On Thursday, 10 September, the Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns participated in the international conference organized by the centre Dardedze “Go there - don't know where? Finding a way to prevent child abuse”, which was organized with a purpose to promote understanding on the national and municipal level about the purposeful need of the system for protection of rights of children.
When opening the conference with a speech, the Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns indicated: “The Ministry of Justice has actively supported and worked on the strengthening of the institution for protection of rights of the children for several years, as well as has performed necessary activities, in order “Children House” would be implemented in Latvia”. The basic task and key purpose of it is to guarantee coordinated and effective activities of institutions, in order to prevent repeated emotional injury of children during the time, when the information in relation to the sexual abuse taken place is being established. According to our opinion, the state cannot hold off during implementation of this model and everything necessary should be performed in order the institution “Children House” would start operating also in practice as soon as possible and the compliance with the best interests would be provided for children suffering from violence.”
At the same time the Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns informed that the Committee of the Parties to the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Committee) commenced the assessment of the Member States, including Latvia, about protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, which was performed by using information and communication technologies. “As soon as the assessment report of the Lanzarote Committee will be available, the Ministry of Justice will carefully assess the provided recommendations, in order to ensure faster introduction thereof in practice,” emphasizes the Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns.
The Ministry of Justice has developed and submitted to the Saeima also draft law “Amendments to the Civil Procedure Law”, providing to supplement the types of provisional measures for protection against abuse with a new measures - to provide a possibility for a court to impose on the abuser the obligation to acquire the course for minimization of the abusive behaviour. “Supplementation of the range of provisional measures to be applied against abuse is a significantly necessary step, in order to work with the abusive person in a preventive manner - adjust the behaviours of abusive behaviour and reduce the number of domestic violence,” says the Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns.
“I would also like to emphasize that it is necessary to facilitate that the child himself or herself is being involved in the adoption of decisions related to him or her and the information about the activities planned and performed by the authorities is provided in the form appropriate for him or her. For example, in order to explain the ruling made, as well as impact thereof on securing of personal, property rights and legal interests of the child. This is the step towards which all state and municipal authorities need to develop for protection of the best interests of the children,” indicates the Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns.