MPs approved the decree on extraordinary taking children away from asocial parents

At its 15 May sitting the Chamber of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus adopted the amendments to presidential decree #18 of 24 November 2006 On additional measures for the state protection of children in disadvantaged families.

As said by the justice minister Viktar Halavanau, the changes to the decree that were signed by the president on 5 May give the authorities the right to take children away from their parents without trial in the case of real threat to their life and health.

The new document also specifies the orders of new employment of the parents who are to pay for the state upbringing of their children in the case of their dismissal from the previous job for objective reasons. In particular, the employer who dismisses such worker must inform the social employment centers and the police about the necessity of new employment of the dismissed person.

The decree also introduces administrative penalties for evasion of the obliged parents from employment on court verdict about employment. For this they are to be sentenced to administrative arrest with obligatory drawing to labor. The document also corrects the order of criminal punishment of such parents for other actions or inaction resulting in non-implementation or incomplete implementation of the obligation to compensate the expenditures for the state upbringing of their children by introduction of the administrative issue preclusion for drawing such persons to criminal responsibility for such crimes. Those who are ill with dipsomania and systematically violate the labor discipline, will be directed to activity therapy centers.