you are thirteen yo live from moscow our top stories the process you count those rocks by two major fires seventeen people were killed in a marketplace in moscow outskirts said the inferno came hours after flames struck top floors of a business tower in which no one was injured. india's army has been shaken up by a major corruption scandal involving the country's military chief is going to reshuffle among india's foreign defense of fires which pretty possibly give russia and perhaps. president his range of science

a new laws relaxing the registration rolls for political parties in russia that aims to diversify the country's political landscape but it's still hard criticism from some opposition leaders who say they'll be too many functions waiting for our . night spotlight discusses how to ensure the protection of children and when it's right to break up a family and trouble. well for the. science technology innovation all the news developments from around russia we've got the future covered.

how it will gather water from just the interview shell on. today my guest on the program is more there her book. in the modern concept of human rights children held a very special place it is still unclear how the rights of those while should be protected and if the states or whatever institution can't interfere in family relationships that most people would apparently be doing kids have the right to a child even this and this theater gripe is often used so is it possible to secure a car and saying childhood it's not for old mosley's for most children how can we protect them from being used as a bargaining chip an adult and three we'll discuss it with deputy secretary general of the council of europe more thinking. when it comes to children's rights violence is one of the most pressing issues of europe says about

a hundred and fifty million european kids face some form of violence from simple smacking at home to sexual harassment children born across border marriages or adopted to foreign homes often become victims too they might know if they smile and say but if something goes wrong with the parents the kids become involved in judicial or even political intrigues protecting. children's rights are something the council of europe has concentrated on lately its deputy secretary general has just started a rights protection program in russia. hello and welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us i want to start with the question about russia russia has recently created the position of a child rights ombudsman of the house here in the studio couple of months ago how. do you think the creation of such

a position is the step in the right direction did you think do you think this was the right thing to do is absolutely the right thing to do but it's only one step as you say because when you want to tackle the issue of children's rights and in particular. deal with the issue of violence against children. creating an institution like an ombudsman is absolutely important in particular in the regions because the russian federation says so it's so big and in particular when you provide for access by children to this. person institution but as i said it's only a step because if you really want to be effective in combating violence against children you need to think of other things than just creating institutions however important it is you need to think about legislation you but perhaps the most important thing of everything is to think about a culture of zero tolerance in respect of violence against children because violence is by its threat in in the russian society as it is in the society in

europe as a whole the council of europe has a program called building a europe for children can you can it's also. a very good very good slogan but what does it mean it's not just a slogan and i appreciate that you emphasize the word will because obviously that refers to the participation of children. because any strategy which we want to design to for it to to protect children's rights must involve the children themselves they must have a say and that's why the with children is so important. the council of europe has developed such a strategy as from two thousand and six onwards because but because there's so much to do we we have to revise our priorities every year and we actually just adopted for the coming three years

a new strategy an action plan in which once again we emphasize the need to do everything we can to prevent and convert violence against children with a particular emphasis on particular vulnerable children. we want to promote child friendly services like child friendly justice child friendly health care and we want to promote it once again the participation if the children don't vote which is a pretty formal frame why do you think they should have a say in how to build europe it isn't a contradiction it's not because. the reality is that voting rights are normally granted to children through to human beings at the age of majority when they reach the age of eighteen but a lot of things happen in the children's work world before they reach that age and again particularly issue of violence against children and what happens to them if they're being abandoned. how they're being how they live how they're being treated

by society this is something which happens from that from birth on words i would say and as soon as children are able to put all of these sermons and capable of contributing to a discussion on their rights and how they can be best protected they should be given opportunity to do so the hill some of the europe wants. to burn corporal punishment of children. it is very important because it is first of all it's a very vital spread form of violence and it's medically frequently only a mild form of violence although it can of course lead to excesses but apart from leaving from traumatizing children leaving physical and psychological scars but it's important to realize that it is conveys a completely wrong message namely that conflicts can be solved through violence and

that it's a way to impose your view and that can have consequences also for the future both for the way parents deal with children but also how children. act amongst themselves the counsellor of blockage. to. communities and why. we haven't got a treaty on banning corporal punishment that we have the un convention on the rights of the child. which. contains a prohibition of each form of violence and that is an international commitment most of all i think it is important for our member states to understand why it is important to ban corporal punishment punishment in all settings in the schools. in the institutions but above all in the homes and i think we must make parents and that her body who is involved in the children's education understand why it is

important. such home many people groups within russia will start told him around the world one thing is violence is bleeding your kids more just smoking which is a difference so do you do you make a distinguish between smoking or beating you up or you're against any any kind of violence at all even even i mean as. yes yes i'm against even a little bit of color a little smack because this is your perception as an adult you don't know how it's perceived by the child and i think that is what matter is the humiliation it's humiliating it has no reason even if it is if it doesn't hurt yeah it's really absolutely absolutely and as i said it conflates a completely wrong message and some people especially in russia would and i sure they are telling you that this is a family matter it's a religious matter you know they even say that in the bible it says if you don't do it if you don't smack your child your father something like that do they find it in

