Last Saturday’s “No More Tolerance” peaceful demonstration drew attention to the need to prevent and end all violence against children.

According to preliminary estimates, more than 30,000 people joined the demonstration and rallied across Sukhbaatar Square with signs and boards urging people to unite and stop child abuse of all forms. Mongolian sports celebrities, D.Sumiya and D.Otgondalai, who won medals at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics had showed up to show their support for the cause.

“I sincerely thank you all for joining today’s peaceful demonstration. We’re here to improve the anti-child abuse legal environment. May our children and young people who are the future of Mongolia live peacefully in a society free of violence!” remarked N.Odgerel, one of the initiators of the protest.

Head of the Public Singers’ Association G.Chinbolor noted, “About 20 artists from our association are officially participating in this demonstration. We believe that we must make our voices heard for fighting child violence especially with all the shocking and disturbing reports lately. This protest is aimed to tackle violence, particularly violence against kids. I hope decision-makers and state officials will review the legal accountability system after this event.”

Demonstrators plead the president, Parliament and Cabinet to increase penalty and punishment for child molesters, lessen the chances for criminals to get away without a criminal charge, strengthen the implementation of the Law on Domestic Violence, moderate the number of hotels, increase supervision and control on hotels, and improve related regulations.

They demanded a response in a week’s time.

The “No More Tolerance” demonstration was initiated by seven mothers and over 400,000 people have joined their social group.

Mongolians all across the globe stood up and held a demonstration against child abuse. The “No More Tolerance” peaceful demonstration took place in Ulaanbaatar, 14 other provinces in Mongolia, Hungary, the USA, Sweden, France, Russia, Switzerland, Holland, and South Korea.

Various movements, including Nudee Nee (Open Your Eyes), participated in the event.

Some of the alarming figures shared at the event include:

• Around 80 percent of child victims recorded from 2014 to 2016 were sexually abused by a person of familial ties.
• The number of child victims hasn’t reduced despite enacting the Law on Child Protection and Law on the Rights of the Child in 2016, and revising the Law on Domestic Violence and other legislations last year.
• According to the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia, a 16-month-old male infant was sexually abused along with 298 children between the ages of two and seven last year. Their studies also show that 1,613 girls aged 12 to 17 gave birth to a baby, whilst 1,668 girls under the age of 20 went through an abortion due to unwanted pregnancy. Experts speculate that the issue of child molestation is linked to the high rate of abortion among girls.

“A criminal who sexually abuses a young child should never be forgiven no matter what,” implored N.Odgerel.

Presidents proposes death penalty for child molesters

President Kh.Battulga disclosed his position in regards to punishments for child molesters and death penalty through an open letter on March 30.

Reportedly, the president has been getting requests for raising prison sentences and punishments for child offenders as much as those asking for the restoration of death penalty during his regular meetings with the public.

The letter states that the president submitted a proposal to restore death penalty on November 27, 2017 but Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs Ts.Nyamdorj hasn’t responded yet.

The letter read, “Even though the death penalty is considered inhumane, sexually abusing an infant who has neither learned to walk on his or her own nor stopped breastfeeding is a serious and brutal abominable act that contradicts ethical principles of not only Mongolians but the whole human race. The fact that crimes that go against the conscience, morality, culture and customs of Mongolians are actually increasing indicates that it wasn’t the time for our country to abolish the death penalty just yet.”

President Kh.Battulga believes that it’s not “appropriate” to abolish death penalty through the Criminal Code and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, while the Constitution permits it. He stated that it’s possible not to follow the international covenant if a death penalty is allowed for only molesters of young children through an amendment to the Criminal Code as the Constitution is above international agreements and other documents.

At a meeting with a representative of the Delegation of the European Union to Mongolia on March 30, Deputy Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs B.Enkhbayar stated, “Every organization the task force (assigned to examine the president’s proposal) visited concluded that there was no legal basis for restoring the death penalty.”