site.btaPresident Plevneliev: Bulgaria's Policies for Children Give Example to Entire Region

President Plevneliev: Bulgaria's Policies for Children Give Example to Entire Region

Sofia, December 3 (BTA) - Bulgaria's policies for children give example to the entire Balkan Region, President Rosen Plevneliev said at his meeting with UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake here on Thursday, the head of State's press secretariat reported.

The Bulgarian President outlined his country's achievements in the sphere of childcare and said that Bulgaria wants to conclude the process of deinstitutionalization of children by 2025 and to replace all institutions for child accommodation by a network of services which meet each child's individual needs.

Plevneliev noted that childcare will be included in the future National Programme for the Development of Bulgaria by 2030. The civil society will actively take part in the elaboration of this strategic document, he added.

He also outlined Bulgaria's first steps in the sphere of the juvenile justice reform and recalled that the country currently has 14 "blue rooms" [specially adapted rooms for interviewing children involved in legal proceedings].

During the meeting it was underscored that Bulgaria has a growing significance as a UNICEF partner in the elaboration and implementation of policies and programmes for child protection in the region. In Plevneliev's words, his country has the ambition to place policies for children on the region's agenda by using the mechanisms of the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP). Within its SEECP Chairmanship-in-Office, Bulgaria will host the forum where the new Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child 2016-2021 will be presented, he noted.

Plevneliev thanked for UNICEF's support and expressed the expectation that the organization will continue working with the Bulgarian government and civil society so as to guarantee the stability of the achieved results for children.

Lake expressed the conviction that UNICEF's model of work in Bulgaria can be used as a model in other countries in the region. He said that the international organization will continue its joint work with the Bulgarian authorities on pilot projects and on the support of policies at the national level.

As part of his visit to Bulgaria at Plevneliev's invitation, the UNICEF Executive Director is scheduled to hold talks with government representatives and visit the Community Support Centre - Sofia with the Social Activities and Practice Institute and Sofia's Child Advocacy Centre.