National Assembly Deputy Speaker and member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child Veroljub Arsic said that children’s rights in Serbia are guaranteed by the Constitution, ratified international conventions and series of laws regulating different segments of child rights protection.

Arsic said that the National Assembly is treats children’s rights with special concern as evidenced by the fact that it has a separate working body for the issue - Committee on the Rights of the Child, chaired by the National Assembly Speaker and staffed by the deputy speakers. The Committee monitors the implementation of laws through a series of working groups formed within it.

Some of the Committee’s chief concerns are zero tolerance for violence, position and rights of vulnerable categories, protection of children from vulnerable categories, child labour, early development and inclusive education, child friendly justice and implementation of the Sustainable development Goals, said Arsic.

The National Assembly Deputy Speaker opined that there has been some progress, but the child rights legislation and action plans still need to be improved. He stressed that UNICEF, with whom the Parliament had signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2008, is an important partner in that regard and of great assistance to the Committee and National Assembly.

UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children and member of the Moroccan National Human Rights Council Najat Maalla M’jid, visiting Serbia to ascertain the situation in the country and the priorities of the child policies and to share her experience of formulating and supervising national action plans for children with the representatives of relevant governmental and non-governmental institutions, opined that the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child is very important. She went on to ask about the Committee’s role in the drafting of the national action plan for children and the priorities the plan is to include.