Dubravka Filipovski, member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, spoke of the significance of Children’s Week, focusing on the importance of the family as the natural environment for child rearing. She emphasised the commitment of the Committee on the Rights of the Child to monitor the application of certain laws from the aspect of children’s rights and improvement of the position of children in Serbia, especially the implementation of the Law on Financial Assistance to Families with Children.

She also highlighted the importance of intensifying the development of new family support welfare services and the encouraging data on the continuous rise in number of adoptions and housing of children without parental care with foster families as an alternative to the institutionalisation of children. Finally, Filipovski said that the Committee on the Rights of the Child will, within its power, continue to contribute to the creation of legal prerequisites for the further improvement of children’s rights in Serbia.

Besides Dubravka Filipovski, member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the official opening of Children’s Week was also attended by Vesna Rakonjac, Chairperson of the Committee on Labour, Social Issues, Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction and member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Aleksandar Vulin, Deputy Ombudsperson for Child Rights Gordana Stevanovic, UNICEF Serbia Director Michel Saint-Lot and on the behalf of the organisation Friends of the Children of Serbia Ljubivoje Rsumovic.