From the promotion of sports to training for responding to emergency situations, institutions and organizations in Kosovo have marked International Children’s Day with various activities. In addition to the initiatives aimed at activating and educating children, organizations for their protection have also raised concerns about the challenges that minors continue to face in the country.
State agencies, municipalities and various organizations have developed activities on the occasion of International Children’s Day on Monday.
In the squares of Pristina, the Olympic Committee of Kosovo has opened the Olympic Week, which this year focuses on the activation of children in sports.
The chairman of KOK, Ismet Krasniqi, has said that 26 municipalities of the country are included in this initiative, with the aim of promoting a more active and healthier society.
“Our goal is to activate the children as much as possible, engage in sports, get away from television, phones and be healthier,” he said.
And, in an activity organized by the Emergency Management Agency, about 100 students of the eighth and ninth grades from Fushë-Kosova, Mitrovica and Shtimja participated in a training for search-rescue and survival in nature, in Qeçevo, Zubin Potok.
At the opening of the camp, the acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said that the activity will help the students gain knowledge and practical skills useful for various emergency situations.
“In the first camp, organized by our institutions in cooperation with associations and their partners, you will gain valuable practical knowledge and skills, such as responding to fires using the relevant equipment, up to providing first aid. All this knowledge will serve you not only for the protection of nature and people’s lives, but also for your personal development”, said Kurti.
The Acting President, Albulena Haxhiu, hosted a group of children in the Presidency of the Assembly, where she emphasized that, despite the progress made so far, they still face many challenges and need constant support from institutions and society.
“Children’s rights are one of the areas where the difference between what is written and what is implemented can be seen very quickly. Children do not ask for impossible things. They ask to feel safe. Not to be humiliated. Not to be excluded. Not to be stigmatized because of the family’s poverty. Not to be left without help when they have difficulties with speech, behavior, learning or mental health. Not to be told “get over it” for something that requires professional care,” he said. Pilgrim.
Even the Coalition of Organizations for the Protection of Children in Kosovo (KOMF) has organized an awareness activity to draw attention to the increase in cases of minors who fall into conflict with the law.
“Services for empowering children and preventing them from falling into conflict with the law are almost non-existent for those under the age of 14. The efficient implementation of diversity measures is also a challenge, in recent years there has been a decrease in the imposition of diversity measures for minors in conflict with the law, and one of the reasons is that minors commit various acts before the age of 14 and it is not appropriate to impose diversity measures”, said Donejta Sadiku, director in KOMF.
International Children’s Day is celebrated every June 1. It was announced as an international day at the World Conference on Child Welfare in 1925 in Geneva, Switzerland.
