UNICEF and the Ministry of Justice have signed a Cooperation Agreement for a child-friendly justice
UNICEF will continue to support the Ministry of Justice in enhancing children's access to inclusive and efficient justice.
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Chisinau, 24 May 2023 - The Minister of Justice, Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, and the Country Representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the Republic of Moldova, Maha Damaj, have jointly signed the Cooperation Agreement to enhance children's and youth's access to inclusive, efficient, and gender-equal justice and child protection systems.
During the official meeting, the Ministry of Justice and UNICEF Moldova representatives discussed various significant topics, including the jointly achieved results and the primary objectives that will be pursued in the forthcoming years.
Some of the achieved outcomes include strengthening the capacities of specialists who work with and for children in conflict with the law through a series of training sessions, enhancing justice procedures for children in the Transnistrian region, developing resocialization programs for children in detention, and improving the national data collection mechanism on justice for children.
According to the work plan for 2023-2024, UNICEF will continue to provide technical support to the Ministry of Justice in enhancing children's access to an efficient and gender-equal justice system. This support also includes reinforcing the child protection system in the Transnistrian region. Furthermore, UNICEF will further assist in consolidating services dedicated to children who are victims/witnesses of crimes and improving the normative framework and services for children below the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
Additionally, greater emphasis will be placed on promoting diversion measures, alternatives to detention, resocialization, and rehabilitation services for children in conflict with the law. Efforts will also be made to strengthen the system and tools for protecting children from online violence and sexual exploitation.
Every year, over 1,000 children are involved in criminal activities, and approximately 250 children under the age of 15 are interviewed as victims or witnesses of crimes. From its earliest days in Moldova, UNICEF has been working to provide support to central authorities, ensuring that every child, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or background, has access to quality protection services when needed.
