Election contenders neglect children, study

The political players are not concerned about the interests of the people younger than 18 and seldom address the problems faced by the children in their platforms, mainly with the aim of sensitizing the women voters and the voters from rural areas. This is one of the conclusions of a study published by the Child Rights Information and Documentation Center, Info-Prim Neo reports. The study analyzed the electoral programs of seven election runners. Only four of them – the Democratic Party, the Communists Party, the Liberal Party and the Moldova Noastra Alliance – pledge to ensure children's access to education and equal educational opportunities. The Moldova Noastra Alliance pleads for the improvement of the school curriculum and extension of early, inclusive and extra-curricula education in every settlement. The social protection of children and children's right to rest, play and take part in cultural and artistic activities are treated in a discriminatory way as the parties refer only to children from poor families and disabled children. The right to health and the access to medical services are addressed by all the election contenders examined. They aim to improve the quality of the medical services provided within the compulsory health insurance system, especially for mothers and children. Special attention is paid to the protection of mothers. Some of the contenders, like the Democratic Party and the Liberal Democratic Party, aim to boost natality by increasing the childbirth benefit to 7,500 lei and even 10,000 lei and the monthly childcare allowance to 1,300 lei. The Democratic Party also promises to provide free health policies for the working mothers with children under three. The study shows parties' electoral programs do not take into account the recommendations concerning prevention and combating of child abuse, support to the children and families affected by migration, promotion of reforms in the legal system for children and others of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Representatives of the Child Rights Information and Documentation Center consider the efforts made by the political class to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are insufficient and the parties evidently neglect this children.