Child fatality warning
Systematic work is being carried out in the Vitebsk region to protect children's rights. Measures to prevent child injuries are of great importance in this regard.
On the initiative of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, since 2015, in conjunction with the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, systematic work has been carried out in this area of activity. A joint decision has been made to systematically identify all potentially dangerous objects for children in the regions (quarries, abandoned buildings and houses, industrial buildings, ownerless artificial reservoirs, construction sites, etc. – where children die), located near the places of residence of minors. Passports for such objects have been created, which are constantly updated after joint raids by interested services and the elimination of threats from identified dangerous objects. New dangerous objects are identified and included in the passports. With the onset of summer holidays and the beginning of the new academic year, prosecutors check the effectiveness of this work and take prosecutorial response measures. The current year was no exception; monitoring of potentially dangerous objects was also carried out by prosecutors, and response measures were taken.
In addition, in April-May of the current year, the region's prosecutor's offices conducted an inspection of the activities of executive committees, traffic police bodies, and educational institutions to ensure the safety of children on the roads. Violations were identified regarding the formal implementation of program activities in this area: roads in areas of children's movement were not equipped with "speed bumps" or speed limit signs, and there was an insufficient supply of reflective vests (Polotsk district). The latter violation is also characteristic of educational institutions in Novopolotsk. In the Rossony and Tolochin districts, when developing Plans for the Prevention of Child Injuries, preventive measures for road safety were not provided.
In the Verkhnedvinsk district, all measures for lighting intersections and partial repair of a certain section of the road were not completed in a timely manner.
In
In the Sharkovshchyna and Liozno districts, the activities of the executive committees' commissions for ensuring road safety were formal in nature (current issues of road network maintenance, specific accident cases, non-fulfillment of measures for installing road signs and markings were not considered).
In a number of regions, the traffic police authorities are not properly monitoring the execution of previously issued orders to ensure road safety for institutions and organizations.
In 5 months of 2020, a total of 2 children died from external causes (5 months of 2019 – 6 children), and no minors died in road traffic accidents this year.
The regional prosecutor's offices will continue to work to protect children's rights.
Senior Assistant Regional Prosecutor
Anton Volkov