Shaping a coordinated approach towards the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse in the Republic of Moldova was the key topic of an online meeting.

Relevant national stakeholders, partners and representatives of civil society exchanged views, voiced questions and comments related to the best approach to address the coordination aspect in the implementation of the Lanzarote Convention in a coordinated manner.

40 police officers, judges and prosecutors participated in an online seminar on the “Investigation of online child sexual abuse and exploitation” organized by the Council of Europe project on Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova.

The seminar aimed to enhance the capacities of professionals in the field, in investigation and hearing of online child sexual abuse cases, in particular the most serious online child sexual abuse and exploitation offences according to the Council of Europe standards. Key aspects of the Training Modules were presented and discussed during the event.

The results of the pilot initiative for the reorganization of tasks with a focus on dynamic security and social reintegration of inmates in three prisons – Prison no. 7 - Rusca (women), Prison no. 10 - Goian (juveniles) and Prison 1 - Taraclia (male adults) – were evaluated during the final workshop of the pilot programme.

As a result of the pilot initiative, the involved prisons developed and started the application of Standard Operating Procedures on the social reintegration, security and sentence planning.  The workshop also served as a forum through which the follow-up recommendations for pilot prisons were discussed, as well as the roadmap for the NAP on how to extend these pilot initiatives to other prisons. 

20 medical staff enhanced their skills and knowledge, in particular on subjects related to emergency medical care and continuity of treatment in police detention (including tuberculosis, HIV infection, drug dependence, and other diseases), and medical examination as a procedural safeguard against ill-treatment.

Medical staff participated in an online training on the medical examination of persons in police custody for the medical staff, including medical assistant from the pre-trial detention isolators organized on 16 November 2021, by the Council of Europe project “Strengthening the human rights compliant criminal justice system in the Republic of Moldova.

68 judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers, free legal aid lawyers, and criminal investigation officers improved their knowledge on evidence collection and presentation in courts for different types of offences during an online workshop organised by the project “Strengthening the human rights compliant criminal justice system in the Republic of Moldova”.

The workshop focused on effective criminal death investigations, the prohibition of torture and effective criminal investigations into allegations of police abuse, violent crimes and sexual offences. The participants also got acquainted with the specific requirements regarding the fair criminal trials and the obligation of courts to give reasons for their judgments and convictions based on evidence obtained through torture and convictions based on police entrapment.

The management of the National Administration of Penitentiaries of Moldova (NAP), representatives of NAP specialised departments (security and penitentiary regime, social reintegration) representatives of NAP Training Centre, directors from individual penitentiaries no. 10 Goian, no.5 Cahul, no.17 Rezina, no.11 Balti and no. 13 Chisinau, and heads of specialised units from these prisons attended  the first meeting of the working group for the development of a training Module for the prison staff working with young offenders.

The meeting resulted in a clear plan of distribution of tasks and deadlines among the members of the working group. At the substance level, the outline of the module and the benchmarks for its development as well as the template module descriptor were presented and agreed.  

Over 80 representatives of public institutions, professionals working with children, representatives of international organisations and civil society attended the online National Conference on protecting children in the Republic of Moldova from violence: achievements and remaining challenges.

The Conference aimed to present key achievements and remaining issues, as well as exchange views, voice questions and comments related to the best approach to address existing challenges in the child protection system regarding violence against children in the Republic of Moldova.