We must protect the children!

In the past year, issues of child deaths and injuries from external causes have become particularly urgent, especially during the winter holidays. In 2021, 21 minors died in the region (13 children in 2020), including 10 children due to drowning, 5 children due to traffic violations, 3 children due to crimes, 2 children due to suicides, and 1 child due to other causes.

The practice of prosecutorial supervision indicates that the main causes of child deaths are the disregard for safety regulations by the children themselves and parental neglect, violations of safety regulations in the maintenance of potentially dangerous facilities for children in public places and near their homes, and the failure of prevention entities to take timely measures to protect children in disadvantaged families.

However, unfortunately, in the absolute majority of cases, minors from well-to-do families die from external causes.

On 29.12.2021, at 16:25, two schoolchildren aged 10 and 12 fell through the ice and drowned in the Western Dvina River in the Polotsk district.

The children were sledding down a snow slide, and then the 10-year-old boy went down to the river and began to test the ice for strength; the ice could not withstand it, and he fell into the water. His friend tried to save him and also fell through the ice. People nearby could not save the children.

In the Brest region, a young girl died while tubing, which was attached to a car, and hit a solid object.

We would like to appeal to parents:

 – We must protect children from accidents! Know and monitor your children's behavior and whereabouts, do not allow them to be in and play in potentially dangerous places, especially near water bodies, when sledding down snow slides, including tubing, which poses an increased risk of injury. Build trusting relationships with your children, know their real hobbies and social circle. In case of dangerous situations, inform educators and law enforcement agencies. Do not ignore or keep silent when you see children spending their free time in dangerous places – water bodies, ice, abandoned construction sites and buildings, attics and building entrances, etc. Immediately inform the territorial emergency services and internal affairs bodies about this. There is no need to divide your life into before and after a tragedy.

Senior Assistant Regional Prosecutor for Supervision of the Enforcement of Legislation on Minors and Youth A.V. Volkov