The Web-meeting on the protection and promotion of the rights of children in the Adriatic Ionian area is organized by the Office of the Marche Region Ombudsman in cooperation with the Permanent Secretariat of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative and by the Marche Region, as Italian Project Partner of the EUSAIR Facility Point.
 
The event, which will be held online (https://zoom.us/j/94673688640) on August 24th, 2020, will take place within the larger framework of the Adriatic-Mediterranean festival, a cultural event that brings together numerous musicians, writers and artists from all over the Adriatic-Ionian region in Ancona. The 2020 edition (24-29 August 2020, Ancona (Italy)) will have as its central theme the 20 years Anniversary of the Ancona Charter.
 
A web-meeting will be held on August 24th on the topic "Sharing best practices and instruments to protect children and adolescents in emergency situations - Focus on containment measures and related side effects in the Adriatic Ionian area".
 
The Ombudspersons for the rights of minors of the countries of the Adriatic Ionian Macroregion (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, Montenegro, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia) and the Italian authority for Children and Adolescents will be invited to participate.
 
Topics to be discussed during the meeting will be the following:
in a world that is facing an unprecedented global health and socio-economic crisis, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, progresses in advancing children and adolescents rights could be delayed, if not even halted. For this reason, it is important to raise the level of attention and awareness on the protection of children, in particular the most vulnerable, so that the safeguard of their best interest becomes a prerequisite for any decision or action to be taken at the institutional level.
 
The discussion will concretely focus on:
• the role of the Ombudspersons in the management of the Covid-19 emergency;
• the tasks of the Ombudspersons in the near future, following the social and relational changes that our communities are experiencing due to Covid-19;
• strengthening the role of National Authorities/Institutions for Children and Adolescents, independent and impartial bodies able to call on the institutions to answer for their actions;
• promotion and diffusion of a culture of human rights in the Adriatic Ionian Macroregion;
• raising awareness of the Ombudspersons of the countries of the Adriatic Ionian Macroregion on the protection of human rights through the strengthening of an inter-institutional network and the sharing of European projects;
• sharing of best practices on the protection of children's rights, with particular attention to the implementation of projects related to the protection of children's health.
 
Please find here the agenda of the meeting.