site.btaJustice Minister, Chinese Parliamentary Delegation Discuss Child Protection

The protection of child victims of crime was the main topic of a meeting between caretaker Justice Minister Maria Pavlova and a Chinese delegation from the Committee on Legislative Affairs of the National People's Congress. The official guests are in Bulgaria at the invitation of UNICEF, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday.

At the meeting, Minister Pavlova brought attention to the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation for the Protection of Children's Rights, signed between her Ministry, the National Legal Aid Bureau and UNICEF-Bulgaria in September. Head of the UNICEF representation in Bulgaria Christina de Bruin stressed that the international organization's office in Geneva chose Bulgaria to be visited by the Chinese delegation in recognition of the reforms carried out in Bulgaria in the field of child justice.

“For us Bulgaria is an important partner and friend in Europe,” said the head of the parliamentary delegation Sun Zhengping.

Speaking to the guests, Minister Pavlova stressed that Bulgaria attaches priority importance to countering and prosecuting all sexual crimes against children, as well as to effectively preventing and punishing them. According to her, it is essential to provide sufficient guarantees for the respect and exercise of the procedural rights of child victims, as well as the provision of effective care for them. Among the examples cited by the Minister of Justice was the questioning of children in so-called “blue rooms”, which provide victims with an environment as close to home as possible. In the blue rooms, a psychologist or an educator talks to the children, while behind the mirrored partition are the investigators, lawyers and others.

Minister Pavlova also reported a worrying trend of increasing online abuse of children.

According to Sun Zhengping, this trend is also present in China, and the country has special laws and measures to protect children, including victims of sexual abuse, a law against domestic violence, etc.

The meeting was also attended by Chinese Ambassador Dai Qingli and National Legal Aid Bureau President Natalia Ilieva.