After the tragedy at Syamozero in Karelia, which claimed the lives of 14 teenagers, the RF Public Chamber checked the state of 215 contracts for the organization of children's leisure and recreation. Flagrant violations were found in all of them. This information has been sent to the authorities of the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Prosecutor General’s office.
As the chairman of the Public Chamber Commission on Social Policy, Labour Relations and Quality of Life of Citizens, Vladimir Slepak, explained ‘’the number ‘215’ represents only 10% of the existing contracts. Obviously, the state order system is imperfect. We have put forward a set of proposals to change the legislation. When we talk about the competition procedure, the terms of reference, the recreation places are removed far away from the departments and ministries that conduct these competitions as customers. But they have to be checked daily, even hourly, the compliance with technical specifications needs to be checked, which sometimes entails 30 points, and the contractor that wins the competition is obliged to fulfill them. If a representative of the customer is not at the place at this moment, then this is a terrible misunderstanding, which leads to a lack of effective control of both recreation for children, taxpayers' money and for the security regime that we should have in the first place, when activities related to children's wellness and sports are being carried out.
The Public Chamber was the first organization to submit a proposal for compulsory licensing of children's leisure. "Today, organizations that do not have the necessary qualifications, that do not have adequate personnel, that have no proper conditions, declare themselves as candidates for the competitions. How can this be? We are the only country in the world to have abolished licensing in all spheres of human life. Licensing is a capacity, a guarantee of safe activities to citizens and consumers,’’ Vladimir Slepak said.
