At the sitting held on 23 July, the members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child reviewed the Council for Child Rights of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Activity Report, submitted by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs.
The Report was presented by the President of the Council for Child Rights Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic Dejanovic and State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Stana Bozovic. They presented the Council’s activities since the last report in 2018. Since then the Council had had two sessions, one in February when it adopted the 2019 Activity Programme and the Council members were informed about the realization of decisions made in previous sessions, the planned activities for the drafting of the Common Document based on the reporting guidelines for international human rights agreements and establishment of indicators for the monitoring of the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Council representatives said that the indicators were established by the Office for Human and Minority Rights in cooperation with the Child Rights Centre and UNICEF. The consulting process went through 10 workshops and children also took part in it via an on-line platform.
The National Coalition for Ending Child Marriages was also set up at the session in February, with the goal of eliminating child marriages, especially among the Roma. In December 2018, the Council met with representatives of UNICEF after which the Ministry addressed UNICEF for technical and financial support for the drafting of documentation needed to measure, monitor and report on public spending on children. On that occasion, the sixth Council session was attended by Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF representative in Serbia, and Nayat Mala Majid. The Council was also presented the results of the conference “System collaboration in supporting children with developmental risks and difficulties and their families – towards integrated early childhood intervention services” organized under the auspices of the Serbian Government’s call to action whose fourth goal is supporting the development of the early childhood intervention system.
At the next session of the Council for Child Rights, the members were briefed on the Annual Report on the implementation of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 - Child Rights, amendments and modifications of the Family Law concerning the protection of child rights, recommendations of the session of Serbian student parliament representatives and child activists adopted during Children’s Week, 1 – 7 October 2018, and the overall activities on the realization of the measures envisaged by the operative conclusions of the seminar on Roma social inclusion concerning the protection of Roma children.
In the ensuing discussion, the MPs concluded that the chief problem the Council is faced with is the inclusion of Roma children in primary and secondary education and reduction of poverty among children aged 18 and less. The Committee members said that the Council can could on full support and assistance in areas within their purview.
The sitting was chaired by Committee Deputy Chairperson Nada Lazic and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Milija Miletic, Arpad Fremond, Dr Danijela Stojadinovic, Dubravka Filipovski, Gorica Gajic, Milanka Jevtovic Vukojicic, Natasa Mihajlovic and Jelena Mijatovic.
