Center for Civil Society International ([email protected])
Tue, 30 Jun 1998 16:14:32 -0700 (PDT)
CCSI presents excerpts from the Agency for Social Information
(ASI) e-mail information bulletin. Translated from Russian by
CCSI staffer Alyssa Deutschler. For more information on how
to receive ASI's bulletin regularly, contact:
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AGENTSTVO SOTSIALNOI INFORMATSII
Kutuzovskii pr. 22 pod. 14a,
Moscow, 121151
Tel./fax: (095) 249-3989
E-mail: [email protected]
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ASI Bulletin No. 24
19-25 June, 1998
In this issue:
I. Summer Camp for Troubled Teenagers Opens in Irkutsk Oblast
II. Human Rights Activists Call on President Yeltsin to Veto
Bill on Adoption
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Summer Camp for Troubled Teenagers Opens in Irkutsk Oblast
One thousand troubled teens will spend their summer vacations at the newly
opened "Hope" military-sport camp in the village of Moskovshchina in
Irkutsk Oblast. Many of the campers have drug or alcohol problems. The
camp was established by the Irkutsk city government's Committee on
Children's Issues and the Eastern Siberian Military Institute.
According to Nikolai Korets, chairman of the Committee on Children's
Issues, the camp will specialize in dealing effectively with children who
have behavior problems. Previously, these children were simply sent to
normal summer camps, which only created more problems. At the "Hope"
camp, officers and students from the Eastern Siberian Military Institute
will work with the difficult teenagers. The children are assigned to
"platoons" that are headed by officers. The head of the camp, Colonel
Nikolai Kuznetsov, stated that he was confident that the summer would be
a success, "these teens will learn new, useful skills, as well as
discipline."
There are many summer camps in Irkutsk Oblast to choose from this year
besides the typical "sport and fitness" type, including camps focused on
ecology, archeology, Christianity, equestrianism, and tourism. The School
of Young Leaders is sponsoring a camp, and the "Children's Parliament" is
holding a summer session.
Contact Telephone: (3952) 46-2429
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Human Rights Activists Call on President Yeltsin
to Veto Bill on Adoption
A press conference organized by the Moscow Research Center for Human
Rights (MRCHR) was held June 18 at the former site of the Russian-American
Press Center in Moscow. The conference, entitled "Don't permit the
moratorium on international adoptions," was in reaction to recent
legislation proposed by the Russian Federal Assembly that would change
adoption laws. At the conference, the Moscow Research Center for Human
Rights appealed to President Yeltsin to veto the proposed changes.
Participants at the conference objected to the legislation's restrictions
on intermediary parties' involvement in adoptions, claiming that the
proposed changes to the law will complicate the process for both
international and domestic adoptions. B. Altshuler, head of MRCHR's
"Children's Rights" program, stated that the new law will effectively
place a moratorium on foreign adoptions and will restrict Russian
non-profit, non-governmental organizations from engaging in adoption
activities. Mr. Altshuler believes that the bill will elicit a negative
reaction from countries such as the United States, German, Canada, and
Italy, where many families have adopted Russian children.
G. Ravchinskaia, editor of the children's rights journal "Protect Me,"
expressed the opinion that in light of the weak state of the Russian
Federation government's adoption system, foreign adoptions cannot be
restricted. Ms. Ravchinskaia stated that currently, adoptions in Russia
can drag on for several years.
Contact Telephone: (095) 206-8971 (B. Altshuler, Moscow Research Center
for Human Rights)
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