Alexander Mukha, member of the coordinating council of the NPM: «It is necessary to strengthen preventive work with problem families so that children do not get into special centers».
Alexander Mukha, a member of the Coordinating Council of the NPM, talked about what can be improved in terms of the detention of minors in special institutions of Kazakhstan during the presentation of the consolidated report of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for 2019-2020.
According to the speaker, the recommendations voiced by experts and specialists in this field are kept unchanged from year to year. Most often these recommendations concern preventive work with dysfunctional families and the immediate conditions of children's detention in special institutions, Delovoy Kazakhstan reports.
«Our recommendations remaining the same: it is necessary to ensure the productive leisure of children, their education, improve the quality of food, and try to provide them with access to means of communication, so that minors can independently transmit their statements and complaints. This will give us the opportunity to immediately respond to violations, because often children, being at special schools, do not have free access to the phone or other means of communication. But first, of course, it is necessary to strengthen preventive work. As a rule, when you talk to a child who got into such an institution, it turns out that his parents do not work, there are certain family and household problems. Thus, coordinated work should be carried out to improve conditions in the family itself» Alexander Mukha
He also noted that the obstacles that NPM groups face when trying to get into special children's institutions are still a big problem. According to the speaker, this is facilitated by the high level of ignorance of employees of such institutions about the activities of the National Preventive Mechanism against Torture and Ill-Treatment.
As a result, Alexander Mukha noted, this leads to the fact that the right of children to file complaints is violated more often, and information about any egregious facts of violations of rights is often being hidden.
«Employees of a particular institution may strive in every possible way to ensure that the child does not let slip, say something superfluous and does not complain about the conditions of detention. But I would like to remind you that we are not a punishing body. Accordingly, we do not check to find, indicate, and necessarily punish you. We are rather assistants, ready to prompt, to give an assessment from the outside. Therefore, in my opinion, it would be good if several training seminars for the administration of institutions were held this year, where it would be explained what an NPM is, what it is needed for, what powers it has,» Alexander Mukha
Another important area of work in this area, the speaker called the socialization of children and adolescents with disabilities. He noted that even while in special institutions, such children, especially those who are close to their 18th birthday, could get elementary skills and professions.
«But such a child is not taken anywhere, and professional skills are not given anywhere. Therefore, having trained him in an institution, we will give him the opportunity to get a profession and, accordingly, some kind of certificate so that he can then work fully, moving on,» Alexander Mukha
He also focused on the issue of the quality of nutrition in special institutions for children, pointing out that the principle «who supplies cheaper, that's what we take» should not work in this case. In addition, a member of the Coordinating Council of the NPM drew attention to the need of developing standard buildings for the relevant institutions.
«Playgrounds and other zones should be provided. Today, many buildings do not even have external playgrounds so that children can simply play, not even talking about the other equipment or toys. In general, it is necessary to inspect the existing boarding institutions of the country, as 70% of them require major repairs,» Alexander Mukha
Concluding his speech, the speaker stressed that it would not be excessive to make changes to the legislation that would affect the existing norms for providing children left without parental care with clothes, shoes, and soft equipment.
«Today in this regard, the term is being too long, and after all, this is a child: today he fell, tomorrow he tore his clothes, then something else could happen. And then, as they say, get out yourself,» Alexander Mukha
At the same time, he noted, despite the listed negative aspects, a lot is being done today to improve the lives of minors in special institutions.
«All these are the main recommendations. Of course, I started right away with the negative aspects, but at the same time, a lot of work is being done today in terms of protecting children's rights. Although it should be noted that doing a lot does not mean that all problems will be solved at once. The main thing here is quality, so that changes are implemented in practice. Then we will see a tangible positive result more often,» Alexander Mukha
It should be added that the institutional strengthening of the NPM in Kazakhstan is carried out with the support of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the United Nations Development Programme and other international organizations. The activities of the NPM participants are coordinated by the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Republic of Kazakhstan, Elvira Azimova.
