MEETING WITH AUTHORITIES OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS REGARDING CHILD SAFETY
President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga received authorities and representatives of some government bodies in the State Palace today.
The meeting was held in connection to the beginning of a new academic year, and to address follow-up actions that were taken after the instructions regarding child safety the President gave to government organizations in his speech during the plenary meeting of the State Great Khural on June 28th.
In his address to the State Great Khural, President Battulga had mentioned, “In 2017, 1,752 children became victims of 1,692 crimes, whereas, in the first six months of 2018, the number of child victims increased by 40 percent against the same period of the previous year. Last year, 127 children lost their lives untimely, and 187 children became victims of sexual violence, with the age of the victims getting increasingly younger,” and outlined urgent measures to be taken by the government organizations.
Present at today’s meeting were more than 30 government officials, including B.Saranchimeg, Member of Parliament and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Policy, Education, Culture, and Science, N.Oyundari, Member of Parliament and Head of the Parliamentary Sub-committee on Human Rights, G.Uyanga, Civil Society and Human Rights Policy Advisor to the President, D.Uuriintuya, Human Development and Social Policy Advisor to the President, R.Bulgamaa, Non-staff Advisor to the President, G.Unurbayar, State Secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, N.Lundendorj, Chairman of the Judicial General Council, J.Byambadorj, Chief Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission, a Head of Department of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, and Sport, and authorities of the National Police Agency.
Starting the meeting, President Battulga said, “At the initiative of the President, an open discussion themed Improving Implementation of State Policies to Protect Children and Women Against Violence, Public Participation and Control took place in November, 2017, as a result of which the National Police Agency established a Division for Prevention of Crimes Against Children.
In April, 2018, a discussion themed Child Protection, Current State, Challenges and Solutions took place. I hope you remember. Although such discussions and meetings are being held, the statistical figures on child accidents caused by the negligence of adults and violence against children haven’t lowered.
Therefore, I attended the plenary meeting of the State Great Khural in June to give a set of directions, comprising six tasks, to all government organizations responsible for child safety. In particular, I called for taking measures, such as formulating and adopting child protection law and standards, issuing an implementation guideline, and conducting inspection at schools, kindergartens, playgrounds and all other child-involving environments.
Of the 11 organizations that received the instructions, eight have sent their reports. I have read each of these reports, and there isn’t any report that can satisfy or assure me that viable actions have been taken.
The specialized bodies inspected 44 of 798 schools in the country or 18 percent and 60 kindergartens out of 1,416 kindergartens or 23.6 percent. The report doesn’t contain the result of inspection in rural schools and kindergartens. As such, these reports only contain information on the violations that were detected, and there is no account of how these violations were corrected and how the corrections were examined in person. I am sure everyone understands that our desired goal isn’t integrating data, issuing written orders, and imposing fine.”
The meeting proceeded with questions directed to the government officials regarding information in the said reports. For instance, President Battulga addressed certain issues, including safety of electrical wires and cables, playgrounds and school environment, nutritional value of food provided to pre-schoolers, child protection standards, risk assessment of day nurseries, lack of professional teachers and educators, and the difference in the working hours of government organizations and kindergartens.
In conclusion, President Battulga instructed the concerned government organizations to work together in order to effectively solve the existing problems. The President mentioned the exemplary actions of the National Police Agency, thanks to which child crimes decreased by 30.2 percent, expressing his willingness to cooperate on such preventive measures. After discussing the preparations for the new academic year, the President called a meeting to review the results after a month from today.
