SUMMARY

The current issue of the journal is focused on the child's rights.

The first part of the edition is the Convention on Child's Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1989. The Convention was ratified by the Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in 1990.

Professor L. Korbut, a scholar of the International Academy of Information, has presented analyses of the Convention. The author has started the article with the historic background of t he issue. It has been stated that the Convention on Child's Rights became the first basic international legal document declaring child's rights as a human right's issue.
The Convention is based on the principle of non-discrimination, being the main one of the international law. After the specific review of the document under consideration Professor Korbut has stressed the important idea of changing national legislation of all countries in relation to the Convention on Child's Rights.

The next article has covered the problem of implementation of the Convention on Child's Rights in Russia. The author is Dr. M. Gorgeyeva, Director of the Department on Children, Women and Family of the Ministry for Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation. Dr. Gordeyeva has presented the review of the main national programs focused on child's issues, such as National Plan for Action on Child's Interests (1995 - 2000), National Plan for Action on Improving Status of Children in the Russian Federation for 2001 - 2002, etc.
The author has stated that all programs on child's issues were developed on the basis of the Convention on Child's Rights. Dr. Gordeyeva has also included information and statistics on various groups of children into her article.

Mr. B.L. Altschuler, a representative of the non-governmental agency "A Child's Right", has presented the article on realization on children's rights in Russia. It is based on the report made by the author at the conference "Civil Society and Power" on February 19, 2002. The first part of the article is a brief review of a law draft on the measures on combating problems of uncared for/homeless minors in relation to the issues of civil society.
Then Mr. Altschuler has presented the recommendations developed by the Russian non-governmental agencies and supported by the Advisory Board of the Human Rights Council of the Russian Federation.

The Key Messages on the issues of child labor of the International Labor Organization (ILO) has included the list of basic problems related to child labor, such as causes of chills labor, as well as information on ILO programs on child labor and statistics.

The International Labor Organization has also presented the Analytical Review of the Global Report called "Future without Child Labor". This is the third global report highlighting the history of the issue of child labor, new data, analyses of its causes, etc. The review has also included information on the important steps focused on elimination of child labor taken by the ILO.

Ms. G.I. Klimantova, Chief of the Department on Social Policy of the Federal Council, the Russian Federation, is the author of the presentation on uncared for/homeless minors. The article is focused mainly on prevention measures developed by the Department. Striking statistics related to the issue under consideration is important for realizing the range of the problem in the country.
The following part of the journal is a fragment of the review of the open Parliament hearings on the issues of social/legal protection of children from sexual exploitation. The hearings were initiated and conducted by the Committee on Women, Family and Youth of the State Duma (Parliament) on February 4, 2002. This part has included the reports made by Ms. S.P. Goryacheva, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Women, Children and Youth and Mr. A.A. Bigulov, the Chief of the Department on Minors and Youth of the General Prosecutor's Office. Both speakers expressed their concern of this crucial issue under the current economic and social circumstances in Russia. They presented a range of recommendations focused of resolving this problem in the country.

The Recommendations of the Parliament Hearings on the abovementioned issues has also been included into the current issue of the journal. The Recommendations have been addresses to the President of the Russian Federation, to the State Duma (Parliament), to the Government of the Russian Federation, to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The Recommendations are related to various spheres, such as law, social work, economics, education, etc.

The complete version of the Federal law draft on changes and amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has also been included into the journal.

The Explanatory Note for the law draft mentioned above is a review of goals, objectives of the amendments for the Criminal Code. The Appendix has included the List of International and Russian Decrees related to health care and development of minors. These documents have been fundamental for development of the current law draft.

Dr. E.S. Smirnova, a lawyer, has provided the article called "Issues of Protection Child's Rights in the Framework of the Commissioner on Human Rights Institute of the Russian Federation".
This is a thorough analyses of the situation in Russia in terms of child' rights in the period of crucial economic and social changes. Dr Smirnova has also presented the range of activities related to the issues of child' rights performed by the Human Rights Commissioner of the Russian Federation. For example, the problem of homeless/uncared for children is the main issue of concern for the Human Rights Commissioner. The author has also listed the measures developed by the institute focused on resolving various issues related to child's rights.

Professor A.M. Erdelevskyi has presented the article on the child's right to expressing her/his opinion based on legal documents of the Russian Federation, such as the Family Code, the Civil Code and the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The author has analyzed the current situation in the country in terms of applying the UN Convention on Child's Rights and the abovementioned documents to the right of children to expressing their opinion in court, for instance.

The author of the next article is focused on protecting orphans' rights under the current conditions. Professor A.M. Nechayeva from the Institute for Law and State of the Russia Academy of Sciences has suggested multidisciplinary approach as the way for resolving this problem.
The author has listed national programs focused on supporting children in Russia, particularly orphans and minors. All programs are developed in relation to the Convention on Child's Rights and legislation of the Russian Federation. The Family Code is one of the fundamental legal documents for developing national programs on child issues. Each program has specific goals, objectives and characteristics. The author has also presented a brief review of programs on child's issues on the local level, for example in the Republic of Mordovia, in the Perm region, in the Sverdlovsk region, the Belgorod region, etc.