Conference "Protection of the best interests of the child: justice, protection and inclusion"

The representative of the Republic of Serbia before the European Court of Human Rights, Zorana Jadrijević Mladar, participated in High-level conference on "Protecting the best interests of the child: justice, protection and inclusion" whicha was helda 23. October 2025 in Floriana, Malta, organized by the Ministry of Justice of Malta, under the auspices of the Maltese Presidency of the Council of Europe.

The conference was opened by the Minister of Justice of MaltaJonathan Attardand President of the European Court of Human RightsMatthias Guyomar.

At the Conference, two recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the best interests of the child in divorce and separation proceedings were presented. (CM/Rec(2025)4 and CM/Rec(2025)5. Also, three interrelated topics were discussed: child-friendly justice, child poverty and child trafficking.

Given the fact that over one billion children live in poverty worldwide and that the risks of child trafficking, child labor and secondary victimization remain high, the aim of the Conference was to find the best ways to strengthen legal frameworks and policy mechanisms to address these interrelated challenges, with a particular emphasis onguidelines of the Council of Europe from 2010 on child-friendly justice, the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The conference gathered high officials, legal experts and defenders of children's rights, as well as representatives before the European Court of Human Rights.