Moldovan government proposes new solutions, measures for children's protection

Chisinau, 5 April /MOLDPRES/- Prime Minister Pavel Filip has chaired a meeting of the National Council for Child Rights Protection (CNPDC). Attending the event were representatives of development partners: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), USAID, EU Delegation to Moldova, Swiss Cooperation and Development Agency, as well as of more NGOs in the field, the government’s communication and media relations department has reported.

The prime minister thanked the development partners for continuous assistance offered to the government to implement policies aimed at protecting and promoting the children's rights, fighting poverty and social exclusion of children. “Protection and promotion of children's rights is a priority of the government. I believe that CNPCD will be the stimulating factor in the development process, updating and implementing of policies with impact for children. As a matter of fact, we will ensure the monitoring of implementation of policies in the supreme interests of the child, in cooperation with the development and social dialogue partners,” he said.

The participants in the meeting discussed issues related to registration of child births, social and health protection of newborns, early intervention services to children. In the context, the prime minister ordered to carry out an analysis for identifying undocumented children, ensuring inter-operability of data of competent authorities, revising the regulatory framework on costs for processing birth certificates of children, citizens of Moldova, who were born abroad.

Increased attention was paid to child safety in the online environment. In this context, Filip asked the Education Ministry to include in curricula subjects concerning to development of skills in terms of safety in the online environment  as a compulsory subject matter and ordered to work out an action plan on promoting child safety online. The document will see activities for informing parents as regards the concerned risks, creating softs for filtering information with pornographic tint, as well as improving assistance provided to children lured or abused via Internet. At the same time, the Interior Ministry will ensure enforcing international provisions and the EU acquis in terms of combating the abuse and sexual exploitation of children and applying tougher punishments for committing online offenses.

The council’s members also considered a public petition on behalf of NGOs in terms of deficiencies in implementing the Child Protection Strategy 2014-2020, in conditions of decentralization, differences of capacities and resources locally. In this context, the prime minister demanded the speeding up of the presentation of the action plan on strategy’s implementation for approval and consideration at a cabinet meeting.

The participants in the CNPDC meeting also discussed and approved an action plan for 2016 on solving problems in the education sector. The document includes urgent measures meant to improve access to education, ensure a correct nourishment, combat school dropout and absenteeism, providing competent teachers, efficient management of district schools and transportation of children.

(Editor M. Jantovan)