DUSHANBE, July 31, 2013, Asia-Plus – The 4th Child Protection Forum for Central Asia will take place in Dushanbe from August 1-3.
The theme of this year’s sub-regional Child Protection Forum is “Creating Inclusive Policies, Systems and Services for Children with Disabilities.” The theme has reportedly been selected by the participating governments in light of the fact that children with disabilities is an important priority group in the child protection system, but also because it is felt that their rights to education, health and social protection may not be optimally achieved today. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which all countries in Central Asia are working towards its signature, ratification or implementation, provides a very important framework for reform and to address the rights of children with disabilities. In fact, in the absence of strong social protection policies, inclusive education and access to services, families to children with disabilities, feel obliged to resort to residential care services, or to keep their children with disabilities at home without getting access to key services.
As Central Asian countries are in the process of signing, ratifying and/or implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD), this Forum aims to highlight obligations of countries to realize the rights of children with disabilities and define road maps for further implementing new policies and legislation in child protection, education, health and social protection that would ensure such rights.
The Forum is expected to provide a platform for a high-level sub-regional discussion on the need to step-up efforts to promote the equalization of opportunities for children with disabilities in order to allow each child with disabilities to exercise his or her civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights as well as having specific rights to having his or her educational, medical and social needs met.
The Forum will bring together five Central Asian Republics and will facilitate a discussion on key concepts related to the CRPD, look at examples from the countries which have advanced with implementation of the CRPD and will allow sharing lessons learned in service provision and transformation, professional attitudes and systems to ensure the rights of children with disabilities are met according to the standards set-up by the CRPD and the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The Child Protection Forum for Central Asia was instituted in 2006 with a view to facilitate dialogue and advance the rights-based reform of child protection systems in the region. The Forum is led by Central Asian governments with the participation of relevant international organizations and representatives of governments and civil society in these five countries. It also invited experts and experiences from other likeminded countries with interesting experiences to share. The Forum takes place ones every two years and addresses each time a specific topic, on which the participating countries feel that cross country learning and exchange of good practices and experiences would be useful strategy to push for reforms at country level.
The first CP Forum took place in Astana, Kazakhstan in 2006 and had the theme “Social and Legal Support to Families and Children in Central Asia; the second Form took place in 2009 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and had the theme “Building and Reforming Child Care Systems”, the Third Forum took place in 2011 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and had the theme “Opportunities in Juvenile Justice Reform.”
