Many children are abused by adults and fellows, participants in specialized workshop say

“Many of our colleagues are subjected to violence by adults and fellows,” said children that participated in a workshop centering on the right to be protected against violence and negligence. But they also said that there are families and classes in which the children, parents and teachers get on well. The workshop brought together children from the Working Group for Monitoring Children’s Rights in Moldova. It was organized by the Child Rights Information and Documentation Center. Among the participating adults that listened to their speeches were the Children’s Rights Ombudswoman Tamara Plamadeala and the Coordinator for Moldova of the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation of Switzerland Natalia Balta. “I would like a partnership and communication relationship with the children,” said the Ombudswoman for Children Tamara Plamadeala, encouraging them to give examples when their rights were violated and produce evidence. The Coordinator for Moldova of the Pestalozzi Foundation Natalia Balta approved of the work done by the children. She spoke about the areas in which the foundation works and in which they can cooperate with the Children’s Working Group. The children that form part of the Working Group for Monitoring Children’s Rights started to assert themselves as experts in children’s rights. Together with the schoolmates, they organize lobbying activities at local level, participate in radio and TV programs and write articles for the group’s news bulletin, the Official Monitor of the Child’s Rights, which is at its fourth edition. The groups’ members also helped work out the monitoring indicators adapted for children, which will be included in the first Practical Guide for Monitoring Children’s Rights in Moldova. This is the fourth workshop where the children discuss, in the presence of adult experts and mass media, personal stories and their colleagues’ experiences about the observance and violation of their rights collected in the 12 regions of the country from which they come. The members of the Working Group for Monitoring Children’s Rights in Moldova are aged between 11 and 15 and represent 20 communities. The children have already prepared their first report on the Child’s Right to Education. “The right to education is our most appreciated and most violated right,” the children said. Their report speaks about the high school abandonment rate, especially in villages, the quality of teaching and the lack of teachers, the verbal and physical violence in schools, and the financial resources that are not sufficient to equip the classrooms and pay the teachers. The next workshop of the Children’s Working Group will focus on the right to participation, while the major observations of the monitoring will be included in the future reports on how the Convention on the Rights of the Child is observed in Moldova.