Joining forces for a better position of children and youth in Serbia

Belgrade, 14 November 2018 -  UNICEF and the Coordination Body for Gender Equality of the Republic of Serbia have signed today a Memorandum of Understanding on preventing child marriage and improving the position of children and youth in Serbia.

Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and President of the Coordinating Body for Gender Equality Zorana Mihajlovic said that signing the Memorandum was a result of the already good cooperation between the Coordination Body for Gender Equality and UNICEF.

“Through our joint work and exact results, we will show that there are no issues that we cannot solve. There is no more important job than to protect our children, and we will fight for their carefree childhood, their education and the prevention of child marriage that is particularly present in Roma community", Mihajlovic said.

Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Representative in Serbia, expressed her satisfaction with the good cooperation with the Coordination Body for Gender Equality and said that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding was yet another proof of the commitment to improve the position of Serbia’s children and young people.

"We will work together in three areas. The focus will be on ending the harmful practice of child marriage in Serbia through the launch of a multi-sectoral coalition against child marriage, as almost 60 per cent of young Roma women enters early marriage.

Furthermore, we will be advancing the social inclusion of Roma children by addressing their lack of opportunities. As a start, we have agreed to cooperate to ensure that the most vulnerable children have access to books to address literacy at the earliest age. And we will try to expand opportunities for young people, girls in particular, in the area of digital technologies to prosper in the 21st century”, said Regina De Dominicis.