In the first six months of this year, about 600 criminal cases were initiated where children were involved as victims, which is by roughly a quarter more than in the similar period last year, says the Prosecutor General's Office.
About 150 of these cases involved sexual offenses, including 24 cases where children were abused in the family by the biological father, the mother's partner or other relatives. Some 100 other cases involved violence in education establishments, where most aggressors were also children.
Suicides and suicide attempts among minors accounted for 55 cases: 48 girls and 7 boys, ages 13-16, attempted to take their own lives; 4 girls and 3 boys could not be saved. The prosecutors name adaptation difficulties, school failure and emotional disorders, combined with a lack of communication with the parents, among the leading causes.
In the same period, prosecutors started over 3,000 sets of administrative proceedings for failure to provide for children and exercise children's rights to education and communication. Most of these cases resulted in fines.