the bible somewhere let me say that of course prohibited prohibiting it in law gives a very strong signal because that means that the authorities condemn it what matters in all these questions is the best interest of the child so we don't want children to be taken away from parents as a result of one or the other beating which takes in the place in the home we want we want the children to be brought up without violence and because we want this to happen we have at the same time in parallel to this initiative develop the whole package should to package for parents for positive parents parenting because there are alternatives to track and i am talking about it's i mean i'm not against the state to to to to to to to try to avoid violence burned. at the same time i think we should. establish some some some limits of state violation

and to found the french in a way i think. when it comes to really serious issues human rights violations the fact that matters take place and i'm not also referring to other forms of violence like sexual abuse of children the stuff that this takes place within the walls of the family is no excuse at all on the contrary it manes it means to do. for the state to interfere interfere by way of legislation setting an example of the penalties for the offenders but above all to prevent this this phenomenon to occur this is exactly what we have developed in terms of strategy and legal tools to bitch about which i will talk in a moment lou we will miss her talking about royce. recall a case of a friend of mine who lives in canada and his daughter who was about twelve or something years old twelve thirteen i started doing the cursing to use them for the

nose under lip from the bench or into the belly button so and so for the church the father said you should stop it and. i don't like it and she said it's my body i can do whatever i want with it well the father said well the first was my body too. finally he forgot he was a canadian and he recalled that he was a rush of blood and you saw this matter at the right. so right in this case the far the other girl is it really her body and can cheat and do whatever i think it falls right in the way they were right. but i think it is important for children to be aware that they're dangerous and that their parents can play a very protective role so there's no it's not just let children do anything they like. this is when it comes to violence. and especially if the violence is something which is being committed by the family members then you have

really a clear role for the state because we happen to know that in terms of sexual abuse of children seventy three eighty five percent of these cases take place in a context of people in whom they have to trust the parents and the. problem so should be physical absolutely with you but don't you sometimes have an impression that we may be opening the box off and. all those cases when when kids are seeing parents when they make them. do their homework read a book and they're watching television you know i try to bring them to quell i'm not in favor of this is bringing to court and i think for a case comes to court as a whole series of a situation so intervene like social services and for for them for insists to assess whether it's necessary to pursue any matter of. which brings a child in conflict with the parent says their bookie chiar deputy secretary

general of the council our view spotlight will be back should we run after a break so stay with us. i think it's an execution dates in believe me oh just having one which is enough for anybody to go to more leisure. you know more than fifty percent of the cable or if she's an actress are not. like you know new been known to have through

a snag. this is like you know we execute our convicted capital murder we have the highest execution rate in america we're not afraid to do it we do it well this becomes a point and then comes. our every new hope. our get in there your dad is going to be executed next week then isn't he a scary moment for you to know you can loose here want to be appearing at the in a manner of me saying that's and it's time to go just so our group to another leader into this to the death chamber. constipated till after they were dead.

walk i'm back to the spotlight i'm al green auburn just a reminder that my guest on the show today is their board of will there be the second general of the council of europe we're talking about children about children's rights which actually are human rights i mean that's the beauty of the book but they are smaller and we want to make bigger yes the question as to what extent should we should and should they become equal to its ordinary that's a good question that's a very very small there should not be smaller rights let's remember that yes well let's talk about a very serious matter about adoption which which sometimes abuses children goes greatly many many media reports they are saying about the increasing problems the adopted children get from for foreign foster families especially in the united states including tremendous violence we we we we witnessed deaths of children so

what why are these cases less in europe in foster families with russian children because because the laws are stricter on adoption in europe than in the u.s. we have an exploration of abuse in the family whether logical family or. large family created as a result of adoption takes place also in europe. we have very serious figures about abuse in the family. which. we have in all in all cases of adoption. as for general family life we have to be very alert about the interest of the child. i happen to know i may be wrong and there is that in russian federation of all the of the and by. and in children in the russian federation ninety five percent are actually social orphans they're not. one or both biological parents are still alive so i think the first thing to assert

is whether it is possible to reintegrate these children into their original authentic families and we need a lot of support from that by the state both in terms of finance but also social social support. if that doesn't work. in fact adoption is a possibility i would personally favor first international adoption precisely because i don't exclude one day that she still didn't can be reunited with her family. and run it comes to international adoption which i think should not be banned by dissolution we have to make sure that the agencies which are involved in the adoption process and are accredited by the state and that they are. there for they perform in a way that the risks are reduced at the other end of the tunnel that the child eventually will end up but all this can never be a guaranteed

