Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Esta publicación cientíca en formato digital es continuidad de la revista impresa
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197402ZU34
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Vol.39 N° 70
2021
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de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co “Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che” (IEPDP) de la Fa-
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avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
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Vol. 39, Nº 70 (2021), 320-336
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Implementation of the International
Convention on the Rights of the Child in
the South Urals in the 1990s
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3970.20
Alexander L. Khudoborodov *
Anna V. Samokhina **
Nadezhda V. Korshunova ***
Abstract
The relevance of the studied problem is determined by the
subject of the study, namely the policy of the Russian Federation
towards children. Children are the future of the state. The younger
generation determines the future technological, intellectual,
political, economic, demographic, and ecological wealth of the
country. The objective of the article is to study the degree of
implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of
the Child in one of the largest regions of Russia – the South Urals in the
1990s. Research methods: synchronous, systemic-structural, historical-
comparative, historical-genetic. As a result of the study, the authors draw
conclusions and oer practical recommendations on the improvement of
the state policy in the eld of educating the younger generation in modern
Russia. The practical signicance of the conducted study is that the
authors of the article investigated the rst steps of implementation of the
International Convention on the Rights of the Child in Russia. At the same
time the authors explored unresolved issues in the eld of children’s rights
and public policy mistakes to prevent them from happening in the future.
Keywords: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child;
South Urals; state policy; children’s rights; Russia.
* South Ural State University of Humanities and Education, Chelyabinsk, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.
org/0000-0003-4825-8927. Email: hudoborodoval@cspu.ru
** South Ural State University of Humanities and Education, Chelyabinsk, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.
org/0000-0001-9669-9925. Email: samokhinaav@cspu.ru
*** South Ural State University of Humanities and Education, Chelyabinsk, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.
org/0000-0002-4648-0893. Email: korshunovanv@cspu.ru
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Implementación de la Convención Internacional sobre
los Derechos del Niño en los Urales del Sur en la década
de 1990
Resumen
La relevancia del problema estudiado está determinada por el tema del
estudio, a saber, la política de la Federación de Rusia hacia los niños. Los
niños son el futuro del estado. La generación más joven determina la futura
riqueza tecnológica, intelectual, política, económica, demográca y ecológica
del país. El objetivo del artículo es estudiar el grado de implementación
de la Convención Internacional sobre los Derechos del Niño en una de las
regiones más grandes de Rusia: los Urales del Sur en la década de 1990.
Se emplearon los siguientes metodos sincrónico, sistémico-estructural,
histórico-comparativo, histórico-genético. Como resultado del estudio, los
autores extraen conclusiones y ofrecen recomendaciones prácticas sobre la
mejora de la política estatal en el campo de la educación de la generación más
joven en la Rusia moderna. La importancia práctica del estudio realizado
es que permite visualizar los primeros pasos para la implementación de la
Convención Internacional sobre los Derechos del Niño en Rusia. Al mismo
tiempo, los autores exploraron cuestiones no resueltas en el campo de los
derechos del niño y errores de política pública para evitar que sucedan en
el futuro.
Palabras clave: la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre los
Derechos del Niño; Urales del Sur; política estatal;
Derechos de los niños; Rusia.
Introduction
In the modern world, the problems of protecting and realizing the rights
of children occupy one of the priority directions both in the internal politics
of individual states and in the whole world community. The governments
of all states must understand that the future of the state, its development,
and ultimately its national security, is determined by what kind of young
generation will come to power in decades. Therefore, already now, various
concepts, programs, plans for the development of youth policy are being
elaborated, approved, and received practical implementation. The key
criterion is to educate the younger generation in the spirit of peace, tolerance,
freedom, equality, citizenship, patriotism, respect, and responsibility. It is
especially necessary the ecological and legal education of children, as well
as to bring up the modern “digital generation” based on traditional moral
and ethical principles.
