Romania and United States sign five-year Child Protection Framework Partnership

Romania and the United States, through the head of the prime minister’s chancellery Alexandru-Mihai Ghigiu, and the US ambassador to Romania, Kathleen Kavalec, have signed a five-year Child Protection Framework Partnership valued at USD 10 million.

The purpose of the partnership is to create a victim-centered prevention strategy and protect child victims of trafficking, according to the US ambassador.

“Many adult human trafficking victims around the world, including in the United States, were first exploited as children,” Kathleen Kavalec said.

Kavalec also stated that the US State Department will contribute up to USD 10 million over a five-year period to implement activities in Romania under the CPC partnership. She also mentioned that several NGOs will contribute to the implementation of this partnership.

Also present at the signing, Romanian interior minister Cătălin Predoiu noted that globally, abuse phenomena, including online, against children have increased alarmingly.

"This partnership is one of the responses that the Romanian Government, Romanian society, in collaboration with our strategic partner, the United States, is providing," Predoiu said, cited by Agerpres.

He also mentioned that a special unit for child protection and safety has been created within the Romanian Police, and that measures in this field have diversified. "We are talking about concrete actions that the Ministry of Interior has been carrying out for years," he added.

Under the recently-signed partnership, two units will be created to combat child trafficking and online abuse, as well as a prevention unit.

Alongside state institutions, an NGO consortium will serve as implementing partners through the CPC Partnership. The consortium is headed by the International Justice Mission and World Vision and a number of organizations, including People to People, the Association for Victims of Sexual Crimes, e-Liberare, Code for Romania, the Federation of NGOs for Children, Terre des Hommes, and Vedem Just.

(Photo source: Ro.usembassy.gov)