COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD EXAMINES REPORT OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the third periodic report of the Russian Federation on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In opening remarks to the Committee, Olga Sharapova, Director of the Department of Social and Medical Problems of Family, Motherhood and Childhood of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation, said the Russian Federation was striving to ensure that the provisions of the Convention and the principles of taking into account the best interests of the child, the right to life and the harmonious development of the personality of children were the basic aims of the programmes and policies implemented in the context of children. In the period under review, basic efforts had been directed towards practical activities aimed at enhancing children’s basic rights, including those to health, happiness and the right to life. The most effective mechanisms that existed before for helping children in grave situations had been retained. There were many other changes in provisions and new programmes for improving the situation of children, including children with disabilities.
In preliminary concluding remarks, Committee Expert Nevena Vuckovic-Sahovic, who served as Rapporteur for the report of the Russian Federation, said that on Friday 30 September, the Committee would adopt concluding observations that would address the achievements and acknowledge the constraints under which the State party laboured, and would express concerns on the implementation of the Convention in Russia. Measures to be taken on the dissemination of the Convention, the training of professionals and all activities that should lead to a change of attitude would be urged. Further, the Committee would recommend that the State party take measures to improve access to education and health services for all children without discrimination. The Committee looked forward to hearing reports of the further progress of the implementation of the provisions of the Convention in Russia.
Other Committee Experts raised questions related to, among other things legislation and its implementation, with an Expert asking whether there was an organic modality for coordination at the federal level to ensure that programmes and legislation could operate in a coordinated manner. Statistical data was also an issue, with one Expert asking whether there was a plan to increase the data collected within the context of the requirements of the Convention. Adoption was also a topic which was of interest for several Experts, one of whom asked whether it would be possible to give the central authority greater control over both national and international adoptions.
The delegation of the Russian Federation consisted of representatives of the Ministries of Health and Social Development, of Foreign Affairs, of Culture, of Regional Development, of Internal Affairs, and of Education and Science. Also present were representatives of the Federal Service of Statistics, the Federal Service of Execution of Punishment, the Committee of State Duma on Affairs of Women, Family, and Children, and the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to United Nations Office at Geneva. The Ombudsman on the rights of the child in Moscow was also a member of the delegation
As one of the 192 States parties to the Convention, the Russian Federation is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty. The delegation was on hand throughout the day to present the report and to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.
When the Committee reconvenes in public on Friday 30 September at 10 a.m., it will adopt its report and issue its concluding observations on all the country reports it has taken up during the session.
Report of the Russian Federation
The third periodic report of the Russian Federation (CRC/C/125/Add.5) states that Russia has been submitting its reports as a signatory and party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1993. The report 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 1998-2002. The main part of the analytical material consists of eight sections and includes information on the measures adopted by the Russian Federation in implementation of the Convention during the period under review 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.
The depth and scale of the social and economic changes that have taken place, their rapidity and consequent lack of resources, the complexity for a substantial part of the population of adapting to the new conditions, the historically short period of time available to strengthen institutions that have been and are being newly created and meet the requirements of the market economy and the democratisation of social life – all these mean that problems remain in the major spheres of children’s activity. They continue to include the dysfunction of some families, often accompanied by violence, including violence towards children, leading to neglect and child delinquency and to the rise of the phenomenon of social orphans. An acute problem is the use by minors of alcohol and drugs and the deterioration in children’s state of health. A long-term problem is poverty among families with children which, despite all the measures adopted, has so far not been reduced.
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 measures in defence of the rights of children and is carrying them out on the basis of the National Action Plan for Children for 1995-2000, the Government’s Action Plan in the area of social policy and modernization of the economy for 2000-2001, and the Medium-term Programme of Social and Economic Development of the Russian Federation for 2002–2004. Measures to protect the rights of children in a difficult situation in life with a view to better guaranteeing the interests of the child are being carried out on the basis of the amendments and additions adopted during the period under review to the Family Code.
Presentation of Report
OLGA SHARAPOVA, Director of the Department of Social and Medical Problems of Family, Motherhood and Childhood of the Ministry of Health and Social Development, said the Russian Federation was striving to ensure that the provisions of the Convention and the principles of taking into account the best interests of the child, the right to life and the harmonious development of the personality of children were the basic aims of the programmes and policies implemented in the context of children. When writing the report, best efforts had been made to indicate progress made, including the work done following the concluding observations of the previous report, although the implementation of these had not yet concluded and was still ongoing. In a country like Russia, with a swift pace of socio-economic reform, major changes had occurred since the previous submission of a report, including federal and administrative reforms.
