federation is a circumstance that facilitates acquisition of citizenship.
140. A child born in the Russian Federation to parents who are nationals of other States shall be a citizen of the Russian Federation if those States do not accord the child their citizenship. A child born to stateless parents in the Russian Federation shall be a citizen of the Russian Federation.
141. The Family Code and the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establish liability for substitution of a child, illegal adoption of a male or female child and disclosure of the confidentiality of adoption of a male or female child. See also paragraphs 90-99, 143-146, 152-156 and 184-187 of this report.
142. The child's right to freedom of expression is governed by general civil legislation. Under the Constitution of the Russian Federation every citizen has the right freely to seek, receive, transmit, produce and disseminate information by any legal means. Use of that right must not violate the rights and freedoms of other individuals. The schedule of the types of information that constitute a State secret is legally defined. The freedom of the mass media is guaranteed. Censorship is prohibited. This constitutional provision has been developed in the laws of the Russian Federation on information, information technology and protection of information, the mass media, and education, and in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. See also paragraphs 90-99 and 118-122 of this report.
143. The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees to every citizen freedom of thought, conscience and religious worship, including the right to practise any religion individually or with others, or not to pro