TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT OF CHILDREN IN UKRAINE

Section 1Analysis of legislation on prevention of torture and ill-treatment of childrenbe extended by court order, for a further 30 days. The decision to place sucha person in a Centre for the Reception and Distribution of Minors is taken bya court on the submission from an investigator or detective inquiry with theagreement of the Prosecutor’s Office without delay. An appeal against thecourt ruling can be made to the court of appeal within three days of the passingof the ruling by the Prosecutor; the legal representative, defender of thejuvenile, and by the latter him or herself. The submission of an appeal does notstop the implementation of the court ruling to place the child in a Centre forthe Reception and Distribution of Minors.According to the Regulations on Centres for the Reception and Distributionof Minors of Internal Affairs Bodies for Minors which were passed by MIAOrder No. 384 on 13.07.1996, Centres for the Reception and Distribution ofMinors are special MIA institutions for minors designed to temporarily holdcertain categories of minors whom it is necessary to isolate.The content of this Order shows the inadequate regulation fro the activitiesand status of Centres for the Reception and Distribution of Minors. The actcontains provisions regarding the purposes of such Centres; the authoritiesof its officials and staff; the grounds for holding minors there; the regime ofsuch institutions; the organization of prophylactic work with minors; the rulesof procedure for keeping statistical records and statistical work in Centres forthe Reception and Distribution of Minors for the Reception and Distributionof Minors. The act is thus exclusively technical; there are no provisions regulatingthe status of minors, let alone their rights and guarantees. The minor is“included” in the order as the objective of coercive influence.A minor can be held in a Centre for the Reception and Distribution of Minorsfor up to 30 days. One can thus say that this constitutes by its featuresshort-term deprivation of liberty. Yet there is no proper legal regulation forthis deprivation of liberty.The grounds for placing people in Centres for the Reception and Distributionof Minors are, according to the MIA Order, the following:— a resolution issued by a detective inquiry [diznannya] body or investigator,authorized by the Prosecutor, or a court order for underagepersons, aged from 11 to 14, who have committed publicly dangerousactions and if there is a need to immediately isolate them;— a court order that a specific person should be sent to a special institutionfor minors ;51