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Alexander L. Khudoborodov, Anna V. Samokhina y Nadezhda V. Korshunova
Implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in the South Urals in
the 1990s
According to the UN Convention of 20 November 1989 “On the Rights
of the Child”, ratied by the USSR in 1990, and then by the Russian
Federation in order of succession, which assumed obligations in full, every
child is assigned basic and inalienable rights. Among them are “the right to
life”, “the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents”, “the right
of the child to education”, “the right to protect the child from all forms of
physical or mental violence”, “the right of the child to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of
illness and rehabilitation of health” and a number of other rights. At the
same time, the Article 3 emphasizes that “the best interests of the child shall
be a primary consideration”.
In the 1990s, when Russia embarked on the path of democratic
transformations, many provisions of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child were only declarative. In reality the state of society in general,
and children in particular, caused great concern. On the pages of the
press of that time, such a denition appeared in relation to children of
the 90s 20th century as “The Lost Generation” (Kuzmin, 1999: 2). And it
wasn’t accidentally. Indeed, in reality, there was a generational gap, the
connection of times was destroyed, there were attempts to completely
reject and erase the entire Soviet past. In new Russia people began to bring
up globalists children, which were “open to the world” under the slogan
of de-ideologization and new thinking. In this regard, the essential ideas
of morality and ethics have radically changed in children to compare with
the Soviet era. Now everything that was previously “banned” became
possible, including the sex education of children. In general, in society, as
well as among the children were widespread unbelief, indierence and self-
interest.
The South Urals (Chelyabinsk region), as one of the regions of Russia,
was no exception in the development of these processes. During the period
under study, many children were in reality deprived of the right to be cared
for by their parents, which was primarily due to the economic situation.
The number of homeless and neglected children in the country and in the
region has sharply increased because of many factories reduced production
capacity or was completely destroyed. As a result of which the salaries of
parents were not paid for a long time, state benets were paid with great
delays. A lot of families in Russia were on the brink of survival.
The situation began to change only towards at the end of 1990s in
early 2000s, when Vladimir Putin became the head of the state. Many
people in Russia associated the election of Vladimir Putin with hopes for
a noticeable improvement in people’s lives, preserving the unity of Russia,
and strengthening state power. A strong state is able to ensure the eective
implementation of all obligations assumed, including children’s rights
enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
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1. Literature Review
The problem of protecting and realizing the children’s rights and interests
is one of the most studied and discussed in the world. Modern authors
studying the problem of children’s rights in the spirit of the International
Convention on the Rights of the Child focus on such aspects as the protection
of children’s rights in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the
related restrictions on children’s rights and changes their lifestyles (Lynch
et al., 2021; Liefaard, 2020; Peleg et al., 2021; Minson, 2021).
Another area of research by scientists is the problem of developing
gender identity in children, raising transgender children and giving children
the right to determine their own gender at an early stage of development.
In the works of American researchers, we can observe some dierences
in the interpretation of the concept of “gender identity”. Some scientists
(Polderman et al., 2018; Chin, 2016; Robinson et al., 2021) believe that
gender identity is xed at birth by genetic or other biological factors. Others
(Fine, 2010; Case, 2019; Guzzetti et al., 2018) argue that “gender identity”
is determined by society and cultural inuences, i.e. can be socially
constructed. Still others believe that “gender identity” is constructed rather
than expressed by the continuous execution of gender behavior (Butler,
2020; Thorn, 2019; Soh, 2020). One way or another, Jason Raerty (2018),
MD in Rhode Island, believes that gender identity in children develops
from the age of 2, and by the age of 4, a child already has a stable idea of his
gender identity. And here, as the author supposes, parents can make sure
that the environment of their young child reects the diversity of gender
roles and encourages the child to choose the gender in the future.
Russian scientists (Lyadova, 2018; Makeeva, 2011; Makarova, 2018;
Alekseeva, 2020) in their works study the articles of the International
Convention on the Rights of the Child, its features, while highlighting such
groups of norms in this document as - general principles, special measures
of protection and norms of implementation. The authors attach particular
importance to the problem of implementation of international legal norms
in the eld of protecting the children’s rights in Russia, focusing on the
dierence between children brought up in families with parents and
orphans or children left without parental care and brought up in families
of adoptive parents, guardians (trustees), foster parents, in institutions for
children who are more vulnerable and need even more protection.
