Sofia, 22 March 2016
The Parliamentarian Commission for interaction with NGOs and citizens initiated and held on 22 March 2016 a round table in the Narioanl Assembly on violence and aggression among and against children. The event was organized in cooperation with the National Network for Children, whose member is the Bulgarian Family Planning and Sexual Health Association (BFPA), and gathered members of Parliament, representatives of state institutions and NGOs. The deputy minister of Justice Virginia Micheva and the National ombudsman Maya Manolova also participated in the meeting.
The need to establish a National Programme for Prevention of Violence and a system to adequately collect information were highlighted. It was a discussion about the planned by Ministry of Education initiation of centers for personal support and development in schools. The importance of media informational environment in which children grow was stressed.
The aim of the meeting was to start a discussion between legislative, executive and local authorities, as well civil society organizations working with children and families on topics connected with violence. A working group was created as a final initiative in the meeting. Included are several parliamentary committees, representatives of ministries, SACP, ASS, UNICEF, NNC and some more civic organizations.
The working group is to have its first meeting on March 29, 2016. It is going to work on initiating legislative changes, developing National Programme for Preventing Violence against Children, as well for improving the work of Coordinating Mechanism for Interaction supporting children victims of violence or in risk.
BFPA was presented at the round table by the projects coordinator Ralitsa Zgalevska. The work of the network Learning Action Partnership, which is coordinated by BFPA is on similar topics and will collaborate with new created group.
