Anna Kuznetsova: Cooperation between CIS countries is the key to the happiness of our children

On September 14, a meeting of ombudsmen for children's rights of the CIS countries was held. The meeting was initiated by the Russian side with the aim of working out important issues of joint activities in the field of child protection. The meeting was attended by children's ombudsmen and representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Armenia.

During her speech, the Commissioner for Children's Rights under the President of the Russian Federation, Anna Kuznetsova, noted the importance of interaction between the CIS member countries on children's issues and proposed creating a Council on Child Protection and determining a schedule of meetings.

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Stressing that such a decision was long overdue, she drew attention to the need for closer mutually beneficial cooperation. The new format of cooperation should increase efficiency and facilitate work on children's issues in terms of interstate cooperation, as well as facilitate the exchange of best practices in this area.

“We already have excellent experience of working together, we have developed good practices of interaction on child protection issues, exchanged information, and in recent years we have been building and strengthening our ties. Therefore, I believe that the need for today’s meeting is confirmed by the long practice of our interaction and cooperation,” the commissioner said.

Anna Kuznetsova focused on the importance of interaction within the framework of programs for the return of minors from combat zones, their socialization, rehabilitation and integration into society. She noted that today many states are engaged in the implementation of this important task and the new format of interaction between the CIS countries will allow better coordination of efforts.

According to representatives of the CIS countries, Russian experience in this area is of particular interest. Thus, over the past few years, more than 300 Russian children have been taken from conflict zones in the Middle East. Anna Kuznetsova always personally visited combat areas and supervised their evacuation.

“Today we are taking a step not only in supporting those programs that are being implemented in the territories of our states. But also in the development of institutions of ombudsmen for children’s rights and other human rights mechanisms, the protection of childhood, family, and traditional values. Joining efforts on these issues will, without a doubt, give a very important and invaluable result. And these are not documents, not new programs. This is the happiness of our children,” the children’s ombudsman emphasized.

She also suggested that experts in the field of protecting children's rights be involved in subsequent meetings, which would help find optimal solutions in the interests of children in Commonwealth countries. According to her, such interaction would be possible through monitoring, seminars, conferences and other forms of cooperation.

Representatives of the participating states of the event supported all the proposals voiced by the Russian Ombudsman and shared their experience in protecting children's rights in their countries.

“The desire of the ombudsmen to unite has proven that the topic of child protection has no boundaries and is independent of national characteristics, culture and regulatory framework. Our countries speak the same language when it comes to protecting children,” said Anna Kuznetsova following the conference.