Thus, the scientic literature emphasizes the need to provide even
greater rights to underage children, including the ability to independently
determine their gender. However, at the same time, in many countries of
the modern world, we can see how many articles of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child are not observed or are grossly violated. Unfortunately,
in part, this also applies to Russia in the 1990s. It is necessary in every
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Alexander L. Khudoborodov, Anna V. Samokhina y Nadezhda V. Korshunova
Implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in the South Urals in
the 1990s
possible way to prevent such a situation. This determines the need for our
research.
2. Materials and Methods
The methodological basis of this scientic article was formed by the
most important principles of research: objectivity, scientic character, and
historicism. Objectivity presupposes the study of the subject of research
without bias, without ideologically set schemes and stereotypes. Therefore,
the authors sought to show both the advantages and disadvantages in
the possibility of implementing the main articles of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child in the South Urals in the 1990s, qualitative and
quantitative indicators. In the ght of the state against child homelessness
and neglect, juvenile delinquency which sharply increased during the
period under study.
The scientic principle requires authors to avoid political and ideological
conjuncture when studying the life of children in the 90s 20th century.
The fact is that, in the assessments of various political gures, the state
of Russian society, including children and adolescents, looked dierent.
For example, in the report about the implementation of youth policy in
the 1990s, the rst deputy governor of the Chelyabinsk region A.N. Kosilov
emphasized that “in terms of the number of students per 100 thousand of
the population, the Chelyabinsk region came close to the leading Western
European countries” (Aleksandrovich, 2000: 10). However, for example,
the chairman of the board of the Russian Fund “Future of the Fatherland
named after V.P. Polyanichko” M.F. Nenashev spoke directly about what
concerns children, their situation in Russia, and therefore in the South
Urals, has never been so dicult. In order to avoid various “distortions”,
considering all the circumstances, in this article the authors give a balanced
objective assessment of the implementation of the main provisions of the
International Convention on the Rights of the Child in the South Urals at
the end of the 20th century.
The principle of historicism helped to study the subject of research in a
holistic manner and in the interconnection of all its aspects, in the context
of general historical phenomena and processes. The key factor in changing
the vector of state policy towards children in the 1990s in Russia, the main
principles, and approaches in working with adolescents were the collapse of
the Soviet Union, the whole authoritarian political system and the transition
to a new, not yet formed, democratic one.
The methodological principles noted above also led to use special
research methods in our work. So, the authors use the synchronous
method. It allows making a horizontal (cross) section of the assessments
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and conclusions of political and public gures of the South Urals on the
implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child,
the further development of organizations and institutions for children in
Russia in a particular period of time. The authors took into account their
political positions – communists, liberal democrats.
The systemic and structural method made it possible to consider the
main directions of activity towards children of the state authorities of the
Chelyabinsk region as part of the federal system for the implementation of
youth policy, which includes concepts, federal and regional programs, plans,
which recorded the main directions of modernization and development of
policies carried out in attitude of children and also in the framework of
interaction with various structures – public organizations and movements,
unions, organizations of additional education for children, religious
organizations.
The historical-comparative method helped to reveal the general and
specic features of the main mechanisms of interaction between the state
authorities of the Chelyabinsk region and children in comparison – in
dierent historical periods – the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation.
The historical and genetic method made it possible to consider the reasons
for the genesis and specicity of the change in thinking in relation to the
spiritual and moral values of children, which was undoubtedly facilitated
by such processes as “perestroika”, “glasnost”, “democratization”.
To write the article, the authors involved documents of a legislative and
regulatory nature, documentary and statistical collections, periodicals,
and Internet sources. The authors also involved documents from the State
Archive of the Russian Federation and the Consolidated Archive of the
Chelyabinsk Region.
3. Results
According to world practice, a state that has assumed obligations must
fulll them. First, this applies to signed international treaties, ratied
international documents. The Russian Federation, as the legal successor of
the Soviet Union, assumed such obligations towards children by ratifying
the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Certain steps
were taken to implement the Convention in Russia, in particular in the
South Urals, but there were great obstacles along the way. At the end of
the 20th century the Russian state and society was in a condition of crisis,
which most painfully aected the fate of children and adolescents. 1990s
were a transitional period from one socio-political system – authoritarian,
to another – democratic. Reforms of the 1990s revealed and exacerbated
negative tendencies in Russian society. The crisis of moral values gave rise
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Implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in the South Urals in
the 1990s
to conict, and even a generation gap. Crime, drug addiction, prostitution
have become the norm of many children and adolescents. In the face of the
struggle for survival, the need for reading for many people became “luxury”.
