The Ministry of Social Policy receives UNICEF support to kickstart developing the National strategy for children’s rights

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will support the Ministry of Social Policy in developing the unified National Strategy for Children’s Rights. The Strategy will serve as a guidance to local and national authorities helping them to implement Ukraine’s international obligations in child rights protection. This was announced by the Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Maryna Lazebna.

She noted that Ukraine has ratified several international policies on protecting the rights of children and approved over 15 strategies and various concept papers defining priority areas of the GOU work in various fields, including children’s wellbeing. The activities stipulated by these documents will be implemented through 2030.

“All these strategies and action plans have to be implemented. But each of them addresses problems in a separate area and is not the part of a unified vision for the protection of children’s rights,” Maryna Lazebna highlights. “The new Strategy will identify specific steps to ensure effective implementation of international standards in the field of children’s rights in Ukrainian legal framework and in practice.”

She added that the Ministry of Social Policy plans to involve a wide range of experts in the development of the Strategy. In particular, UNICEF will work with the Ministry on the document.

“UNICEF welcomes the initiative of the Ministry of Social Policy in fulfilment and protection of children’s rights. From our side, we will continue supporting the Ministry to jointly build a comprehensive strategy and make it a reality for every child in Ukraine,” says Murat Sahin, UNICEF Representative in Ukraine.

Ukraine has already fulfilled several international obligations, including most of the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. In particular, significant amendments were made to the Family Code of Ukraine, Laws of Ukraine “On Child Protection,” “On Agencies and Services for Children and Special Institutions for Children, ”On Ensuring Organizational and Legal Conditions for Social Protection of Orphans and Children Deprived of Parental Care.” Mechanisms for prevention of child abuse and organization of assistance to children from vulnerable groups have been improved. Conditions have also been created for the involvement of civil society organizations in the development and implementation of policies in the field of child protection.

For reference

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ratified by Ukraine in 1991 is a fundamental international document that defines key directions of the state’s work in the field of child protection.

Relevant action plans have been implemented in Ukraine since 2009 – specifically, the State Program “National Action Plan for the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child” until 2016 and the State Social Program “National Action Plan for the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child” until 2021, adopted in 2017.

These regulations sustained continued integration of the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as international standards and priorities of the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child, into Ukraine’s national legal framework.