NEWS

Round table finalised project

Round table, closing event of Project “Centres for the rights of children in conflict or in contact with the law in Bulgaria”, took place on 22 February at 10:00am at the conference hall of Grand Hotel Hebar, Pazardzhik. The Project is funded by the Velux Foundation and implemented by the National network for children in cooperation with Crime Prevention Fund - IGA. As part of the project, Centre for children’s rights has been functioning in Pazardzhik since May 2017.

Thirty-eight people participated in the forum: representatives of institutions and organisations who have been part in the project implementation and parties interested in the subject.

Dimitar Rusinov, chairperson of the management board, started the discussion, welcoming the participants and presenting the programme. Andrey Momchilov, expert at Fond IGA and Centre for children’s rights, presented the project results. Valentina Gesheva, member of the team at the Centre for children’s rights, outlined the innovations in the activities implementation. Nikoleta Uzunova, manager at department "Child protection”, Directorate Social Assistance - Pazardzhik, was a guest lecture and presented the topic “The role of programmes and projects for children in conflict or contact with law”.

Most of the forum participants joined the subsequent discussion: Regional Directorate "Social Assistance”, District police office, Children pedagogic room, Local commission against antisocial acts of juveniles and minors, Local commission against human trafficking, Complex for social services for children and families, Regional inspectorate of education, District court, Cenre for social rehabilitation and integration and Family type accommodation centre, Municipal administration department - Lesichovo, non-governmental organisations, school principals, psychologists, and social workers.

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Members of two local commissions getting trained under project by Fund IGA

Crime Prevention Fund - IGA together with Pazardzhik Municipality organised a training “Children and youngsters in contact with law - human trafficking” at the beginning of February.

Participants at the training were members of two local commissions in Pazardzhik - Local commission against antisocial acts of juveniles and minors and Local commission against human trafficking.

The project coordinator presented its contents, goals, and tasks as well as the activities of the Centre for children’s rights in Pazardzhik.

The main lecturer at the training was Mariana Shoteva - chairperson of Administrative court, Pazardzhik.

The event was organised within Project "Centres for the rights of children in conflict or in contact with the law in Bulgaria”, funded by the Velux Foundation. As part of the project, Centre for children’s rights has been functioning in Pazardzhik since May 2017.

 

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Centre for children’s rights team visiting social centre in Lesichovo

Team from the Centre for children’s rights - Pazardzhik, held and information meeting at the Family type accommodation centre for children in the village of Lesichovo on 14 December.

The meeting was part of project “Development of Centres for the rights of children in conflict or in contact with the law in Bulgaria” by the Velux Foundation. As part of the project, Centre for children’s right, managed and coordinated by Crime Prevention Fund - IGA, has been functioning in Pazardzhik since May 2017.

The main topic of the information meeting was the prevention of risk behaviour among the children and youngsters of the social service. The participants could ask questions, share opinions, and give suggestions as to what they would like to change in their lives. Matters about HIV and AIDS prevention as part of the risk behaviour among youngsters were also touched upon.

All participants found the meeting very useful and interesting.

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Work meeting with Danish representatives

Work meeting under Project “Centres for the rights of children in conflict or in contact with the law in Bulgaria”, funded by the Velux Foundation, took place at the office of Fund IGA. Centre for children’s rights (CCR) has been functioning in Pazardzhik since 2017 as part of the project.

 

Mr. Anders Madsen from Denmark - consultant at the Velux Foundation, who took part in the meeting, got acquainted with the activities of the Centre, its team, and the activities of Fund IGA.

 

Among the other participants at the meeting were representatives of district court - Pazardzhik, district police office, Child protection department at Directorate Social assistance, Complex for social services for children and families - Pazardzhik, and the team of the Centre for children’s rights.

 

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Training for social service representatives in Pazardzhik region

 

Training seminar for specialists working in social services took place yesterday in the building of City administration - Pazardzhik. The seminar was organised by National Alliance for Social Responsibility and Crime Prevention Fund - IGA. The host of the event was Pazardzhik Municipality.
The event is co-financed by project “Development of Centres for the rights of children in conflict or in contact with the law in Bulgaria” implemented by the Velux Foundation. Centre for children’s rights has been functioning as part of the project since May. The Centre is managed and coordinated by Fund - IGA.
The topic of the training “Essence and prevention of domestic violence among social services users” gathered over 30 specialists from the whole region, including Plovdiv. The topic “Legal aspects of domestic violence” was part of the seminar programme. Mariana Shoteva - chairperson of Administrative court, Pazardzhik, presented the specificity of the procedures with children - victims of domestic violence. Valentina Gesheva - manager of CSRI for offenders and expert at Centre for children’s rights presented: Essence of domestic violence; Factors; Specificity of working with victims of domestic violence; Specific features of working with victims of domestic violence; Specific features of working with perpetrators of domestic violence.
After presenting the main topics, the seminar continued with practical exercises and cases based on them and on the discussion.

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Family group conference as successful practice
 
Seminar on “Family group conference - successful practice in restorative justice for children and youngsters in contact with law” took place on 28 and 29 March at the office of Fund - IGA.
 The training event was initiated by the National Network for Children and is part of the activities of project “Centres for the rights of children in conflict or in contact with the law in Bulgaria”, which Fund - IGA has been conducting since 2017.
The aim of the seminar is to introduce the participants to the main models and practices of restorative justice for children and to the essence and way of conducting the family group conferences. The training is directed to different specialists: representatives of the police, social services, education, etc. They will be assisted to develop a local model of family group conference in their work with young offenders.
The training event was attended by representatives of different institutions and organisations from Pazardzhik which are engaged in the topic: the team of the Centre for children’s rights (Fund - IGA), Child protection department, inspectors from Children pedagogic room (District Police Office), Local commission against antisocial acts of juveniles and minors, Directorate general “Execution of Punishments”, Complex for social services for children and families, Family type accommodation centre, Bulgarian Red Cross, and еducational psychologists.

