site.btaChildren's Council Holds Meeting in Plovdiv

A meeting of the Children's Council opened in Plovdiv on Tuesday. The event was attended by Labour Minister Nataliya Efremova, Dr. Teodora Ivanova, Chair of the State Agency for Child Protection (SACP), agency staff, and students from all regions of the country.

Over the course of a month, representatives of the Children's Council held meetings with nearly 700 of their peers from across Bulgaria, Tsvetelina Kyoseva, a state expert at the SACP, told BTA. According to Kyoseva, during these meetings the children presented a presentation prepared jointly with doctors from the Military Medical Academy  on the consequences of using vapes, nitrous oxide laughing gas, and other dangerous substances. She said that the SACP's national information campaign, launched last year, has so far reached around 6,500 students.

Kyoseva added that the most frequently discussed topics at these meetings included education, healthcare, violence, online safety, and the use of social media. "It is important for us to hear the children's proposals and the messages they want to convey, so that they can feel safer and live in a more secure environment," she added.

Kaloyan Kanev, Chair of the Children's Council, said that it is the only state advisory body for children in Bulgaria that participates in the development of national policy documents. He noted that the Council's members work diligently throughout the year. According to Kanev, the opinions of children are taken into account by the State Agency for Child Protection when important decisions are made.

Kanev added that last year the Council organized focus groups in five thematic areas, during which participants identified problems in several sectors, including healthcare, mental health, road safety, the prevention of juvenile delinquency and antisocial behavior, education, culture, and sports. "As a result of these meetings, we prepared a report, which we submitted to the Chair of the SACP, and I believe work is already underway to address these issues," Kanev said.

During Tuesday's meeting, Minister Nataliya Efremova listened to proposals from the students. One of the suggestions was to provide children with access to meetings with psychologists funded by the state.