Prosecutors are focusing on issues of crime prevention among youth

The prosecutors' attention is constantly focused on issues of crime prevention among youth and improving the situation in dysfunctional families.

Over the twelve years of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of 24.11.2006 No. 18 "On Additional Measures for State Protection of Children in Dysfunctional Families," as a result of the coordination of preventive entities' activities consistently carried out by the regional prosecutor's offices, there has been a steady downward trend in the number of orphans and children left without parental care. Since 2007, their number has decreased from 4,808 to 2,998 children in 2018 (a decrease of 37.6%).

The regional prosecutor's office is taking organizational and practical measures aimed at increasing the effectiveness of preventive work with children and students.

Furthermore, at the initiative of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, since 2015, executive committees and preventive entities in the regions have organized ongoing work to identify objects potentially dangerous to children, eliminate violations of safety requirements during their operation, and conduct appropriate explanatory work among children and their parents.

In the region, the number of children who died from external causes decreased from 27 in 2017 to 14 in 2018. This year, 11 minors have died from external causes in the region (compared to 12 in the same period of 2018).

At the initiative of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies adopted Resolution No. 10 of 27.03.2018 "On Additional Measures for Social Support of Students."

According to this resolution, students of general secondary and special education institutions in the region are granted the right to free travel on public passenger transport from September 1 to June 30, in cases other than those provided for in subparagraph 1.1 of the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of 16.02.2011 No. 202 "On Certain Issues of Student Travel."

Thus, since the beginning of the new academic year, students again have the right to free travel not only to and from their place of study

to the place of residence, but also to places of additional employment, sports, culture, etc. Such social support measures allow for greater involvement of children in additional employment, and therefore have a real impact on the prevention of their unlawful behavior.

Assistant Prosecutor of the Region for
Supervision of the Enforcement of Legislation
on Minors and Youth Irina Tarasevich