A huge number of illiterate children have appeared in the country.
In the 1990s for the South Urals, as for most of the constituent entities
of the Russian Federation, similar political and socio-economic upheavals
associated with the creation of new institutions of power and the transition
to a market economy were characteristic. “In conditions of a shortage of
time and personnel, namely, an unjustiably high turnover, as well as
the need to organize serious study in new working conditions, the rst
president of Russia B.N. Yeltsin acted decisively” (State Archive of the
Russian Federation. F. 10115. Оp. 1. D. 100. L. 14.). In the South Urals, the
formation of a new statehood was also related with a crisis of power. “The
administration of the Chelyabinsk region led by V.P. Solovyov confronted
to the Chelyabinsk regional executive committee led by P.I. Sumin”
(Consolidated Archive of Chelyabinsk Region. F. P–274. Оp. 3. D. 46. L.
2.). There were two governors in region. This situation didn’t have the best
eect on the development of the region, especially economic.
Most of the factories in towns in the South Urals reduced their production
capacities or they were completely destroyed. Large factories, including the
military-industrial complex, ceased their interaction with countries such as
Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia because of the collapse of
the Soviet Union also led to the destruction of economic ties. Such situation
led to a social tension. “In August 1998, as a result of the nancial economic
crisis and default, real incomes of the population decreased by 31.1 %” (RIA
News, 2013). “The price growth index for food products in 1999 amounted
to 151.6 % of the previous year, including for children’s clothing – 166.0 %”
(Report of Chelyabinsk region’s Administration, 2000: 2).
Such circumstances made it real for the development of child
homelessness and neglect, juvenile delinquency, and deviant behavior
among minors. At the beginning of 1999, according to the report of the
Prosecutor General’s Oce of the Russian Federation (2000), there were 2
million street children and 15 million neglected in the country and according
to the Russian Children’s Fund (2000), there were 657 thousand orphans
“as compared with May 1945 (after the Great Patriotic War), there were
678 thousand of them in the USSR” (RIA News, 2004). According to the
prosecutor of the Chelyabinsk region A.I. Bragin, the crime situation in the
region in the 1990s, including the level and dynamics of juvenile crime, was
deeply anxious. The total number of crimes committed in the region was
constantly growing. So, “in 1992, 4991 crimes committed by minors and
with their complicity were registered, in 1995 – already 5606, the number
of oenses increased from 14 926 in 1993 to 31 178 in 1995” (Information
and statistical collection, 1998: 14). Also “increased the number of crimes
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committed by minors repeatedly (so-called recidivism) from 572 in 1994 to
645 in 1995” (Statistical collection, 1999: 25).
The increasing inuence on children and adolescents in the period
under study was exerted by such extremely dangerous phenomena as drug
addiction and alcoholism. In 1999, in the South Urals, according to ocial
data, there were “5150 drug addicts who were registered in narcologists
and the police, including 272 teenagers and 10 children” (Report of the
prosecutor of the Chelyabinsk region, 2000: 3). Throughout the period
under study, the process of alcoholization of the younger generation was
observed. According to statistics, almost every fourth teenager committed
crimes while intoxicated. This has become a real threat to the existence of a
healthy gene pool of the Russian nation.
Another result of the socio-economic upheavals of the 1990s is the
appearance of the so-called “demographic hole”. In 1999, only 12 out of
89 regions in Russia experienced natural population growth (Unied
interdepartmental information and statistical system, 1999). Over the past
10 years (the period of the 1990s), 6 million fewer children were born than
in the previous ones. The population did not want to give birth. In this
context, the statement of one of the governors of the Chelyabinsk region
V.P. Solovyov became “popular”: “If you can’t feed your children – don’t
give birth!” (Samokhina, 2014: 95).
