Events

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

PUBLIC DEBATE ON THE TOPIC: “THE LEGISLATION ON CHILDREN IN CONFLICT WITH THE LAW, CHILDREN VICTIMS AND CHILDREN WITNESSES OF CRIMES”

On 2 February 2012 the Committee on Labour and Social Policy of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia held a public debate on the topic: “The legislation on children in conflict with the law, children victims and children witnesses of crimes”.

The Working Group on the rights of the child, composed of members of all the Parliamentary Groups in the Assembly, was established in the framework of the Committee on Labour and Social Policy, in accordance with the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on 20 November 2009.

This is the first pubic debate organized by the Working Group, and supported by the UNICEF Office in Skopje and the Delegation of the European Commission in Macedonia through the “Justice for Children” Project.

The public debate was dedicated to the legal regulation regarding children in conflict with the law, children victims and children witnesses of crimes, and the aim was to encourage a debate on improvement of the legal system in order to better protect the children.

Ms. Biljana Briškovska – Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr. Ibrahim Ibrahimi - Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Mr. Robyn Liddell – Chargé d'Affairs of the Delegation of the European Union, Mr. Sheldon Yett – UNICEF Country Representative in Skopje, Ms. Biljana Lubarovska - Child Protection Officer at UNICEF, and Mr. Vlado Kambovski – Chairman of the Commission for preparation of the amendments to the Law on Juvenile Justice had their presentations at the debate.

The Macedonian parliamentarians Ms. Cvetanka Ivanova, Ms. Suzana Saliu, Ms. Sonja Mirakovksa, Ms. Liljana Popovska, and Ms. Beti Kuzmanovska also took part in the debate.

Based on the debate, the Committee adopted the following draft Conclusions:

1. We encourage the process of adoption and incorporation of the recommendation from the UNICEF analysis on the Law on Juvenile Justice;
2. The competences of the Ministry of Justice and of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy with regard to providing education for children in the correctional facilities should be clearly defined;
3. The competences of the Ministry of Justice and of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy with regard to securing mandatory free legal aid for children should be clearly defined;
4. We urge the establishing of a fund for free legal aid within the Ministry of Justice, as well as he establishing of a fund for compensation of children victims;
5. The Law should be explicit when it comes to the presumption of innocence of the children;
6. The Law should stipulate the adoption of a by-law that would regulate the development of a standardized methodology for assessment and monitoring of each child in the correctional facilities for children or in the prisons;
7. The Law should stipulate the adoption of a by-law that would regulate the procedure for adoption of decisions on disciplinary measures by establishing a disciplinary council or a collective body, as well the establishing of a central protocol/registry in the institutions;
8. Each of the relevant Ministries, primarily the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, should allocate funds for implementation of the Law on Juvenile Justice on an annual level.

The draft Conclusion shall be discussed and adopted on one of the following meetings of the Committee on Labour and Social Policy.