Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

The marking of World Children’s Day on November 20 was an occasion for children’s voices to be clearly heard in the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia. Speaking before the members of parliament, representatives of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Affairs Zoran Đorđević, Minister without Portfolio Slavica Đukić-Dejanović, UNICEF Representative in Serbia Michel Saint-Lot, Council for the Rights of the Child, Police director Vladimir Rebić, Ombudsman’s office, Commission for the Protection of Equality, Serbian Children’s Organizations’ Network and other bodies and institutions, children voiced their opinions about the issue of violence and presented their suggestions on its prevention.

Conclusions showed that, among other issues:

• Children recognize their family members, mostly parents, as the most important actors in the prevention and protection from violence;
• Although children identified members of the police as important actors in the prevention and protection against violence, 53,3% of the children stated that they would not call the police in case they witnessed a situation involving violence in the street,
• More than 50% ask for help when subjected to violence, while 36,7% stated that they addressed the problems by themselves.

Children’s recommendations for the prevention of violence:

• Organize more workshops and trainings for children, parents and teachers to prevent violence more efficiently. If, nevertheless, it occurs, quickly identify it, react and protect children from violence.
• Empower children to recognize and report violence ( to parents, police, teachers, school staff, and other trusted persons ),
• It is important that the police, school employees, parents and other adults act appropriately and promptly when violence occurs or when a child reports it,
• Banning the use of mobile phones in schools, responding to cyber violence and being careful about the content posted on social networks, are the children’s suggestions for preventing digital violence

The initiative was carried out by the Friends of Children of Serbia as part of the development of the national strategic framework for the prevention and protection of children against violence. UNICEF and the Friends of Children of Serbia are working together to enable children to articulate their opinion and voice it in the process of developing the National strategic framework for the prevention and protection of children from violence, initiated by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs.

The initiative is part of the project: “Protecting children from violence and promoting social inclusion of children with disabilities in the countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey”, funded by the European Union and implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and UNICEF.

Source: www.unicef.rs