On 19th September 2008, conference devoted to the rights of the child will be held at Swansea University, UK. The conference will bring together leading international experts who can reflect on the driving forces behind the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the long process leading to its adoption. Their presentations will revisit contemporary political and academic debate, the concepts and the visions eventually reflected in the text of the Convention and will consider how far expectations and aspirations as to its implementation have been fulfilled.

As described in a recent article by Agence France Presse, Bulgaria is struggling to modernize its child homes network. Child care system is badly affected by lack of qualified personnel, abuse cases and inadequate adoption regulations. Recent dramatic incidents proved that safety of 8 000 abandoned children in Bulgaria is at risk.

Full version of the article is available here.

Inter Press Service presents and article by Claudia Ciobanu on the reform of child care system in Romania.
Main element of the transformation, which started in 2001, was the switch from placing children in care institutions to finding them a place in a more family-type units or with a foster family.

The FACT (Fight Against Child Trafficking) Project has been implemented by Terre des hommes, in cooperation with Salvati Copiii Moldova since 2004. The objective of the project is to implement preventive measures and provide assistance at a local level.

Eurochild is holding its fifth Annual Conference under the title "Including Children: a child rights approach to child well-being". The event will be organized in cooperation with Hungarian organization Family, Child & Youth Association. The conference will be held from 5th to 7th November 2008, in Budapest, Hungary.

NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child has prepared a child rights Universal Periodic Review toolkit. The aim of this toolkit it to help users understand the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), and how NGOs can participate and contribute.

NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child has launched a campaign for a new Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, establishing a complaints/communications procedure.

Next Council of Europe conference devoted to children rights will be held from 8th to 10th September 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden. The conference will aim towards building a strategy for 2009 - 2011.

On the 21st and 22nd October 2008, the III International Juvenile Justice Observatory Conference will take place in Valencia, Spain. The theme of this year's conference is "Juvenile Justice Systems in Europe: current situation, trends in applicable models and good practices".

International Juvenile Justice Observatory presents an interview with Erika Varadi, Criminology Professor at the Sciences Institute's Criminals, Criminal Law and Criminology Department of the Miskolc University in Hungary. Ms Varadi analyses the development of juvenile justice and youth delinquency prevention systems in Hungary. Application of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, needs of youth at risk of delinquency and prevention programmes are among discussed issues.