MOSCOW, April 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted two international documents on children’s rights to the State Duma for ratification, the Kremlin’s press service reported.
The two documents are the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which outlines the measures countries should take to protect children from trafficking, child prostitution and child pornography, and the Convention of the Council of Europe on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child, passed by the UN in 2000, was signed by Russia last September, followed by the Convention of the Council of Europe. At the end of last year, Putin ordered the government and parliament to take the necessary measures for the ratification of the two documents in 2013.
The international non-governmental organization ECPAT, which battles the sexual exploitation of children and had been urging Russia to ratify the two documents, estimates that among 80,000 to 130,000 sex trade victims in Moscow, 20 to 25 percent are minors, figures supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF.