There was a federal division of powers in the Russian Federation, and legislative work in consolidating the work of the different spheres, which was aimed at improving democracy and strengthening local administrations, which was extremely important in such a multi-ethnic country, Ms. Sharapova said. There had been amendments to the financial and tax codes, enhancing independence of the different bodies and for their programmes. A systemic division of authorities and prerogatives had take place in the area of financial resources. In legislative terms, the obligation on the part of regions not to reduce the scope of social allowances and not to worsen conditions with regard to the pre-reform period had been backed up. There had been an ongoing monitoring of reform, which had indicated that there had not been a worsening of the situation of children, but in some areas the situation had even improved, in particular thanks to tax and allowance advantages given to families with children.
Ms. Sharapova said that as a result of a consistent policy aimed at increasing the welfare of the population, the number of children living in a situation of low-family income had dramatically declined. However, it was recognised that gaps or shortcomings could occur in the reforms, which would negatively impact on children. The legislative basis for the rights of the child was basically formed in the period from 1993-1999. In the period under review, basic efforts had been directed towards practical activities aimed at enhancing children’s basic rights, including those to health, happiness and the right to life. The most effective mechanisms that existed before for helping children in grave situations had been retained. There were many other changes in provisions and new programmes for improving the situation of children, including children with disabilities. Russia recognised that there were many situations that had not been resolved, and that efforts needed to continue and be consistent to that effect. It was hoped the dialogue with the Committee would help to achieve the full implementation of the Convention in Russia.
Questions by Experts
NEVENA VUCKOVIC-SAHOVIC, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of the Russian Federation, said the report included encouraging introductory remarks which indicated there was capacity to recognise problems in the general system for the implementation of the Convention, and provided information on numerous legislative activities aimed at implementation of the rights of the child. Yet, in many areas, it lacked more information on the actual application of legislation and measures taken to improve the situation for children. There was often reference to the previous report which was basically on legislation, and left the Committee with no possibility of assessing the progress made in the period between the reports. It was not clear to what extent the previous concluding observations had been broadly disseminated and publicly discussed. On some particular issues, the report indicated that previous recommendations had been taken into account, with no information provided on the actual measures taken or results evaluated.
Russia was the biggest country in the world, and its unfortunately decreasing population was not the most numerous, but certainly among the biggest. The size and vastness of its space, variety of climates and mixture of ethnicities and religions were the essence of its wealth, yet these were also sources of major factors of difficulties in implementing the Convention. Russia needed to put a lot of effort into providing equal access to services, equal opportunities and enjoyment of human rights for all of its people, in particular children. This enormous task was additionally burdened by the difficult transition process, in which access to social services, health and education, which were the pride of the socialist period, were the first to suffer. The reporting period was marked with numerous achievements in the economy, legislation and child-related policy, and, along with the present positive economic trend, these positive steps had to be used as a unique opportunity to increase investments on priorities for children and to accelerate social sector reform. Strengthening and consolidating the Government’s current child policies, together with effective implementation and evaluation, was the key to progress in the realisation of children’s rights.
Decentralisation was the key to success in all States, let alone such a big one as Russia, but it was a major challenge. The usual benefits could at first be constraints, and could seriously dilute the important issues previously overseen by the central Government. In this context, there was particular concern with its effects on children’s welfare, namely with regards to Law 122, and its possible negative impact on children, and the delegation was asked to comment on this. With regards to the National Plan of Action, it seemed that after the year 2000, the children of Russia had an opportunity to benefit from the short term plan of action, but it seemed that this was not an overall plan that was in line with "A World Fit for Children", the outcome document of the Special Session in New York in 2002. It was encouraging to read in the report that a new plan was being prepared, but in the written replies no reference was made to this plan, which in the opinion of the Committee was essential for implementation of the rights of the child, and there was a need to provide an update on the respective activities and to explain the vision of the Russian Federation, particularly in the light of decentralisation.