All this taken together posed a serious block to the progress and
renewal of Russian society, created obstacles in the implementation of the
International Convention on the Rights of the Child. It was compulsory to
do something with this, both at the federal level and in each region.
4. Discussions
In Russia, the period of the 1990s can be marked as the period of
the formation of a new state policy towards children. If in the past the
Komsomol and Pioneer organizations were part of a unied state system
for the upbringing of the younger generation, then in the early 1990s their
socio-pedagogical potential turned out to be unclaimed by the state. At this
time, new concepts, programs and mechanisms for the implementation of
measures to educate children and adolescents, as well as to improve their
situation, were developed. The rst legal acts in the eld of social protection
of children and adolescents, which fully comply with the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, are beginning to appear by the late 1990s – early
2000s. For example, the Law of the Chelyabinsk Region of 11 June 1998 №
46–ZO “On state support of youth and children’s public associations of the
Chelyabinsk region” was adopted, and in the same year, the Resolution of
the Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region № 234 “On measures to support
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Implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in the South Urals in
the 1990s
youth in the Chelyabinsk region” was adopted. After two years the Law of the
Chelyabinsk Region of 24 February 2000 № 114-ZO “On the organization
of guardianship and trusteeship in the Chelyabinsk region” was adopted.
Next year the Law of the Chelyabinsk Region of 17 December 2001 № 54–
ZO “On the protection of children’s rights in the Chelyabinsk region” was
adopted.
According to the Resolution of the Legislative Assembly of the
Chelyabinsk region of 27 December 2001 № 386 “On the regional program
“Children of the South Urals” for 2001–2005” the Concept of State Youth
Policy in the Chelyabinsk Region was adopted. In the same year, nancing of
a new regional program “Children of the South Urals” began. This program
unites a number of targeted programs of various departments related to
childhood problems – “Disabled Children”, “Orphans”, “Safe Motherhood”,
“Gifted Children”, “Social protection of families and children”, “Family
planning”, “Prevention of neglect and juvenile delinquency”.
The issue of combating drug addiction among children and adolescents
was of particular importance. For example, in the South Urals, there were
facts of suppression by the law enforcement agencies of huge consignments of
smuggling drug supplies from Kazakhstan and Tajikistan (Aleksandrovich,
2000). The ght against drug addiction of the children and adolescents was
carried out not only by the forces of law enforcement agencies, but also
through the medical care system. The regional narcological dispensary
continued its activity, where normal conditions were created for the
treatment and rehabilitation of children and adolescents who suered from
drug addiction, thereby ensuring the right of children to receive health care
services. Of course, these actions were not enough. The main preventive
measures in the ght against drug addiction continued to be – the
organization of employment in socially useful labor, recreation, educational
activities, and sport.
As a result of the dire consequences of the reforms of the 1990s the
younger generation was left “on its own” and was very acutely experiencing
the problem of employment in their free time. To solve this situation, a
system of temporary employment for adolescents was formed in the
South Urals, especially during vacations. This program made it possible
to get additional income in families, distracted teenagers from idle sitting
outdoors and, in general, helped to reduce the level of unmotivated juvenile
delinquency. For dicult teenagers, a system of summer sports eld camps
was created and operated. In 1998, “750 adolescents were sent in such
camps, in 1999 – 3 thousand people” (Aleksandrovich, 2000: 48).
In matters of combating juvenile delinquency in the system of state
authorities, commissions on juvenile aairs played a positive role. The
main aims of the commissions on juvenile aairs were “the protection of
the child from domestic violence”, “the protection of the child from the
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harmful inuence of the asocial environment”, “the protection of the child
from illegal actions of the parents”, etc. (Resolution 29–P/2006 of February
22). The existence of a separate authority – commissions on juvenile aairs
made it possible to solve the problems of child protection more eective.
