Today, at the workshop for children and youth “Know your rights” which the Institution organized to celebrate International Human Rights Day, the Protector of Citizens, Mr. Zoran Pašalić, has underscored that human rights protection starts with the protection of children and that involving children and youth in decision making concerning their rights is necessary.
“Solving the problems that an individual or a certain group have in everyday life means human rights protection. Human rights protection starts with the protection of children’s rights and that is why it is necessary to hear what the youth have to say about the problems they face,” Mr. Pašalić said at the workshop organized by the Protector of Citizens’ Sector for Child Rights within regular meeting of the Protector of Citizens’ Youth Advisory Panel which includes 30 children and young people from all parts of Serbia.
“We cannot talk about the protection of children's rights if the voice of children is not heard and that is why their participation in the work of our Institution is precious to us, and meetings of the Panelists are an opportunity for us to hear what problems they have in the environments they come from. And not only at the meetings, the Panelists can turn to the Protector of Citizens whenever they have a problem, it is important that we hear you, you are our advisors, our eyes and ears on field, " said Pašalić.
This year the meeting of the Youth Advisory Panel of the Protector of Citizens included more members because this Institution announced a Public Invitation for Filling In Vacancies in the Youth Advisory Panel in October 2021 for 7 and 8 grade Elementary School pupils from the entire territory of Serbia.
The meeting at the Palace of Serbia, aimed at promoting child right to participation and active involvement, was attended by young panelists from Niš, Kula, Novi Sad, Vrbas, Pećinci, Pirot, Tutin, Ruma, Belgrade, Obrenovac, Zaječar, Vrnjačka Banja and Kragujevac.
After the reception, Young Panelists, led by the experts in the field of child rights employed in the Sector for Child Rights headed by the Deputy Protector of Citizens for Child Rights, Ms. Jelena Stojanović, have acquainted each other with their perception of the Convention on Child Rights within the workshop “Know your rights”, while in the second workshop “Recognize violence” they have discussed what violence includes, how it is manifested and what needs to be done to stop the violence.
The workshop “Recognize violence” is an introduction into planned activities of the Protector of Citizens’ Youth Advisory Panel for next school term of 2021/2022 school year within which the young Panelists, after the training how to realize survey, will conduct in their schools the survey concerning how much children know about violence and the ways in which they can protect themselves.