Armenpress
UNICEF, GOVERNMENT OF ARMENIA SEAL MEMORANDUM ON CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM
REFORM IN LORI REGION
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS: UNICEF, the Ministry of Labor and
Social Issues and the Governor’s Office of Lori region signed today a
Memorandum of Understanding, laying a foundation for the comprehensive
reform of child protection system in the region.
“The existing child protection system relies heavily on a system of
institutions, that instead of strengthening capacities of families to care
for and protect their children, pulls children into residential care
institutions, where they live isolated from the broader familial and social
network that is essential for their healthy development,” Sheldon Yett,
UNICEF Representative in Armenia stressed. The Memorandum of Understanding
acknowledges the commitment of the authorities of Lori region to take up a
more holistic approach to services designed to protect the welfare of
children. “The current child protection system is not designed to
systematically identify, report and refer cases of abuse, neglect and
exploitation of children to relevant authorities in the health, education
and law enforcement sectors. Consequently, these violations go unreported
and children are not systematically referred to appropriate services,” Yett
said.
Reform of the child protection system in Armenia is one of the major
strategic pillars of the ten-year National Plan of Action for the Protection
of Child Rights adopted by the Government in 2003 and closely linked to the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. “It’s a long term process that centres on
helping institutions to reach out and support the core role of families in
the care and protection of children. It involves strengthening monitoring
systems and the links between both national and local institutions, the,”
UNICEF Representative noted, adding, “such reform is likely to take a number
of years before being completed.”
The child protection system reform in Lori region started in 2004 with
the introduction of the so-called “Human Rights Based Approach to
Programming (HRBAP)”, an approach that involves not simply identifying
needs, but a process of enabling and empowering those not enjoying their
rights to healthcare, education and other social and economic rights, to
claim them. The approach helps to assess and identify gaps and priority
areas and draw up strategies to address them. UNICEF trained twenty experts
from national, regional and community on the practical application of the
HRBAP tools. With UNICEF support, these experts then conducted a situation
analysis of children in Lori region. Based on the findings of the situation
analysis, a “proposal for change” addressing gaps in the child protection
system has been developed.
The implementation of this “proposal for change” will help to make
services for children more comprehensive, consistent and targeted as well as
will enable the development of mechanisms to prevent, identify and respond
to cases of child rights violations at all levels.