How are children’s rights respected in the Republic of Moldova? How did the situation in this regard evolve and what aspects remain problematic? Where and how should the kindergartens reopen and what measures should be taken to protect the children? What is child-friendly justice and how can juvenile delinquency be prevented? Answers to these and other questions can be found in Elena Nistor’s interview with Ombudswoman for Children’s Rights Maia Bănărescu, which was conducted online on International Children’s Day.
– IPN: Missis Bănărescu, welcome to IPN!
– Maia Bănărescu: I’m glad that you are healthy and we can have this interview right on International Children’s Day. This way, the first message I evidently want to address to the children on the occasion of June 1. I wish them to be happy, to enjoy the care of the dear ones, the parents and other persons who are near them. Have a nice, creative vacation free from dangers.
– IPN: The day of June 1 is first of all about children’s rights. The right to life is their most important life. This year June 1 was overshadowed by the recent happening in Hâncești, where a six-year-old boy died. I thus want to ask you how can we protect the children and their rights? We know the situation of many parents who have to leave their children in the care of elder brothers, who are also children. Home accidents happen and they sometimes result in death. These could have been prevented if the adults were nearby or at least acted swifter to save children’s lives. What should be done to avoid tragedies?
– Maia Bănărescu: Indeed, we have tragedies and there are enough cases when the children become victims of accidents that sometimes happen because of the parents’ inattention. But the case you mentioned is of a family where the child enjoyed attention, but the tragedy happened anyway. The conclusion is that the tragedies do not choose the status of the family – either this is wealthy or poor. The tragedies show that we should be more precautious and that it is very important to work on prevention. How can we prevent such cases? Only by teaching the parents and by teaching and educating the children – not to talk to a stranger when this is dangerous, not to touch the socket. The children should be taught to avoid dangers since early childhood. The parents should also be ready to take measures that would not endanger the child.
It is regrettable that in the 21st century we talk about these outhouses. But this is the lifestyle of many of our people. It is also a lifestyle and a tradition of the Moldovans, and probably not only of the Moldovans, to leave smaller children in the care of elder children. We grew up like this and I also raised children and they stayed home alone from a particular age. It is important that the adults should try and eliminate any danger to which a child can be exposed. There was also a case when a child cut the fingers of another child in their father’s presence. So, it goes to precaution and also to the teaching of children. If a tragic case happened, this should be quickly reported to the police and doctors so that they intervene, no matter in what circumstances it occurred. Any swift intervention can save lives. And it is very important that the police apply standards, a conception as to how a missing child should be searched for. There should be a well-defined conception at state level.
– IPN: I want to also ask you about the authorities’ role in ensuring children’s rights and the access to kindergartens, for example. We realize that the education institutions had to be closed due to the pandemic. But a wave was launched through social networking sites and the parents demand that the kindergartens should be reopened. On the one hand, we saw that online petition by which the parents demand to reopen kindergartens. On the other hand, we realize the persisting risks and fear to transform the kindergartens into hotbeds. What compromise can be reached here?
– Maia Bănărescu: It is hard to find a solution in this case. I agree with Minister of Education Igor Sharov, who said that it is 
very easy and simple to take a decision on paper for reopening the kindergartens. But it is hard to ensure the fulfillment of the necessary conditions, such as maintaining of a distance of two meters. This means the bed should be separate, the table should be separate. Hand sanitizer dispensers, lamps, thermometers, and not with mercury, should be placed in each corner. There are many other measures that should be taken by the local public authorities. Let’s admit that these conditions can be met, but the children are different. They like to kiss and to hug, play with toys, etc. We should be very attentive when reopening the kindergartens and there should be a minimum of children there. We must make sure that those educators and educator assistants can supervise the children. But we have kindergartens where there are not enough educator assistants or educators or medical staff.
We also speak about the offering of possibilities for parents to stay with the children at home. Regrettably, the legislation of the Republic of Moldova does not stipulate the age by which the parent or the legal representative should be near the child and supervise this. Not all the categories of employees could stay at home. There are many categories of employees who continued work during the pandemic. We tried to discuss with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection so that this explains to us how these children can be supervised and how their parents can keep their jobs. Evidently, the Labor Code stipulates many legal situations, such as work from a distance, which was introduced recently, or the flexible program, annual leave or unpaid leave. There are many possibilities, but the problem of inconvenient employees appears here and this should alarm us as all the employers need employees who are always available. That’s why the state should take a decision to facilitate the stay of parents at home. Even if it’s unpaid leave, the employer should keep that job or the parents will remain without income.
We also discussed that quarantine leave with the Ministry. In general, the quarantine leave is applied in the Republic of Moldova for the first time as there were no other similar situations. But the quarantine leave is given to a person for staying in quarantine, not for looking after another person.