Another Expert said the Committee welcomed the adoption and ratification of the ILO Convention on the worst forms of child labour, and noted with pleasure that Russia had no reservations to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Issues raised by several Experts covered legislation and its implementation, with an Expert asking whether there was an organic modality for coordination at the federal body to ensure that programmes and legislation could operate in a coordinated manner, and another Expert asking what difficulties had been encountered in the implementation of the newly-adopted and amended legislation on the national level. Other questions on this topic included whether the Convention could be invoked before the courts, and what was its precise situation in domestic law and national legislation.
Statistical data was also an issue, with one Expert asking whether there was a plan to increase the data collected within the context of the requirements of the Convention. Another Expert inquired why children who were born to asylum seekers or refugees or parents without a permit to stay in the country were not given a birth certificate nor were they registered, and what did the State party intend to do in this respect, as it was a fundamental right that was being neglected. An Expert also noted that the transition period was responsible for most of the difficulties with regards to many different factors in the context of the population.
Other questions included whether there was an independent body to hold non-governmental organizations to account; when would the Federal Office for Ombudsman on the rights of the child be established; how could the authorities ensure that each and every child had the same level of access to education and health; what remedies were available in case of the violation of rights; whether the State party intended to have a single minimum age of criminal responsibility or several depending on the crime; whether the State should not exclude the intervention of the State for those who had committed criminal acts and who were aged under 14 years of age; the need to achieve better balance between state security and child security in order to protect children within the context of the war on terrorism; and what was being done to reduce suicides among children and youths.
Response by Delegation
Responding to these questions and issues, Ms. Sharapova said with regards to Beslan, this had been a huge tragedy for every one in the world and not just the people of Russia. To date, in the course of the year, in federal clinics, approximately 990 children had been treated who had been directly sent from Beslan to the clinics, often along with their parents for medical, social and psychological rehabilitation. A programme had been adopted and institutions created by the Government for amounts to be allocated to education and health over the next years in North Ossetia where the incident took place. Families that had been affected and traumatised by the event had all been sent for rehabilitation and treatment for psychological trauma.
With regards to the process of decentralisation in the administration, the delegation said law 122 entered into force on 1 January 2005. The experience in implementing this law therefore extended only over nine months. The process of decentralisation was a worldwide trend, and the reform process in other countries had been taken into account. A reform of the administration had taken place at the same time, and the whole question of balancing budgets had been a major issue of significant priority to the Government. Additional mechanisms for equalling out the treatment of different bodies in the Government had been set up in 2003. The Ministry of Regional Development was supposed to coordinate the work of other Ministries.
Payments were made to families when a child was born, and to mothers looking after children up to a certain age. Allowances had recently been increased significantly in many areas. The situation was being monitored, and child activities were being coordinated. The Commission on Juvenile Affairs had not lost its status, and fresh momentum was to be given to its work, and in its issues, attention would be given to the rights of the child and to family matters, both at the regional and national levels. On the Plan of Action, the document was called Basic Directions for Improving the Situation of Children in the Russian Federation, and it had been compiled taking into account the provisions made by the international community at the special session of the General Assembly at the United Nations. The document was considered a strategic policy paper for the Government to cover children’s interests over the upcoming period, and would be complemented by other papers from respective departments and Ministries.
On the practice of parliamentary hearings and information on legislation on children, the delegation said the amount of the grants paid out by the State to children and to parents and guardians had indicated significant progress. Laws took a long time to formulate, and parliamentary hearings reflected this. The issue of advertising in the mass media and of alcoholism had been thoroughly discussed. A special tax relief law had been adopted allowing families with children not to be taxed on a specific portion of their salaries. A bill had been submitted on increasing the ceiling for this tax relief. A certain degree of experience had been achieved in the work of the Ombudsman for the rights of the child, and in various regions the work of the Ombudsman was done by an independent structure, including at the municipal level by a municipal official.
A new law had been prepared in connection with implementing new legislative initiatives on the Ombudsman’s institution. With regards to children’s problems, it was understood fully how complex these were and how complex it was to ensure that all citizens, regardless of trends, were protected by standards ensuring the rights of children to education and health, the delegation said. On statistics, and how these were gathered, the system was structured to take into account the needs of all users, including governmental structures, and tried to take into account international recommendations made by international organizations in this area, and the work was done in a context of international instruments on this topic. Recently, data on gender aspects had been increased. The demographic situation in Russia required accurate information covering it.
