On 2 November 2021 the Council of Europe project Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova held the second online meeting on shaping a coordinated 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 high-level bilateral online meetings and first online meeting/discussion with authorities on the same subject organised in 2020.
The second online meeting was attended by all relevant stakeholders and partners, among which representatives of the Parliament, State Chancellery, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Supreme Court of Justice, General Prosecutor’s Office, Ombudsperson for Children’s Rights and representatives of civil society. Special guests of the event were the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the Council of Europe, Corina Călugăru and Former Chairperson and representative of Greece to the Lanzarote Committee, George Nikolaidis.
The Meeting aimed to reiterate the importance of the implementation of the Lanzarote Convention in a coordinated manner by all relevant authorities and agree on a roadmap of reaching this important objective in the Republic of Moldova, as well as to exchange views, voice questions and comments related to the best approach to address the coordination aspect in the Republic of Moldova. In addition, all authorities were invited to share any efforts made in this area since the first meeting last year.
Since the first meeting organized in September 2020, several actions were undertaken by authorities to boost the follow up discussions. As a result, the Ministry of Internal Affairs took the leadership in the process of establishing the coordination mechanism for the implementation of the Lanzarote Convention at national level.
In his welcoming remarks, William Massolin, the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau specified that ”the coordination aspect still raises interpretations and inconsistencies regarding the implementation process of the Lanzarote Convention. Thus, the current online event is organised to gather all relevant stakeholders and partners to discuss further this significant aspect and identify the follow up steps”.
At the same time, her Excellency, the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Moldova to the Council of Europe, Corina Călugăru stressed that ”It is to be appreciated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has assumed the leadership in the process of coordinating the implementation of the Lanzarote Convention in the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, this is not enough. This process must be a collective effort and responsibility”.
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.