The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus has prepared proposals for the development of a law on a curfew for minors

February 8, Minsk / Vasily Malashenkov - BELTA /. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus has prepared its proposals for the development of a law that would prohibit minors from being in public places after 11 p.m. without the accompaniment of parents or persons replacing them. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Prevention Department. The police department recalled that similar norms previously existed in the regions of Belarus and were enshrined in various documents adopted at the local level. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the introduction of a curfew could become an additional measure to prevent juvenile delinquency. After all, minors usually break the law late in the evening or at night. Certain steps have already been taken to introduce a curfew for teenagers. On January 12, 2011, a new provision of the Code of Administrative Offenses came into force - Article 17.12 "Admission of minors to night discos, cultural and entertainment clubs," under which nightclub owners can be fined if minors are present in the establishment after 10 p.m. For violating this article, individual entrepreneurs and legal entities (owners of establishments) face a fine ranging from 10 to 50 base units (one base unit is currently equal to Br35 thousand). Previously, the rules for holding entertainment events, approved by the Council of Ministers, also prohibited minors from being at discos after 10 p.m., but no punishment was provided for this. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also reported that there are currently about 15,000 minors registered in the country. At the same time, a significant reduction in the level of juvenile delinquency has been achieved - by 41.3% since 2006. -0-