a child children can be safe from abuse whether it's in the united states whether it's in russia but it's in france it's a it's a problem everywhere and i think the reason i've heard that the reason why russian russian authorities would give their children for adoption abroad to countries with higher living standards because they believe for example if aggression yost hunger and friends are all frogs he will be happier there than he will be in a russian family which i think is wrong in so long i mean children does need the money he was the living standard seems low no i mean i'm afraid that all this is based on the on on something which i consider as the wrong approach to this is the right of parents to a child whereas what we should be talking about is the right of a child to a family i mean if you adopt that approach and that means that you take the best interest of the child as a decisive factor this this is no yes and this is this yes this is what you have to

be talking to just look at it from from the other because they're going to cross border adoptions which have gone wrong keep overshadowing russia's relations with the united states with france spotlights you know the media reports and. we made russia and the western she'd been. highest level after our actual saving lives had been sand back to russia alone by his adoptive family in america the russian foreign ministry said enough was enough and needed to be called for a suspension of all adoptions by u.s. citizens our own story was true in the series of child abuse cases over the last twenty years more than sixty thousand russian children were adopted by american families one thousand nine hundred one fortunately most of these children are now or live in. new american families however seven to marital children dozens harmed and hundreds who disappeared. which cannot be just

a lot to put an end to adoption related scandals russia and the west negotiated a bilateral agreement it took seven rounds of talks before the document was finally signed last summer by sergei lavrov and hillary clinton. as a result we have an agreement which is truly carries granting equal rights to both russia and the us in security guarantees that adoptive parents are psychologically and mentally stable because that's our celebration of this mutual understanding didn't last in february the russian foreign ministry once again called for adoptions by u.s. citizens to be put on hold and one of the reasons behind moscow's indignation was a series of sentences for abusive adoptive parents which were considered too soft like in the case with monster of a gutter the seven year old would receive approximately eighty injuries and died in

a hospital in two thousand and nine last year a jury found his adoptive parents guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced them to nineteen months in prison however they were released having already spent their time in detention awaiting trial. well i want to add something to what we just heard the sad stories that we heard is that children also. from when parents divorce various during different passports different nationalities the respective governments try to protect each their own parents and the every government thinks that considers the child to be a citizen of one country and they say is this it is of our country and children of victims and do you think that we should do something to pass an international law that would regulate that is a passable. well i mean the hague convention which russian federation has not

ratified deals with the question of international adoption i think that when it comes to separation of the parents and divorce it is the responsibility of the judge in preventing pronouncing divorce or separation to look into the matter of the child's best interests of the two judges opens all always a citizen of one of the two country as a judge should be objective and best interests of the child should not be nationality related to this is mean and i don't see how you can lay their lives down in an international treaty i think it is something which you must must give the responsibility and the authority to one additional authority to assess that. of course in europe we have the european court of human rights which ultimately can rule on the compatibility of this issues of that crime or failure to decide with the rights of the child. but it should not be the ultimate red matter remedy it

should be it should be addressed properly domestic life and the question i want to ask you. about the strategy that we had with those children the children from. europe from from brussels who went skiing and were caught and then awful. twenty two something children die well whole europe was mourning for four for for a couple of weeks four for two dozen children that were killed there next and but every day hundreds of children around the world even the u.s. are dying because the tragic incident because of the condition of the wife is organized in a way that will make people die tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and nobody seems to cheer for that isn't this double standard this nuclear bomb. it made me and makes me and it make me angry turn makes me very upset actually i was very upset by this accident on. not only because six of the children. and i find it's

a terrible tragedy for the family should but i did not react publicly because precisely of the reason because you gave an every day children die as a result of. violence against children trafficking. eases diseases and there's a so we should really as adults. look at children as as not as our future children suffer today and we must do everything we can to prevent this from happening this is this is and this is what the council of europe is designed has been when it developed this building in europe for and with children it's to give to make it a public responsibility of the authorities of all our member states to do everything to prevent this from happening but also to make every individual in society responsible these are the things we can do what we can to prevent accidents

and prevent things like really you control your silence is the worst of the enemies when it comes to protecting children you must have the courage to speak up it's not easy but if you look the society is getting so hypocritical do that when somebody like a journalist starts saying things like that you know next and because they show you talking about i mean you have no heart but that's what they say but i'm very pleased with this interview today because it shows also your your social responsibility as a media and then what i want to say is well on this occasion i mean media have a very important responsibility and you don't think it was doing is it is it is a program called the every thirty something years of one in five one foreign funding yes. the couple was about one in five years to come pain against sexual violence against children because our estimates have a van and every fifth child is subject to some kind of sexual abuse during

childhood and so the one in five pain is on the one hand to promote our gratification in our going state of the lanzarote a convention which is an international treaty which deals with this issue of sexual abuse. of children from and exploitation from the point of view of prevention protection and prosecution of the criminals and partnerships and here again i come back to the need for the media to get involved private sector. i mean they can all everybody can contribute their media have an important role the second aspect of this campaign is the awareness raising thank you thank you very much for being with us and just to remind my guest on the show today was more of their good will kiki deputy secretary general of the council of europe and that's it for now from our spotlight will be back with more for a special comments on what's going on in and outside russia and so then they are teach and take care.