On February 9, 2015 the Ministry of Social Protection and Labour of the PMR held a roundtable discussion on the “Implementation of the state policy for the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of a child”. The forum took place with support of the Shevchenko Pridnestrovian State University. The event was attended by Minister for Social Protection and Labour of the PMR Oksana Bulanova, Health Minister Tatyana Skrypnik, Archbishop Savva of Tiraspol and Dubossary, as well as representatives of relevant ministries and departments, state administrations and the clergy. The Pridnestrovian Foreign Ministry was presented by Igor Shornikov.
The issue of family and childhood and the state policy carried out in this area in the direction of deinstitutionalization of trusteeship and guardianship system was the main subject of the roundtable discussion. First Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the PMR Elena Rusina considered trends in achieving the main goal of department in the area of children's rights - family preservation and support of family upbringing of children, their socialization. Other speakers included representatives from a number of specialized departments of Pridnestrovie, the support of the efforts taken by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection in improving the trusteeship and guardianship system was expressed by Archbishop Savva of Tiraspol and Dubossary.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR supports the efforts of the Ministry of Social Protection and Labour which are aimed to identify and quantify families who are in socially vulnerable situation, and to prevent child abandonment. According to the Pridnestrovian diplomats, the ministry’s initiatives on deinstitutionalization of residential institutions, trusteeship and guardianship are particularly noteworthy.
We remind that this approach is consistent with generally accepted international practice and recommendations which were proposed by Senior UN expert on human rights in Pridnestrovie Thomas Hammarberg within the framework of the special mission, and which were subsequently included by the President of the PMR in the Plan of action to implement the recommendations.
Pridnestrovie has already taken a number of efforts for several years in order to properly study the international experience in this area and above all, of Russia and Belarus which, according to UNICEF’s estimates, made significant progress in the area of deinstitutionalization and the return of children in a normal family.
The Foreign Ministry closely monitors the broad public debate, including on the Internet, and in this context the Foreign Ministry of the PMR always emphasizes that the recommendations offered by different international actors, including international organizations of the UN group, are taken into account by state authorities of Pridnestrovie when there are some constructive suggestions and are selectively implemented by them in their respective fields when it is in the interests of Pridnestrovie. The recommendations of experts and expert organizations which are contrary to the interests of the country cannot be accepted by specialized structures of the republic. The selective adoption of the recommendations of international organizations has a high foreign policy value and thus not in words but in practice the state authorities of Pridnestrovie confirms their readiness to cooperate actively with their international partners.
In the context of discussing the concept of deinstitutionalization of residential institutions, proposed by the Ministry of Social Protection and Labour, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs draws attention to the fact that the reform is primarily intended to protect the interests of a child without parental care.
That is the child that should be the primary concern of the state. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs focused specifically on the data presented at the round table. So, today in Pridnestrovie more than 60% of orphans are brought up not in state institutions, but in substitute families, the number of orphans cared in state institutions decreases every year. So, in 2014 there were 56 such children fewer than in the previous year. However, to date, there are 698 only orphans and children left without parental care in orphanages and boarding schools, except for those who are brought up in state institutions with the diseases, as well as low-income children. At the same time, on the average no more than 12 children a year are adopted by adoptive parents.
In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs particularly welcomes the initiatives of the Ministry of Social Protection and Labour which are primarily aimed at ensuring the rights of a child to grow up in a family.
