Civic Forum Discusses Children And Youth Problems

The participants in a round table comprising representatives of more than 50 public non-commercial Russian organisations discussed who should solve the problems of children and youth. They met as part of the Civic Forum of the Russian Federation in Moscow on Thursday. According to the participants, the so-called "third sector" (public organisations) is an efficient force to solve the social, economic and other problems of the younger generation. However, they acknowledged that public organisations need state support not only to work effectively but also "to stand on their feet". Therefore the discussion focused not on the problems of children and teenagers but on "establishing permanent ties between the civil society and the authorities". According to the participants, first of all, it is necessary to amend several articles in the Russian Tax Code which prevent public organisations from carrying out their activities successfully. The participants worked out several proposals for state bodies. For instance, they proposed the introduction in museums of a weekly free of charge day for children and the organisation of regular meetings between federal (regional) departments and representatives of public organisations. In addition, the participants considered it was necessary to restore a system of juvenile justice in Russia, to introduce legal control over the monitoring of children's rights and to establish a public council on children's problems subordinate to the Russian president. All in all, they worked out more than 20 proposals.