CHILD FRIENDLY JUSTICE

Only a week after the National Conference "Listen to the Child" of the Social Activities and Practices Institute, Sofia, the Mobile Team for hearing children victims or witnesses of crimes received a request from the RPD-Nesebar for hearing of a five-year old child in front of a judge of the Regional Court of the City of Nesebar as part of a pre-trial procedure.

Answering the request, on July 9th a team of experts from the CSSCF-Shoumen carried out work meetings for clarification of the details regarding the pre-trial procedure, the preparation of the child and the hearing in front of the judge, based on the methodology of the Mobile Team of SAPI. In the course of the work on the case by the RPD - Nesebar and the RC, we received the necessary support and full cooperation in order to be able to carry out the task. After the agreement for an inter-institutional collaboration, the hearing of the child was carried out with the active participation of the expert from the Mobile Team, in the office of the judge, in front of a limited number of people; the hearing was the first one and was conducted taking into account the psychology of the child.

All this demonstrates that there are no procedural obstacles for the children involved in legal procedures to be prepared and listened in a way that protects to a maximum possible extent the psychology of the child.

The child-friendly justice is possible when there is good collaboration between the different institutions aiming at the mission to ensure the best interest of the child.