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State must do more for protection of children from violence

22.10.2015

Press release

State must do more for protection of children from violence

Prishtinë, 22 October - In the framework of the “Week Against Child Violence”, the nongovernmental organization Syri i Vizionit from Pejë in partnership with Save the Children organization held a conference on the topic of “What has the state done, or what it should in protection of children”, where representatives of institutions mandated with protection and respect of child rights took part. The people present in the conference agreed that it has not sufficiently been done by the institutions in charge to prevent and refer violence against children, despite the existence of action mechanisms.
"Civil society is doing a lot in prevention of cases of violence against children and institutions must take reports, researches and recommendations coming out of civil society into account and incorporate them in their action policies, and not only to remain in drawers,” Ombudsperson Hilmi Jashari said.
Meanwhile, Directorate of Education in the Municipality of Prishtinë emphasized how civil society assisted it in drafting policies for protection of children from violence in schools, and that the Municipality of Prishtinë will very soon establish the Office for safety in schools in cooperation with local and international organizations dealing with the field of child protection.
"We have drafted a strategy and an action plan for safety in schools based on which the Office for safety in schools, which will also coordinate the work or organizations in Prishtinë schools, will work upon," said the Director of Education in Municipality of Prishtinë, Arbërie Nagavci.

On the other hand, Kosovo Police welcomed the work that civil society is doing in the field of prevention of violence against children and cooperation they have with the civil society. They called for an increase of coordination and cooperation between the stakeholders responsible, in particular when it comes to raising citizens’ awareness.
"The community, parents in particular, must be made aware of denouncing violence cases against children and not to use violence against children. There should be more campaigns for raising children’s awareness to denounce the violence cases," stated Mentor Cakolli of Kosovo Police.
The need for adoption of law for children protection was also emphasised in this conference and with this law to forbid physical punishment of children anywhere, not just in schools. Syri i Vizionit and Save the Children said that one such Article has already been integrated the bill that is being drafted.
Civil society representatives, Centre for Social Work, Probation Service requested from Kosovo Government to allocate a special fund for the field of children protection, in order to constantly develop activities and draft adequate policies and practices for improvement of children’s position in Kosovo. Increase of cooperation and communication between the stakeholders in charge, bot at the local and central level and between these two levels, was also requested.
 “Week Against Violence” campaign, part of which this conference was, is held under the auspices of “Together for children rights” project that is implemented by NGO Syri i Vizionit in partnership with Save the Children in several municipalities of Kosovo.