The prevention and elimination the reasons of oenses, the commission
of crimes among minors were related with the formation of the respect for the
law at the level of their personal conviction. Therefore, the legal education
of children, in the rst place, was focused on preventing compliance to
negative manifestations in society. For this, in the South Urals, classes
were held with teaching sta to consolidate a clear understanding of the
initial legal concepts, the possibilities of using legal means of inuence
on students prone to committing oenses, and on the unfavorable family
and household environment around them. Extracurricular forms of
work were used – disputes, meetings with law enforcement ocials,
conferences, competitions, visits to law enforcement agencies. Employees
of libraries were involved, whose task was to collect books and materials
from periodicals for teachers, parents, children on the legal education of the
younger generation. Such universities as Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical
University, Magnitogorsk State University, Academy of Physical Culture
and Sports, Academy of Culture and Art continued training students to
develop their professional skills to educate children.
At all times, the school has been the most important unit of the moral
education of children. According to the Federal Law of 10 April 2000
№ 51–FZ “On Approval of the Federal Program for the Development of
Education” a new federal program for the development of education in
Russia was approved, according to the main provisions of which, among
the priorities for the development of school education were xed –
accessibility, quality of education, information support, at the same time
such an important direction of the school’s activities as the moral education
of future citizens of Russia, was not named. At the same time, educational
organizations, as the most important social institutions, simply needed
to more actively form a new way of life for the young generation, which
really contributes to the upbringing of a physically healthy, spiritually rich,
highly moral personality, respecting the traditions and culture of their own
and other people. It was necessary to direct eorts to educate patriotism,
citizenship, respect for human rights and freedoms, responsibility to
oneself and society. Educational organizations, such a school, have to create
favorable conditions for the full development of children, their adaptation
to social changes, to form in children’s stable motives and attitudes towards
a healthy lifestyle.
In the 1990s in connection with the destruction of the previous
system of pioneer and Komsomol organizations, the system of additional
education for children is beginning to play an increasingly important role
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Alexander L. Khudoborodov, Anna V. Samokhina y Nadezhda V. Korshunova
Implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in the South Urals in
the 1990s
in the implementation of youth policy. In the South Urals, due to additional
funding, the number of sections was increased. A system of work with
children and adolescents through clubs at the place of residence was carried
out. The movement of sports and courtyard teams “Golden Puck” and
“Leather Ball” was developed. During the period under study, a program
was launched to increase sports grounds at the place of residence. Military
sports competitions were held for school teams. They began to pay more
attention to the development of military-applied and technical sports. In
the region, such a program as “Development of patriotism, citizenship
and preparation of young people for service in the Armed Forces” has
been implemented. The team of the Chelyabinsk region won rst place at
the European nal of the Odyssey of Mind program, which took place in
Frankfurt am Main.
In the 1990s the most important tool for creating the foundations
of a democratic state for the future was the development of children’s
public associations and organizations, youth associations, various public
structures, centers acting in the interests of children and their interaction
with public authorities. Prevailing by the beginning of the 2000s the
system of political, educational, cultural and leisure organizations had
signicant social and pedagogical potential for the implementation of the
main principles of the state’s youth policy and solving the most important
problems associated with the socialization of children.
During the period under study, a very important problem for young people
was the problem of accessibility of higher education. In this connection,
the Governor’s recruitment system was created in the South Urals, which
guaranteed that up to 500 children from low-income families – children
from rural schools, small territories – entered the region’s universities
annually only based on the Governor’s recommendation. This program was
aimed at solving two main problems at once – to educate children from
low-income families, as well as to train the necessary specialists.
A signicant contribution to the upbringing of children and adolescents
began to be made by the Chelyabinsk Regional Public Charitable Foundation
“Future of the Fatherland” created in 1995 named by V.P. Polyanichko. The
purpose of creating this fund is to form true spiritual values in children.
The path of development of Russia, both in the present and in the future,
depends on how prepared children and adolescents will be for a new type
of social relations, what value orientations they will develop. Therefore, the
main directions of the Fund’s activities were to support the youth movement,
increase social activity, create conditions for the development of creative
abilities and talents of children and adolescents, educational success,
mastering the chosen specialty, maintaining health, and maintaining a
healthy lifestyle.
