The Rights of the child
ENThe rights of the children form the constituent part of the human rights system. The level of safeguarding and protecting of the rights of this age range in the country is one of the specific rates in assessment of the situation of human rights in certain state as this is one of the most vulnerable parts of the society towards the social-economic changes. Children form the group of the society that cannot independently fully represent their own rights, protect them, complain when they are violated or ignored, and take political measures for the protection of their interests. The rights of the children greatly depend on the understanding of the rest part of the society as well as on its deliberate and determinate attempts to secure its prosperous future. Talking about the rights of the child, the safeguarding of the welfare of one fifth of the inhabitants of our country is meant. In the beginning of 2004 there were 775.2 thousand of children living in Lithuania, i. e. 22.5 % of the population. Improving economic and social situation of the country provides the preconditions for more attention to be paid for the needs of the children, more actively and more efficiently solve their problems. In a course of 15 years of independence there was the primary legislative base formed for the safeguarding of the rights of the children, the main international documents in the field of the protection of the children’s rights were ratified; the system of the institutions for the protection of the rights of the children was formed. The sociologic researches of 2004 show that 33 % of the respondents are of the opinion that there is enough attention paid to the protection of the rights of the children in our country, whereas the majority of the interviewed have evaluated the changes in this field positively.However, every year the standards for safeguarding of the rights of the children scale up, the rights gain the new quality, their content expand. Moreover, the gaps of legal regulation, developed practice show up the new deficiencies that have not been provided before emerge. The main aim of this chapter of the present report is to analyze the main problems in the field of the protection of children’s rights in Lithuania and suggest the solutions, the guidelines for the improvement of the system. Referring to the amplitude of the topic, the report contains the overview of the rights of the children that lately receive most of public attention, the protection problems that are relevant when drafting the legal acts, performing the practical work, carrying the specialized scientific researches in the field of the rights of the children and their protection, as well as the system of the institutions implementing the rights of the children and their activities’ trends [p. 214].
