The Children’s Rights Sub-Committee held its seventh session on 4 November; at the session, the National Action Plan for Children was presented to Sub-Committee members and other interested deputies by Vesna Piperski-Tucakov, deputy chairperson of the Children’s Rights Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

The National Action Plan for Children is based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Millennium Declaration, and the UN ‘A World Fit for Children’ document. Four fundamental principles were adopted from the UN Convention, namely non-discrimination, best interest of children, right to life, survival and development, and children’s participation. The National Plan is a mechanism for monitoring children’s rights situation in Serbia; it also defines the policy of the Republic of Serbia towards children to 2015, establishes standards for access to fundamental rights, eliminates all forms of discrimination, and safeguards children’s rights.

The structure of the National Plan is made up of the following priorities: reducing child poverty, providing better education and healthcare for all children, improving the position and rights of developmentally challenged children and creating conditions for their equal participation in society, protecting children without parental care, protecting children from abuse, neglect and exploitation, and strengthening Serbia’s capacity for solving children’s problems.

Members of the public and local self-government bodies, in addition to state institutions, the non-governmental sector, the media and experts, are important partners in the implementation of the National Plan. A local action plan was created on the basis of the National Plan, and put into place in three pilot municipalities: Kragujevac, Sjenica and Pirot.