The rate of suicides was much too high, reaching 5.2 cases out of every 100,000 members of the population in the appropriate age bracket. At the federal and regional level, the delegation said, there were more than 400 NGOs registered which dealt with children’s rights. These worked on social rights, among other things, and were very representative. They participated in various Committees and Working Groups at the governmental level, and shed light on certain negative issues and things that needed to be resolved, and efforts were being directed together towards building a society that was better for children.
Questions by Experts
In a second round of questions, Experts raised various issues, among which health was of particular interest for several Experts. Issues raised by various Experts included those linked to malnutrition, particularly iron disorders and an Expert asked whether there had been any change to the legislation on iodising salt, for example. Other questions included whether the State was making any efforts to improve breast-feeding figures; why diphtheria was re-emerging and what the State was doing in this regard; issues linked to abortion and HIV/AIDS; and reform of the paediatric services.
Adoption was also a topic which was of interest for several Experts, one of whom asked whether it would be possible to give the central authority greater control over these, with regards to both national and international adoptions. Another Expert mentioned reports that poverty was often a cause for offering a child for adoption, and asked for more data in this regard.
Other questions covered various topics, including what the difference was between mentally retarded children and children with mental development problems; whether access to compulsory free education was available for all children, in particular those with disabilities; what was being done to assist or alleviate the problem of poverty; sexual exploitation and trafficking in particular with regard to teen prostitution which was apparently a very lucrative business involving children and minors, many of whom worked under threat; what was being done to alleviate the price of school fees for poorer families; and issues linked to the teaching of human rights at the school level.
Response by Delegation
Responding to these questions, the delegation of the Russian Federation said a preventative programme for problems within the family had existed over the last 10 years to provide prompt and professional assistance to families with children. This was financed by the Federal Government and the local entities budget, and took the form of centres throughout the country, providing various services to various groups of the population. There was violence in the homes and in families, and steps were being taken to address this, including within the schools, where there were inspectors who worked together with social workers and the police to help avoid the increase in violations against children in schools.
Members of the gypsy population were often on the street, and cases had been seen, the delegation said, when they exploited children as slaves. When action was taken, it was to respond to such a situation, and it was not prompted by discrimination. Fourteen-year-olds could not be held criminally responsible in Russia, and criminal groups took advantage of this, using them for various illegal purposes and actions. With regards to registration, including those who were not Russian nationals, they had to be registered where their parents resided. However, if they did not have parents, they had to be taken in by institutions, where they had the same rights as all other Russian citizens.
With regards to trafficking, there was no such trafficking where children were taken beyond the frontiers and sexual acts were carried out with them. Everything was kept under control, the delegation said, and regular work was being done to ensure that all organizations which dealt with that sort of business were working to ensure that such activity was kept under control by the Government. The growth in crime had not been very significant recently, and had only been four per cent over the last year. There was no difference in treatment between crimes committed within the home or outside, and the same punishment was applied, depending on the mitigating, attenuating or aggravating circumstances considered by the courts.
On the question of dissemination of information on the Convention in the education system, informing children about the provisions of the Convention and the rights of the child began at the first stages of education in primary school, and continued throughout the whole primary school cycle. Not only children needed to be taught about rights of the child, but also the teachers themselves, and therefore, on a regular basis, within the centralised system, the Federal Academy for Improvement of Qualifications held courses for all teaching levels. The level of illiteracy over the age of 10 had dropped between 1998 and 2002. The Government had adopted a priority plan, in accordance with which a number of measures had been formulated which provided for the development and incorporation of State education standards into the curricula of institutions.
On financing, a document was being developed on per capita financing for specialised training at the primary, secondary and higher levels. In 2008, per capita financing would be achieved fully in these areas. On children with disabilities, children of school age, from seven to seventeen, with “limited health possibilities” were 407,000 in number. Russia had acceded to international documents and thought that it was on the right track in terms of introducing and incorporating these children into the overall education system. There were many orphanages in Russia, and about seven per cent of orphaned children were actually placed with families, the delegation said.
