Regular session of Council for Juvenile Justice held in new format and with extended agenda

The regular session of the Council for Juvenile Justice was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Minister of Justice, Chairperson of the Council Anna Karapetyan. The session was also attended by representatives of sector-specific agencies and non-governmental organisations which are members of the Council.

In her opening speech, Anna Karapetyan stressed that the activities of the Council must be constructive and substantive, attaching importance to the inter-agency co-operation and the ensuring of results based on the best interest of the child. In her speech, Anna Karapetyan also touched upon the activities carried out after the previous session, the meetings of the working group, as well as the international co-operation in this sector, highlighting the active participation in the session of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children that was held in April of this year.

An opening speech was also delivered by Acting Director of the "Centre for the Implementation of Legal Education and Rehabilitation Programmes" Gevorg Simonyan, who attached importance to the consistent works of the Council and expressed gratitude to the United Nations Children's Fund for developing the sector-specific agenda, predetermining the strategic directions and supporting institutional reinforcement.

Issues related to the best interests of the child in the stage of compulsory enforcement were considered during the session, including the procedures for fulfilling the requirements for visiting the child and placing the child under the custody of the claimant; the practical issues of and procedures for engaging psychologists during the investigative actions with the participation of minors, as well as the works that are being carried out to introduce the Barnahus Model were touched upon.

The awareness-raising programme for preventing online crimes among minors, initiated by the Centre, was also presented during the session. During the session, the students of Basic School No 111 in Yerevan presented a video and slideshow devoted to the formation of gender stereotypes and the role of media (they had prepared the video and slideshow within the scope of the programme). The children also asked the members of the Council questions about gender stereotypes, the potential challenges on the job and other topics of their concern.

Anna Karapetyan and the members of the Council welcomed the engagement of children and discussed other opportunities for them to speak out about their issues and participate in discussions.

Summing up the session, Anna Karapetyan predetermined the scope of topics to be discussed during the next sitting, attaching importance to addressing the issues and specific problems raised during this session, as well as ensuring that each government agency fulfils its commitment.