All Announcements

The CBSS Heads of Government meeting noted with satisfaction the establishment of the Child Centre for IT-based exchange of information and experiences regarding children at risk and welcome the broadening of this co-operation taking into account i.a. the problem of the large number of street children, homeless children and children in social care institutions. Joint efforts are also needed to find appropriate solutions to the acute problem of trafficking in children and the increasing number of unaccompanied minors crossing the national borders within the region, their proper care, identification, repatriation and rehabilitation. In these activities, the member states will take into account the outcome document of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children held in May 2002.

The Children at Risk Unit is an integrated part of the Council of the Baltic Sea States Secretariat since 1 March 2002.

The CBSS Senior Officials met with the Chairman of the newly created Working Group for Cooperation on Children at Risk (WGCC). After a careful deliberation on the matter, the Senior Officials decided to accept the integration of a small unit for children’s matters into the Secretariat and authorized the Director to facilitate this process.

In January 2002, the CBSS Working Group for Cooperation on Children at Risk (WGCC) met for the first time in Vilnius. There they elected the first char and vice-chair, and agreed on the Terms of Reference for the group. They next met in Reykjavik in April, where they agreed on a proposal for the first Senior Advisor and Head of Unit, who took his post on 12 June 2002.

In October 2001, the Ministers for Children’s Affairs in the Baltic Sea Region adopted a formal decision on the Secretariat function of the “C.A.R. Project” and the establishment of the Working Group for Cooperation on Children at Risk. In November the proposal to integrate was made to the CBSS Committee of Senior Officials, which was adopted in February 2002. The unit was staffed from March 1st until June 30th by the Swedish Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and paid for both by Sweden and Norway. The delivery of an administrative and professional unit within the CBSS secretariat changed the way of working and strengthened the cooperation among the member states. Read the report >

A September 2001 meeting of the actors developing the IT network confirmed that the “Child Centre” should become a part of the work of the CBSS Secretariat.

A memo from a CBSS Secretariat staffer to the Secretariat reports on the Meeting of the Reference Group on Children at Risk in Riga 5-6 February 2001, where the group agreed to seek its integration into the CBSS. The chair of the meeting said, “… politically, the Project had been a CBSS endeavour since the very beginning when the Prime Ministers decided to launch it at their Riga Summit in 1998. The Establishment of the Reference Group had further consolidated the Baltic Sea nature of the project.” The term “Project” here refers to the “Children at Risk Project”, which at this point had become conflated with the “IT network.” The Chair also said “… the Reference Group had been created as a technical...

ChildCentre.info is launched.

The first meetings of the professional groups who would oversee the adoption and success of childcentre.info in their national settings met for the first time to discuss their roles and responsibilities, and to develop their working methods. This included a meeting of the National Co-ordinators, who discussed the structuring and planning the IT Network for Children at Risk in the Baltic Sea Region. It also included a meeting of the competence centres, who were specialists who would be involved in the development of the thematic rooms hosted on the website.

The Reference Group met for the first time, composed of Senior Officials representing their respective countries and who have been mandated to contribute to the decision making on future strategic and policy initiatives on Children at Risk met in Oslo 15-16 June 2000. The meeting discussed and confirmed a priority paper. The goal was a coordinated and multidisciplinary approach to work in the field of children at risk and would also allow for the further development of the IT network. The Swedish Group would take responsibility for the preparatory work involved in establishing a budget for a unit at the CBSS Secretariat.