(MENAFN- UkrinForm) This year, 2033 crimes against minors have been committed in Ukraine, as a result of which more than 1800 children have suffered. Ivan Vygivskyi, the acting head of the National Police, announced this on facebook , Ukrinform reports.
According to him, Russian armed aggression has posed new challenges to all state institutions that protect children's rights. These include an increase in the number of children left without parental care, problems with access to the educational environment, etc.
"Taking into account these factors, children commit offenses and are victims of them. Despite the annual steady downward trend, this year more than 700 children committed almost 1,200 criminal offenses and more than 1,800 children suffered from 2,033 crimes," Vygivskyi said.
The Head of the National Police informed that last week, on the initiative of Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, a pilot project was launched to implement international standards of child-friendly justice in practice.
Read also: russia plots to use ukrainian children as human shield in crimea - ombudsperson "Today (Wednesday - ed.), during a meeting with the heads of all units of the National Police, I emphasized the mandatory and urgent implementation of these standards on the ground," he said.
Vygivskyi noted that the pilot project is based on "child-centeredness," meaning that all stages of the process are built around the minor, taking into account his or her interests, right to protection and assistance. According to him, this is the result of joint work by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police, the Prosecutor General's Office, Ukrainian and international experts, including the Council of Europe, the UNICEF office in Ukraine, and the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The head of the NPU noted that the order to implement the project was signed by Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, Minister of Justice Denys Malyuska, and First Deputy Minister of Social Policy Daria Marchak.
Read also: zelensky: ukraine has returned 2,500 people from russia, including about 400 children According to Vyhivskyi, this pilot project is being implemented in six regions of Ukraine: in the Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Lviv, Chernivtsi, and Cherkasy regions and in Kyiv.
"Upon its completion, the new standards will be enshrined in law, scaling up the principles of child-friendly justice throughout the country," the head of the National Police summarized.
As reported, on June 1, Ukraine began implementing international standards of child-friendly justice.