The event was attended by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Europe Office Olena Lytvynenko, the Council of Europe expert on children’s rights Rachael Hodgkin, director of the project of the Council of Europe “Strengthening and protection of children's rights in Ukraine” Ihor Hutsulyak.
During the meeting the issues regarding the cooperation between Ukraine and EU countries within the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse were discussed. The Convention was signed on November 14, 2007 on the behalf of Ukraine and was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the sixth convocation on June 20, 2012. I.Yankiv noted that fulfillment of the above-mentioned Convention requires amendments to the existing Ukrainian legislation.
The bill on amendments to several legislative acts of Ukraine with ratification of the Council of Europe Convention regarding protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (Reg. No. 2472a) was also discussed.
Following the results of the discussion, I.Yankiv suggested to create a collective work group dealing with elaboration of measures aiming to protect children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. According to the people’s deputy, this “will allow to ensure compliance of Ukrainian legislation with present-day European standards in this sphere.”