There was no discrimination against girls in schools, the delegation said, and they studied harder and succeeded better than boys. Children from the fifth year of education had the right, if they were not happy with the activities of a given teacher or the conditions of the school or the quality of the teaching, to contact the administration and go to the Educator’s Council, the Teacher’s Council, or the Parents’ Council and make a complaint. If a child were to exercise his or her rights, the best way to do this was not theoretical, but through hands-on practise. All the basic items of expenditure for education of a child, including the education of teachers and equipment, were an item of community expenditure. The child and the parents were entitled, if they could not or did not wish to pay for the requests coming from the school administration or the Parents’ Committee for funds for various purposes such as improving the security of the school, to not pay for these, and no-one was allowed to demand these funds from the child or bar him or her from the school for non-payment.
To talk of trafficking of children was not exactly justified, as adoption was free, and no money was taken for the drawing up of documents, the delegation said. The Parliament’s competence was to ensure a balance between the forms of adoption and to fill the gaps in legislation between Russia and the country of the adopter. Russia understood the significance of the Hague Convention, but first wished to eliminate the lacunae in Russian legislation.
The qualifications of specialist doctors were better than they had been several years ago, the delegation said, and there were clinics working in the front line and specialised services which provided a better approach to diagnostics. However, it had to be noted that there was a great growth in socially caused diseases, including HIV/AIDS, alcoholism and drug-addiction. Over the last 10 years, the health system had only been financed at a very low level from the State budget, and so a move to a number of paid forms of medical care had taken place. With regards to minors and children, medical service had always and would always continue to be provided free of charge, and this was guaranteed by the State each year at an Assembly in Parliament, and this included not just front-line but also specialised medical services.
Seventy per cent of children lived in areas which suffered from various types of deficits, and only 20-25 per cent of children received hot food at school, and programmes were being implemented to reverse this last trend. Now in all schools there was a return of medical officers and mid-level medical personnel so that children could receive certain medical services themselves. In the army, about 10 per cent of recruits were underweight, and there was a problem not with obesity, but from the other end, with underweight children. There was concern with the drop in birth weights, and about the numbers of adolescent pregnancies, although these figures were dropping, thanks to targeted work being done on family planning, including classes being given by medical officers in secondary schools and general education establishments on how to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
There was significant alarm that a large number of women in the reproductive age bracket were infected with HIV/AIDS, the delegation said. The number of births by HIV/AIDS-infected women had increased, and the number of HIV-positive children had also increased. There was a programme to prevent HIV/AIDS. There was also a global fund from which Russia had received money to buy anti-retroviral preparations which had made it possible to treat pregnant women and women in the reproductive age bracket. Work to change mentalities would have to change in the country, and work was being done to this effect, as HIV-infected children had previously been rejected for adoption by families, but these children and people were now accepted to a greater extent.
The health budget had increased, due to the implementation of law 122, and this would be distributed not only as increased capital investment, but also an increase of wages and salaries for medical personnel, and an increased number of specialised institutions to provide aid to children. Levels of drug addiction among children had increased five times over the last decade, and the number of children registered as drug addicts had also increased. On children from minority groups, education was provided in 30 languages, including minority languages, and branches in higher education in areas where minorities lived were being opened up, as well as in Moscow and St Petersburg.
There were plans to open 50 schools in remote areas in the north as well as health services, and this would ensure that access to health and education was ensured. On migrant children and adolescents, the delegation said that on 1 January 2005, there were 26 per cent of migrants among the homeless, including many children and adolescents. In the past there had been a problem, but a legislative act had been adopted to ensure that children could receive specialised as well as ordinary and general medical services in clinics without submitting a medical certificate or proof of residence.
Preliminary Observations
NEVENA VUCKOVIC-SAHOVIC, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of the Russian Federation, said in preliminary concluding observations that a lot of information had been provided during the day. On Friday, the Committee would adopt concluding observations that would address the achievements and acknowledge the constraints under which the State party laboured, and would express concerns on the implementation of the Convention in Russia. Measures to be taken on the dissemination of the Convention, the training of professionals and all activities that should lead to a change of attitude would be urged. Further, the Committee would recommend that the State party take measures to improve access to education and health services for all children without discrimination. The Committee looked forward to hearing reports of the further progress of the implementation of the Convention in Russia.
The delegation had said that Russia was a country of capable professionals, Ms. Vuckovic-Sahovic said, and that these would continue to work for the benefit and in the best interests of children, and that they would continue to work for the realisation of the rights of the child. It was hoped that this would take place in the near future, and also that today’s dialogue would help in this work, as it had helped the Committee to understand the situation of children in Russia.
For use of the information media; not an official record
CRC05035E