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Campaign “For more humane children’s justice”
 
The Campaign “For more humane children’s justice” officially started today. It is launched by the National Network for Children and aims to change the Law for antisocial acts of juveniles and minors.

The campaign will present in an interesting way to media and society the need for an urgent reform in children’s justice and will raise awareness among parents and active citizens. An important element of the campaign is to introduce them to the goals and activities of Project “Development of Centres for the rights of children in conflict and in contact with law”, including the newly developed Centres for children’s rights.

Lyudmil Spasov, regional coordinator of the National Network for Children, presented the campaign in detail and Andrey Momchilov, expert from Fund IGA, introduced the participants to the activity of the Children’s Rights Centre which has been developed within the project and managed by Fund IGA. An engaging video - social experiment which the National Network for Children had made with the participation of parents, was broadcast.

If your child stole a gym, what would you do? And if they stole a mobile phone? Are there really “no one’s” children in Bulgaria? How would we feel if our child was punished in the same way as the children at boarding schools and Children pedagogic rooms are punished?

The campaign “For more humane children’s justice” will continue in the whole country. Its goal is to change the attitudes of a bigger part of the society towards children with problematic behaviour and make them realise that these children need support and they are children at risk and not perpetrators.

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Centre for children’s rights – Pazardzhik and Local commission against antisocial acts of juveniles and minors in a joint training

 
The training “Procedure for examining criminal actions of under-age perpetrators. Measures for counteraction of trafficking of children” took place last week in Pazardzhik. It was organized by Crime Prevention Fund – IGA and the Local commission against antisocial acts of juveniles and minors (LCAAAJM), Pazardzhik within project “Development of Centres for the rights of children in conflict or in contact with law”, funded by the Velux Foundation. Fund IGA works in partnership with the National Network for Children in the implementation of the project.

 Andrey Momchilov – expert from Fund IGA, presented the major goals and activities under project “Development of Centres for the rights of children in conflict or in contact with law”. Krasimir Komsalov – judge at District Court, Pazardzik introduced the participants to the procedure of examining criminal actions of under-age perpetrators, the nature of trafficking of children, and the punitive measures according to the Bulgarian legislature. The secretary of LCAAAJM – Biserka Traykova presented the achievements of the Commission for 2017.

This was one of the many events within the project aimed to raise awareness among the general public and specialists about “children in conflict or in contact with law”.

 

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The Centre for children’s rights organized programme for prevention of human trafficking

The Centre for children’s rights, which has been functioning at Fund – IGA since May, conducted a programme for prevention of human trafficking. The programme was co-developed by a specialized team of IGA and a magistrate at District court – Pazardzhik.

The participants of the programme were youngsters from the Centre for support of individual development in Pazardzhik. There were discussions on topics such as prevention of human trafficking, types of trafficking, punitive measures, and risks. There was also a discussion on parts of the criminal law which inform about the measures against perpetrators of trafficking.

The aim of the programme is to introduce participants to the basis of human trafficking, its consequences, and the places where victims can get help.

The programme is part of a project by Fund IGA: “Development of Centres for rights of children in conflict or in contact with law”, funded by the Velux Foundation.

The programme is planned to continue next year. Representatives of the Local commission for human trafficking at Pazardzhik Municipality will be invited for some of the sessions.

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Representatives of the National Network for Children visited the Children’s Rights Centre

Work meeting of the Regional Council of the National Network for Children for Southwest Central Region in Pazardzhik ended with a visit to the office of Crime Prevention Fund – IGA. The purpose of the visit was the Children’s Rights Centre which has been working with the organization since May this year. The Centre was developed within project “Development of Centres for the rights of children in conflict and in contact with law”, funded by the Velux Foundations.

The participants at the meeting – representatives of institutions and social services from Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Lesichovo, Septemvri, Sofia, and Ruse, got introduced to the activity of the Centre. They also met the members of the team with whom they discussed the goals and tasks of the service. In the end, they looked around the premises which had been given to the Centre by Fund IGA.

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Crime Prevention Fund – IGA presented the Children’s Rights Centre

The Children’s Rights Centre was officially presented to the media and other institutions today at BTA National Press Club – Pazardzhik. The Centre was developed within project “Development of Centres for the Rights of Children in Conflict or in Contact with the Law in Bulgaria” implemented by the National Network for Children and funded by The Velux Foundation.

Its main goal is to support the reform in children’s justice by uniting and applying the already existing experience, knowledge, and expertise in order to develop and apply services which guarantee the rights of children and youngsters who are victims or witnesses of crimes, who have behaviourial problems, or who are in contact or in conflict with law.

In the territory of Pazardzhik Municipality the service will be delivered by Crime Prevention Fund – IGA, a licensed deliverer of social services. The main activities of the team of the Centre will be informing, prevention, and consulting of children and their parents with the aim to guarantee the children’s rights. Children’s Rights Centre (CRC) is a social service, which is innovative in the community, related to all social, educational, health, and other services in Pazardzhik Municipality.

The project and the activities of CRC were presented by Andrey Momchilov – jurist at the Centre, Dimitar Rusinov – chairperson of the Board of Managers of Fund – IGA, and Lyudmil Spasov – regional coordinator of the National Network for Children.