New agreement to protect children who experience or witness violence

The National Center for Child Abuse Prevention and the Prosecutor General’s Office Wednesday signed an agreement on the protection of children who were victims or witnessed violence. Not long ago, an NGO signed a similar agreement with the Ministry of Justice, Info-Prim Neo reports. The agreement envisions cooperation between the state institutions and the nongovernmental sector in the promotion and ensuring of the children’s interest in the legal system. There will be worked out new procedures for questioning children during investigations, including for outfitting safe and friendly areas. The Center’s head Daniela Samboteanu said the parties aim to cooperate in offering multidisciplinary assistance to the children and in sensitizing the specialists to the necessity of adopting special treatment towards the children in the justice system. The parties agreed to contribute to the development of the legal framework that provides appropriate methods for efficiently examining cases involving children. Deputy Prosecutor General Eugen Rusu said the signing of this agreement represents continuity in promoting the procedures that exclude the traumatizing of children involved in criminal cases. According to official statistics, between 120 and 130 children annually suffer because of violence, which has serious physical and psychological repercussions for them. Since the start of this year, the law enforcement bodies have examined 40 cases where the children were victims or witnesses to violence. The signing of the agreement was initiated within projects supported by the foundations Nobody Children, OAK and World Childhood. The event was possible owing to the help provided by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development within the Academy for Educational Development’s Strengthening of Civil Society in Moldova Program.