OSCE Mission to Skopje supports social inclusion of street children

SKOPJE, 24 November 2009 - A workshop supported by the OSCE Mission to Skopje to promote the social inclusion of street children and their families started in Strumica today.

The event, the last in a series of three workshops, is part of a project initiated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and is supported by the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje and the UNICEF Office in Skopje.

"According to available data, street children are the most disadvantaged in terms of access to social services, including basic education, health care and social protection services. Children on the street are exceptionally vulnerable to various forms of exploitation, such as human trafficking and forced labour," said Lisa Tilney, the Head of the OSCE Mission's Rule of Law Department.

"The project seeks to ensure the development of a comprehensive normative framework to enable the social inclusion of the street kids, and its effective implementation by the national institutions under the overall supervision of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, " she added

Irena Kazakovska, the head of the Social Inclusion Department at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, added: "This process is aimed at reducing the number of street children in the country, introducing a multi-dimensional approach to the treatment and resolution of the problem, and encouraging all relevant stakeholders to combat this social phenomenon."

As a part of the project, the authorities will receive support to achieve the objectives set in the Strategy for Roma Inclusion and the action plans developed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in the framework of the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015.