So, a set of measures should be taken when reopening the kindergartens, which should be done very carefully as we put the children at risk because they could infect each other and then the family members. My opinion oscillates between ensuring the child’s rights to education and the superior interest of the child. The authorities should formulate clear polities for the benefit of both of the sides and take a decision in the child’s superior interest.
– IPN: Missis Bănărescu, let’s return to the observance of children’s rights. This April, it was four years since you took up your duties. You formulated rather critical opinions when taking up, including about the observance of children’s rights. Do you see improvements?
– Maia Bănărescu: I will speak about the children’s opinion as I often come into contact with children, visit them at their education institutions and discuss with them. We have zonal meetings and meet at the national forum that I stage each year and that involves about 200 children from all over the country. We evidently discuss the rights and the respect for children’s rights. When I took up my duties, I said that I will be the children’s mouthpiece and friend even if it’s hard to gain the trust of a child. I want to say that the children in our country are not used to speaking themselves about their problems, to communicating. Not many children address me directly or through the hotline. We promote this hotline, the email addresses that the children can use. I tell them to at least call and say “hello” even if they don’t have problems as I want to know that they know about this telephone number and can call it anytime they need, including when a friend of theirs is in a difficult situation.
When I talk to children, the first question I put to them is if they know their rights. They all say “yes”. Evidently, they learn about their rights at education institutions, but the teaching centering on human rights is of a poor quality. First of all, this is not a mandatory subject, but an optional one. Some of the new disciplines include lessons on such a theme, but they are taught inappropriately. The child can enumerate the rights, but cannot analyze them. It is serious when a child is asked what a right means and this cannot answer. They consider that these rights are offered by someone. 90% say the state offers them rights and this is grave. The children should know that these are their natural rights. They are born with them and are inherent. No one can take them from you and if they are taken, this is a violation.
To have active, free citizens, we should explain these things to the children at school. I was in situations when I was asked even by teachers and I was often reproached that “you speak only about rights, not yet about obligations”. I tell them that the children have rights and have not obligations, but responsibilities. The obligations belong to the state, the adults and are designed to ensure growth conditions for the children.
If you ask me if children’s rights evolved during my four-year term in office, I will tell you that they evolved, but they are rights stipulated by law and guaranteed by the Constitution. The legislation meets the international standards, but problems are permanently encountered in the implementation process. I will give only one example of the attitude to children and why we do not make progress. The authorities always make reference to the lack of funds for developing the system and this is fully mistaken. The case of the child with a rare disease is pertinent. Owing to the epidemiological situation, he cannot be supplied with a vital medicine. Even if the health system covers the costs associated with the treatment of any child disease, it does not always do this. The children who suffer from rare diseases not always get the total sum for treatment from the state and the parents buy medicines at their own expense, as in the case to which I referred officially. During three years in a row, the mother got back the money spent on drugs, but for 2019 she received only half of the incurred costs. Is this a violation of children’s rights or not?
– IPN: I want to also ask you about the children with disabilities, for example the autistic children. Recently, my colleagues developed a subject, reporting that a year has passed since the Government approved the framework regulations for the organization and functioning of the specialized intervention center for autism spectrum disorders, but only one such center has been opened meanwhile. The parents have to cover the costs for all kinds of rehabilitation services themselves and these services are not at all cheap.
– Maia Bănărescu: In 2016, the first study of the observance of the rights of autistic children in Moldova was carried out in 
concert with the Municipal Children’s Rights Protection Division. Serious shortcomings were identified on this segment and I was surprised. The screening to early detect autism spectrum disorders in children during the first months of life was later introduced and this is an accomplishment. Also, the legal framework and minimum standards were adopted. Effort is now made to collect statistical data about the number of autistic children. The legislation was made, but what do we do further? Why don’t we do anything? They make again reference to the shortage of funds.
But it does not always go to the lack of funds. To my mind, it is the inertia of the responsible authorities as not everything implies funds. And we see this on the way, in the case of many actions. For example, Law No. 140 on the special protection of children in situations of risk provides that the public authorities, the tutelage authorities should have a specialist for children’s rights. Not even half of the local tutelage authorities have such specialists. The number is very low, but we have 33 districts and many villages. Most of the times, the problems of children are addressed by the social assistant who is responsible also for adults and cannot thus devote the necessary attention. It was proposed that the salary of this specialist who deals with children’s problems should be paid from the state budget, as in the case of the social assistant, not by the local public authorities.
Why don’t they do so? The financial resources should not be invoked when it goes to the protection of children’s rights. It is even a shame for the state when it cannot fully realize the rights of such a small number of children, of not even 400,000...
Other aspects related to the situation of children’s rights in the Republic of Moldova are available in the video version of the interview with Ombudswoman for Children’s Rights Maia Bănărescu. The interview forms part of IPN News Agency’s project “Injustice Revealed through Multimedia”.
