Russia Authorities speak up against child sex abuse

29 May 2009 |

‘The Moscow Times’ reports that on International Child Protection Day, Kremlin supporters campaigned heavily against child abuse. Senior officials with United Russia held a Moscow round-table on measures to prevent child abuse. Duma deputies meanwhile are considering legislation that would extend the maximum prison sentence for people convicted of nonviolent sexual abuse of children from the current four years to 10. The bill would bar a convicted offender from working with children for 20 years instead of the current five. A separate bill would extend the maximum prison terms for producers, dealers and buyers of child pornography from eight to 15 years. The bill also introduces a legal definition of child pornography. Statistics on sex crimes against children are scarce. According to available statistics the number of children who were nonviolently sexually abused by adults increased sevenfold from 2003 to 2007 to 5,405.

Source : The Moscow Times