Members of the National Assembly’s Children’s Rights Working Group Snezana Stojanovic-Plavsic, Poverty Reduction Committee Chairperson and Working Group coordinator and Meho Omerovic, Chairman of the Committee on Labour, Ex-Servicemen’s and Social Issues, talked today with an Armenian delegation about the reasons behind the formation of the Working Group, its function and the results of its activities so far.

Talking to the delegation, Children’s Rights Working Group coordinator Snezana Stojanovic-Plavsic highlighted the importance of the creation of the Working Group at the National Assembly. She stated that the motive for its formation was an integrated approach to the issue of children’s rights and status in Serbia and the wish to tackle the problems children face, within parliamentary competencies. This working body is more important than the National Assembly committees since it is chaired by the Assembly Speaker and lists among its members all the Deputy Speakers from the ranks of all the NARS Deputy Groups. The Working Group considers bills from the aspect of children’s rights, monitors the implementation of the adopted laws and their impact on the children’s social position and includes children in its work giving them the opportunity to directly influence policy creation that concerns them. One of the Working Group’s goals is to raise social awareness on the importance of resolving children’s issues and achieving children’s rights. Stojanovic-Plavsic stressed that the Working Group enjoys good cooperation with other institutions charged with children’s protection issues such as the Children’s Rights Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Deputy Ombudsman for Children’s Rights, as well as other executive government and local self-government bodies and non-governmental sector.

Working Group member Meho Omerovic declared the meeting with the Armenian delegation mutually beneficial. He briefed the delegation on the establishment of the legislative framework enabling the work on children’s protection and position issues in Serbia after the year 2000. He emphasised the importance of the adoption of the National Action Plan for Children until 2015, as well as the adoption of the legal document that treats domestic violence as a separate criminal offense. He announced the adoption of a set of laws regulating the field of child abuse by the end of the year, adding that with the adoption of the new National Assembly Rules of Procedure, a standing committee will be formed to monitor the position and rights of children.

In the meeting, it was deemed that Serbia has made considerable progress regarding the creation of an ambient conducive to children’s rights protection, while the talk focused on the institution of the Deputy Ombudsman for Children’s Rights and its cooperation with the National Assembly.

The Armenian delegation stated that the meeting with the members of the National Assembly’s Children’s Rights Working Group will contribute to the cooperation between Serbia and Armenia. The delegation gained insight into the institutions charged with the realisation of human rights, regional children’s protection plans and cooperation between state and non-governmental institutions. They declared invaluable their insight into Serbia’s experience of including children into the drafting of action plans for children, their realisation and monitoring, as well as the importance of the institution of Deputy Ombudsman for Children’s Rights, as Armenia lacks such an institution. The Armenian Parliament has no working body charged with children’s rights issues so Serbia’s experience will be highly important and helpful.

The Armenian delegation, comprising representatives of the Ministry of Labour and Social Issues, Ministry of Territorial Administration, National Statistical Service, heads of Lori and Tavush provinces child protection units, as well as UNICEF representatives in Armenia, is visiting Belgrade under the patronage of UNICEF.