Children’s Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova spoke at the World Youth Festival

At the World Youth Festival, taking place on the federal territory of Sirius from March 1 to 7, thematic events are held every day, united by a cross-cutting theme. Tuesday was dedicated to the theme “Let’s save the family in the name of children and peace.” According to the organizers, “participants share traditional spiritual and moral values ​​and take them as the basis for raising children and youth, perceiving Russia as a leader in protecting such values.” The Russian Children’s Ombudsman arrived to help the participants share values. Maria Lvova-Belova.

Running energetically onto the stage “straight from the plane,” Ms. Lvova-Belova said that, according to her data, only 20% of teenagers from 14 to 17 years old are going to start a family before the age of 25, and 84% are sure that before having children you should complete your studies and build a career. The Children’s Ombudsman was determined to dissuade the public from the idea that family life could interfere with education, and decided to ask how many people in the room wanted children and had already started a family. A forest of hands rose. It should be noted that the festival is attended by Russians and guests from foreign countries aged 18 to 35 years. Many of those present did not give up even after being asked whether they had children. Maria Lvova-Belova was somewhat puzzled by this: “I was going to motivate you to have children, but you are all ready.”

She devoted her subsequent speech to a story about her family and the difficulties she encountered when taking children from an orphanage (Mrs. Lvova-Belova has ten children, five of them are adopted).

She had the hardest time with her son, whom she “found in a basement in Mariupol.” “On the one hand, he loves me, because I am his mother, on the other hand, my closeness to the president, whom he was taught to hate,” she said. But gradually this conflict in the family of the children’s ombudsman was overcome. Ms. Lvova-Belova considers one of her main tasks as a children’s ombudsman to be helping children from new regions. According to her, for rescuing “from bombing children who have been without parents for a long time, are afraid of loud sounds and cannot see air,” a warrant from the International Criminal Court was issued against her and Vladimir Putin (in March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, jurisdiction which Russia does not recognize, issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia Maria Lvova-Belova in the case of the alleged illegal removal of children from the territory of Ukraine). “I would do this 150 more times, despite any warrants,” assured the children’s ombudsman. According to her, the number of requests to the Children’s Ombudsman in 2023 increased and amounted to 14.5 thousand, and most of them were related to questions about how to “help the children of Donbass or take into the family children left without parents from new territories.”

After Ms. Lvova-Belova’s speech, almost all the listeners lined up to ask her questions. For example, Alisa from Bashkiria asked if there were any measures to support not only large families, but also single-parent families. Ms. Lvova-Belova noted that single-parent families are subject to the same support measures as full-parent families, in particular maternity capital, family mortgages and payments for children under 18 years of age. A representative of the Pskov region said that many members of the children’s public council under the Commissioner for Children’s Affairs (such councils were created in the regions to involve children in solving socio-political problems) would like to continue active activities after reaching 18 years of age, and proposed building a program for the supervision of new participants . Several listeners asked how their NGOs could help the children’s ombudsman projects.

A girl from the “First Movement” asked to explain how to work with children’s complaints about the illegal behavior of their parents: “Children often share their personal problems, they may mention that they are beaten at home, and besides supporting with words, I cannot help in any way and remain in confusion.”

Maria Lvova-Belova, in response, noted that this is a very complex issue concerning intra-family relationships, into which “outsiders cannot intrude,” therefore it is necessary to “develop tactful assistance to families so as not to miss troubles and save the child’s parents.” At the end of the meeting, Mrs. Lvova-Belova reminded the audience that creating and preserving a family is one of the most important values ​​for Russia, and urged them not to be afraid to build large and strong families and not to put it off for the future.

Let us note that a little later, on the neighboring campus, the topic of the day continued with the lecture “Traditional spiritual and moral values ​​in the world and the dialogue of cultures.” There was a significant queue of delegates from South Asian countries at the entrance. They were not allowed in for a long time: the head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, was finishing his speech inside, and several guards were trying to push the spreading line away from the fence through which the speaker was supposed to exit. As soon as this happened, the crowd rushed inside. Girls in traditional saris and young men in formal suits quickly sat down on low ottomans. From time to time, scattered loud shouts in the languages ​​of the delegations could be heard from different parts of the hall, and the few listeners from the host country turned around, trying to understand what was happening. Starting with a noticeable delay, the moderator explained to them that the meeting was intended to show how traditional values ​​can unite different cultures. But the Minister for the Rights of Religious Minorities of India, Rinchin Lhamo, began her speech in Hindi, for which some of the guests were not ready: the Russian representatives arrogantly did not take headsets with simultaneous translation. Ms. Lhamo managed to say a few words about how a whole range of cultures and religions are combined within India, but at some point her speech was interrupted by dissatisfied exclamations from the audience, all in the same Hindi: they jumped up from their seats, jumped, stomped their feet and tried to get through to the stage, continuing to scream. There was no simultaneous translation of their claims, as well as the speaker’s attempts to answer them. A participant from Pakistan, who noticed the puzzlement of the Kommersant correspondent, offered to explain what was happening in fluent English. According to him, Mrs. Lhamo, listing what India is famous for, mentioned that Bhagawan (one of the epithets used to designate Buddha) was born there, but it is generally accepted that he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal. In this regard, the Nepalese delegation expressed outrage, which stopped only after Rinchin Lhamo apologized and corrected herself. The room actually became quieter, but by that moment almost all the non-South Asian listeners had already left, and Kommersant’s Pakistani interlocutor, saying goodbye, remarked: “It’s so nice when the conflict doesn’t concern you.”

Polina Yachmennikova, federal territory “Sirius”