27 February 2015 Participants of the meeting of the SEECP PA General Committee on Social Development, Education, Research and Science

27 February 2015 Participants of the meeting of the SEECP PA General Committee on Social Development, Education, Research and Science

Friday, 27 February 2015

MP Olena Papuga at Meeting of SEECP PA General Committee on Social Development, Education, Research and Science

Member of the National Assembly’s standing delegation to the South East Europe Cooperation Process Parliamentary Assembly Olena Papuga is taking part in the meeting of the organisation’s General Committee on Social Development, Education, Research and Science, on 26 and 27 February, in Bucharest, Romania.


The central topic of the meeting, attended by representatives of the parliaments of the nine SEECP member states, is the position of different categories of underprivileged children, regulations, implementation and statistical data, as well as prospects for regional cooperation and regional projects in the field. Following the keynote speech of the Vice-President of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies Rodica Nassar, the participants were also addressed by representatives of the Foreign Ministry’s Department for Human Rights, Protection of Minorities and Cooperation with the Council of Europe and representatives of UNICEF Romania.
In the first part of her address, standing delegation member Olena Papuga presented the scope of authority of the National Assembly’s Committee on the Rights of the Child and the adopted legislation relating to child rights and protection. She said that the fact that the National Assembly Speaker is the Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and all the deputy speakers are members of the Committee proves that the Republic of Serbia puts child issues before any policy matters. All decisions on this very important topic are made by consensus, with the fundamental goal of changing awareness on the need to improve and protect child rights, especially reduce poverty among children and protect children covered by inclusion policies. Olena Papuga said that, in the screening for chapters 23 and 24, the Republic of Serbia was commended for the harmonization of its legal system with EU regulations in the field of children’s rights. She said that the National Assembly had ratified the UN Convention on Rights of the Child as well as the optional protocols, Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention), Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption and the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. Ms Papuga then presented statistical data on the different categories of disadvantaged children: children of single parent families, children living in families with high risk of poverty, children living in families of migrant origin, children of the street and homeless children, children with developmental difficulties, children from minority groups and disadvantaged children in rural areas.
At the end of the meeting, the General Committee adopted a Report on “Preventing social exclusion of children at risk: investment and regional development” and a Resolution urging the participating states to continue and increase their joint efforts on improving the position of the many categories of disadvantaged children.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the parliaments of Romania, Turkey, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Moldova and Serbia, as well as the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to Romania Branko Brankovic and Minister-Counsellor Goran Gvozdenovic.



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friday, 29 march
  • 9.00 - the National Assembly Speaker meets with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Speaker’s Cabinet)

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