Wednesday, during the celebration of the Day of the Rights of the Child, the Institute of Social Welfare and Research (IBESR) and UNICEF, held to reaffirm their commitment to the ongoing implementation the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in Haiti.

Important legal advances have been made in the Government of Haiti including : the vote and the enactment of legislation to reform the adoption on 15 November 2013, the validation of the device regulating host families and the completion of the Periodic Report on the CRC. Much remains to be done to continue the implementation of the CRC, including the development of a Code of the Child, which will allow Haiti to have a specific tool for the promotion and defense of Rights of the Child, to to pursue more effectively action against violations and abuses, particularly violence affecting children separated from their families.

For the Director General of IBESR "Haiti is experiencing a significant boost in term of protection of its children for several years. This is the testimony of all and the victory of all ! A victory attributable to the participation, alongside the Government, of all stakeholders, especially children and people [...]"

Furthermore Ms. Villedrouin announced that the government will soon launch a new program to the attention of vulnerable children including those or streets or domestic servants and invited the public to report cases of child abuse or domestic work through the network of offices of IBESR, present in the 10 departments, emphasizing the extremely important role of the media.

For his part, Mr. Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Haiti, said that "recent legal advances in Haiti are encouraging, their implementation remains a challenge. The Child Protection is everyone's business, it can only be effective that implemented in an integrated and systemic way. We support more than ever the efforts of the Haitian government at the level national, departmental and community."

Recall that the CRC is universal and contains 54 articles on the fundamental rights of children and the obligations of States to apply : the right to life, identity, education, health, not be separated of his parents, not to be exploited, to express his opinion.

HL/ TB/ HaitiLibre