On 22 September 2020 the Council of Europe project Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova held an online meeting on shaping a coordination approach towards the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention) in the Republic of Moldova. The meeting was organised as a follow up of 4 online high-level discussions organized in the period of 14 – 18 September 2020 on the same aspect.

The meeting was attended by all relevant stakeholders and partners, among which representatives of the Parliament, Government, Ministry of External Affairs and European Integration, Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Supreme Court of Justice, General Prosecutor’s Office, Ombudsperson for Children’s Rights; representatives of international organisations and civil society, as well as the Former President of the Lanzarote Committee George Nikolaidis and Anastasia Papadopoulos, President of FONI (Cyprus) and the project team.

The Meeting aimed to sensitize all relevant stakeholders on the importance of the implementation of the Lanzarote Convention in a coordinated manner by all relevant authorities, present the European best practices in the field and provide a platform of discussion to exchange views, voice questions and comments related to the best approach to address the coordination aspect in the Republic of Moldova.

As a result of this meeting, the State Chancellery committed to create a technical group under the auspicious of the Permanent Secretariats Department, in order to discuss and identify the most viable mechanism for coordinating the Lanzarote Convention at national level.

The activity falls within one of the project objectives: Strengthened interagency cooperation to respond to violence against children in line with Council of Europe recommendations.