Enhancing Child Protection Partnerships: FACT Project Overview

1. «Developing partnerships for protection and reintegration of children, victims of trafficking, violence and exploitation. Transnational aspect» AntoninaComerzan, National CoordinatorFACT- Transnational actions 25.May 2007 Tallinn

2. WhyFACT? • Out-migration from Moldova (economic situation, unemployment, low wages, changes in values, etc.) • Increase in the number of children going abroad (Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Portugal) • FACT I2005-2006 • FACT II2006 - 2009

3. Why FACT? • 2004 Preliminary study on children (6 districts) • Aspiration to migrate to the Western countries Vs. simplified border-crossing procedure on the Eastern border + no language barrier • Mapping of cases when children are exploited for begging and seasonal work (Russia / Ukraine) • Categories of children going abroad: • From poor families • From rural areas • From families-at-risk • School graduates • Invalids, etc.

4. Goal of the FACT project Creating conditions for permanent interdepartmental co-operation between the Republic of Moldova and the Russian Federation for the purposes of detection, protection, repatriation, rehabilitation and reintegration of children - citizens of Moldova, victims of trafficking, violence and exploitation.

5. Categories of children whom we work with: • Moldavian children (up to 18) – victims of violence, exploitation and/or trafficking (found across the border of Moldova, disregarding their place of birth) • Child victims of violence, exploitation and/or trafficking, repatriated by other organizations but in need for further assistance; Abandoned children, including those abandoned at birth (regarded as victims of violence) Children exploited in hard labor, including those found across the border of Moldova (ILO Convention № 182) Children at risk of becoming victims of violence, exploitation and/or trafficking (within the territory of the Republic of Moldova)

6. FACT partners Agencies for social protection and guardianship - Ministry of Education and Youth; • District level – department for education, youth and sport; Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child • Department for social protection of the citizens • District departments for social protection of the citizens; • Social inspectors and social workers (on the local level) Local administration (community/city councils) • Temporary Residence Centers for Children; • Boarding schools

7. FACT partners Ministry of Health: • Centre for temporary residence and rehabilitation of young children, Chisinau (former RepublicanChildren's Home); • District hospitals and Family doctor centers (former District Departments of Health); • Family doctors(former district doctors) Ministry of Internal Affairs: • Centre for Temporary Maintenance of Children, Chisinau; • Departments for youth affairs and district inspectors for youth affairs (under 18) – within the district police commissariats; • District police inspectors

8. FACT partners • Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration • Ministry of Informational Development • National Council for Child Rights Protection • District councils for child rights protections • Local councils for child rights protections • UNICEF • SDC/DDC(Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation) • OSCE

9. Repatriation procedure (RVA)

10. Repatriation procedure (RVA)

11. Repatriation procedure (RVA)

12. Repatriation procedure (RVA)

13. Repatriation procedure (RVA)

14. Repatriation procedure (RVA)

15. Conditions for initiating of the Repatriation procedure • Determining institutions and partners involved in the procedure • Determining responsible staff members from each of the involved institutions/structures • Operational information exchange between the parties (identification of the child, preparation/restoration of his/her documents, defining the legal status of the child, tracing the circumstances of the child’s arrival and stay in the country, etc.) • Determining financial sources for each step of the procedure • Drafting and signing the Agreement on child protection and repatriation (citizens of the Republic of Moldova)

16. Work with the family in the process of repatriation Family identification stage : • Documented confirmation of the parents’ identity • Confirmation of the child’s identity and citizenship • Defining parents’ place of living • Looking for other relatives (extended family) • Preliminary determination of the conditions for the child’s return to his/her family • Motivating the family

17. Working with the family in the process of repatriation • Assistance to the family in the course of rehabilitation and reintegration of the child: (together with partners) • Legal assistance (restoration of the documents) • Education (placement in a child educational institution, professional training, liquidation of educational gaps andilliteracy, individual learning) • Medical and psychological rehabilitation • Material support on the first stage of family reintegration (3-12 months)

18. Working with the family in the process of repatriation Partnership on the community level • Local administration Примэрия • Educational institutions • Council for the rights of the child • District police inspector • Family doctor • Child’s relatives • NGOs • Local economic community Alternatives to the return to the biological family • Guardianship; Family type children’s home • Temporary residence centre for children • Boarding school • Adoption

19. Instruments in use during the Repatriation procedure • “Child’s registration card” (filled in by the children institution) • “Child’s history” (composed on the basis of prior visits to the family, preliminary study of the family’s life conditions) • “Individual plan of reintegration of the child” (preliminary; approved; amended)

20. Individual plan of integration of the child Individual plan of integration of the child (PIC) - (preliminary; amended): 1. Investigation of the family life conditions (material) Coordinated planning of the child’s occupation and education (medical treatment, education, professional training) Motivation and responsibility of the family Legal support to the family 2. Human and financial resources (local administration, social funds, etc.) Basis of PIC: • Preliminary evaluation of the family life conditions (prior to repatriation); • Additional evaluation (after repatriation); • Assessment of the child’s present situation (done by the Russian and Moldavian experts after repatriation) • Actions/measures aiming at rehabilitation and reintegration (foreseen by PIC) • (Local administration – local agency for social protection – local Councils for child rights protection – children institution – Tdh/ FACT project, IOM, NGOs and non-governmental funds) • Permanent monitoring (local agency for social protection –children institution – Tdh -IOM)

21. Statistics Registered children: • as of 20. February 2005- 52 • as of 1. November2006- 234 • as of 15. May 2007 - 303 Repatriation missions- 9 Repatriated children- 89 incl.:December 2004 - December 2005 - 34 1. January – 25. December 2006- 44 1.January – 1. April 2007 -10+1

22. Statistics Repatriated children (89): • 0-7 -31 • 8-12 -24 • 13-17-34 • Born in the RF - 19 • Migrated with parents -51 • Migrated alone - 1 • Migrated with relatives -9 • Migrated with other adults -9 • Abandoned in the streets/apartment-34 • Begging, working -23

23. Results ( January 2005 – April 2007) Transnational protection Out of 89 repatriated children: • 58 (re-) integrated into the family (53 – biological family / extended family / guardianship, 5 – adopted), • 31 - the process of determining the best form of protection for them is currently ongoing (living in various institutions, including 11 children whose parents have not returned to Moldova for different reasons: they are in custody, they are sought by police, they don’t want to come back yet)

24. Perspectives • Creating of the Regional regulative mechanism regarding the process of children identification in the country where they are found in the situation of risk and the procedure of their repatriation to the country of origin; • Concluding interstate agreements regarding mutual responsibility to provide care and facilitate return of the children to their country of origin; • Elaborating and signing bilateral agreements in the field of child protection and repatriation (special cases); • Elaborating and implementation of a unified mechanism of identification, protection, repatriation and reintegration of the Moldavian children (Moldova-Russia-Ukraine)

25. Contact us In Moldova: MD -2009 Chisinau Kogalniceanu str. 81/1 tel.(+373 22) 23 86 42; fax (+373 22) 23 34 07 In Russia: 107031, Moscow Rozhdestvenka str.,7; оffice 212 Tel/fax (+7 495) 660 92 86

26. Thank you for your attention