Child Abuse and Neglect

The report presents the findings of an institutional assessment of the responsiveness of the child protection system in the Republic of Macedonia to violence against children. The study specifically looked for formal mechanisms that govern the referral of cases of violence to the appropriate institutions, as well as those that promote cooperation and coordination among component actors in the child protection system.
It has been prepared by Verica Stamenkova-Trajkova, PhD, fromInstitute for Social Work and Social Policy
Faculty of Philosophy-Skopje.

The conference titled "Development of a child protection system: national and international experience" will be held in Minsk on 22nd - 23rd April 2010. It will be the first conference in a series of annual conferences "Safe Belarus for children" that will be organized by NGO "Ponimanie". The aim of the conference is to improve the quality of assistance to children affected by violence, exploitation and trafficking. For this purpose, Belarusian specialists will be able to exchange professional experience with leading international experts.

The First Children's Embassy in the World Megjashi is conducting a campaign under the slogan "You should not be silent about the violence". The main goal is to inform the public about the violence that the children in Macedonia are facing. It is necessary to talk about the violence against children as it can cause serious and long lasting psychological harm. Fear, insecurity, low self-esteem, lack of information and lack of confidence in the institutions that are obliged to provide care and protection are the most common reasons why children are quiet about the violence and are not willing to reveal it and report it.

The website is a part of Czech national campaign against domestic and interpersonal violence. It's aim is to inform the society and its most vulnerable members about the problem and prevent it. The website is divided to four parts dedicated to different target groups: women, children, teenagers and other people who are witnesses of violence. In a friendly and easy way the children can learn from the website what is violence, how to react when faced by it and where to report it.