On October 22-23, 2022, the employees of the Public Defender’s Office conducted training for civic education teachers on important aspects of children's rights.

The purpose of the training was to deepen teachers’s knowledge of various components of children's rights, so that they can provide more detailed information to students on specific topics, and also to identify specific protection mechanisms and respond to violations of children's rights.

The employees of the Department of Criminal Justice, Gender Department and Department of the Rights of the Child of the Public Defender’s Office introduced the mandate and areas of activity of the Public Defender, as well as the basic principles of children’s rights, including the key principles of privacy and prohibition of ill-treatment. They also reviewed the police measures that may be taken against minors, talked about administrative offences and the main aspects of criminal responsibility of minors.

The meeting participants discussed the rights of the witness/victim and the accused, as well as investigative activities. Considerable attention was paid to the most common crimes against children, sexual abuse and early marriage; Teachers took active part in various practical exercises and activities as part of the training.

The event was supported by the USAID-PDO Partnership Programme of the Grant Agreement between the Public Defender’s Office and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).).

Raising awareness of rights is one of the important priorities of the Public Defender. The Public Defender’s Office will actively continue educational activities with various target groups in the future too.