First Deputy Chairperson of the State Duma Committee on Education Yana Lantratova noted that the number of incidents involving dangerous behavior among children and adolescents is on the rise. Children are not only involved in criminal activities and destructive youth movements, but also become victims of crime. Unfortunately, this is happening more and more on the Internet.
“Last year, Roskomnadzor shut down half a million groups with dangerous content, 25,000 of which were associated with promoting child suicide and 23,000 — with child pornography. In total, from 2017 to the present, Roskomnadzor has closed 187,000 child pornography sites, — said the deputy.
The statistics here are frightening. Over the past three years, 27,000 children have been victims of sexual acts in Russia! In 2021 alone, 16,887 crimes against the sexual integrity of minors were recorded. By way of comparison: in 2015, there were 12,175. In 60% of cases, the victims are minors. In total, more than 99,000 (99,631) children suffered in seven years, 127 crimes occurred directly in educational institutions.
The number of crimes related to child pornography trafficking is also growing: an increase of 2.7% in five years. In 2021, 541 cases were recorded under Art. 242.1 of the Criminal Code. Alas, there is no criminal sanction for the distribution of child pornography in the Russian Federation. At the same time, the number of protocols drawn up to promote non-traditional sexual relations in 2021 was only 19.
Yana Lantratova also drew attention to the problem of a sharp increase in child suicides. Among the causes of death among adolescents, suicide ranks third after serious injuries and incurable congenital diseases. According to official statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), every year 200 children and 1.5 thousand adolescents commit suicide in the country. According to the Security Council, in the first six months of 2021, 3,064 suicide attempts were detected among minors. This is 43% more than in 2020: when there were 2,146.
MPs came to the conclusion that additional legislation was needed to protect children, and the authors could not escape their responsibility.