On 21 January 2021 the Council of Europe project Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova held an online meeting to present the Assessment Report of the Governmental Decision on the approval of the Instructions on the inter-agency cooperation mechanism for the identification, assessment, referral, assistance and monitoring of child victims and potential victims of violence, neglect, exploitation and trafficking and the Governmental Decision for the approval of the Instruction on the cross - sectoral cooperation mechanism for primary prevention of child welfare risks.
The meeting was attended by all relevant stakeholders and partners, among which representatives of the Government, Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Prosecutor’s Office, Supreme Court of Justice, Ministry of Justice, representatives of international organisations and civil society and the project team.
The Meeting aimed to present the findings and recommendations of the Assessment Report, to put it to discussion and receive feedback from all relevant stakeholders and partners.
In his welcoming remarks William Massolin, the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau underlined that the ”Council of Europe recognises the efforts of the Moldovan authorities to bring the legislation and practices in line with the Council of Europe standards, particularly by launching the Regional service for integrated assistance for child victims and witnesses of crimes, which is based on the Barnahus model and puts the child at the centre of the proceedings to prevent secondary victimisation of the child. This can surely be considered one of the biggest achievements of 2020 in the field of child protection.”
The representative of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection, Anastasia Gruzin noted the “Importance of the Assessment Report prepared by the Council of Europe, in the context of the elaboration of the new Strategy on the Protection of the Rights of the Child. Thus, the findings and recommendations of this Report will be taken into consideration in the process of drafting this strategic document.”
The activity falls within the Project’s intermediate outcome 2 “Legal and policy framework harmonised in line with the Council of Europe standards on child sexual exploitation and abuse and rights of the child in the digital environment / best interests of the child”