The Council for Child Rights of the Government of the Republic of Serbia held a constitutive session in the Palace Serbia on 21 July 2021. Twenty-six members from various ministries, institutions, universities and non-governmental organisations were appointed to the new composition of the Council, with the term lasting until 31 March 2022. The session was chaired by Ratko Dmitrović, Minister of Family Welfare and Demography.
Jasmina Miković, CRC Director and a MODS representative in the previous composition, was appointed a Council member.
The keynote speakers at the constitutive session of the Council were Milka Milovanović Minić, State Secretary in the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography, Slavica Đukić Dejanović, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia on the Agenda 2030, Brankica Janković, Commissioner for Protection of Equality and Deyana Kostadinova, UNICEF Serbia Representative.
Ratko Dmitrović, President of the Council for Child Rights, stated that the Council for Child Rights was an advisory body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and as such submitted initiatives, proposals and analyses to the Government of the Republic of Serbia, relating to the exercise of the rights of the child in Serbia in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Deyana Kostadinova, UNICEF Serbia Representative, stressed the need to urgently establish the Working Group for the Implementation and Monitoring of the Strategy for Prevention and Protection of Children from Violence, with the accompanying 2020-2021 Action Plan, adopted on 21 May 2021.
Brankica Janković, Commissioner for Protection of Equality, announced that the Special Report on Discrimination against Children, which was in the process of preparation, would be presented in the National Assembly on the occasion of the World Children’s Day, as agreed with the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Jasmina Miković, CRC Director, pointed out that the state did not have a clearly defined and coordinated policy in the field of child rights and that it was necessary to urgently start drafting a new national strategy in the field of child rights. She also reminded that the previous National Action Plan for Children ceased to be valid in 2015. In addition, she stressed the importance of adopting a comprehensive Law on the Rights of the Child and Ombudsperson for Children, which would bring the existing legislation in line with the ratified international treaties and provide an independent mechanism that would promote, improve, coordinate and control the exercise of child rights in Serbia.
Please be reminded that the Child Rights Centre, the Network of Organisations for Children of Serbia and the Coalition for Monitoring the Rights of the Child on 24 December 2020 sent a letter to the Prime Minister calling on the Government of the Republic of Serbia to urgently establish the Council for Child Rights, having in mind, among other things, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on every child in Serbia, and especially on the position of children from the most vulnerable population groups.
See more about the session of the Council for Child Rights on the website of the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography.