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Considering the experience of previous years, we have formulated
practical recommendations in the upbringing of the children, which will
contribute to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child in the South Urals in modern times:
1. In the upbringing of children and adolescents, there is no principle
more eective than the principle – “do as I do”. Therefore, the
process of raising children should be based on an example of the
activities of real people, contemporaries, whose life, and deeds are
an example for those who follow them. Such a citizen of his country,
a patriot of his Fatherland was V.P. Polyanichko (First Secretary
of the Chelyabinsk Regional Komsomol Committee, Deputy Prime
Minister of the Russian Government), who said: “Moral progress is
stable and reliable where the connection of times is not interrupted,
where the authority of the elders is high” (Polyanichko, 2017: 371).
2. The idea of patriotic service to Russia should form the core of state
and social education, the formation of moral values in a democratic
society, the national ideals of which are nationality, statehood, and
spirituality. Civic education in the young generation is a respectful
and responsible attitude to the rule of law, moral norms, customs
and traditions of the people, a separate social community, and every
Russian family.
3. Humanization of education and upbringing based on universal
human values such as religious virtues, freedom, labor, citizenship,
patriotism, rejection of nationalism, extremism, and terrorism.
4. Continuity of generations and traditions, “connection of times”, to
preserve and pass on to modern children the best traditions, cultural
values of the past, including at the level of each individual region.
Substantive directions of this activity should be traditions and state,
traditions and society, traditions and family. The success of education
based on folk traditions will depend on the fruitful cooperation of
teachers with various state and social institutions and services such
as public funds and movements, children’s and youth organizations,
political parties, councils of war and labor veterans, cultural and
art institutions, health care institutions, law enforcement agencies,
sports societies, travel agencies and mass media.
5. The constant involvement of children in active social and creative
activities – actions, contests, projects, competitions, expanding their
social rights and opportunities, through the development of self-
government, manifestation of activity in various activities, excluding
aggression, ethnic and religious tension, bad habits such as drug
addiction, tobacco smoking, alcoholism.
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Alexander L. Khudoborodov, Anna V. Samokhina y Nadezhda V. Korshunova
Implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child in the South Urals in
the 1990s
Thus, the most important criterion for the upbringing of the younger
generation will be its conscious, voluntary participation in public life; the
highest indicator is the ability to serve the Fatherland.
Conclusion
Of course, the modern realities of life in Russia should be aimed at
protecting and fully realizing the rights of children in accordance with the
norms of international and national legislation. In turn, the state assumes
responsibility and certain obligations in providing of these rights.
Children are one of the most important population groups in the
country. This is the future of the state. Therefore, state policy towards
children should be a priority if we think about national security.
In the 1990s, when the link between generations was signicantly
destroyed, children in Russia were in a very dicult situation. In these
conditions, the state needed to ensure the historical continuity of
generations in country; the preservation, development, and dissemination
of national culture; to educate a respectful attitude to the cultural and
historical heritage of all people in Russia. After all, it is well known that a
society that does not remember the past is doomed to degradation, and, on
the contrary, a society that honors the old acquires immortality.
Based on this, the main objective of the state policy towards children,
its main goal was to create favorable economic and political conditions
for the social development of the younger generation, to solve the most
actual problems of children and adolescents (health, education, labor
and creative activity, morality, homelessness, drug addiction, crime),
attracting the younger generation to active political, socio-economic,
and cultural activities. For this purpose, all social and state structures
formed moral norms and rules in children, used the previously created
material base – palaces of pioneers and schoolchildren, children’s health
camps, sections of children’s scientic and technical creativity, hotels,
tourist centers in the interests of patriotic, civil, labor, physical, aesthetic,
moral and environmental education of children and adolescents. Socially
signicant initiatives of children were supported. New public organizations
with the participation of adolescents, such as “Yabloko”, “Medved”, and
“Zhirinovsky’s Falcons” were developed. There were proposals to create
an All-Russian Children’s Organization – “Russian Pioneer Organization
named after Yuri Gagarin”. Summer sports and work vacations, excursions
and travels around native country were organized for children. However,
the above steps were not enough.
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During the period under study, society faced a serious aim – the
upbringing of the young generation of a renewed, reviving Russia, the
upbringing of highly moral, educated young people who will ensure the rise
and prosperity of our country and the South Urals, which remains relevant
in modern times.
Acknowledgements
The study was nancially supported by the Shadrinsk State Pedagogical
University as part of the research project № ShK-013-21.
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