17th February 2021 - Cairo, Egypt
Ms. Nivine El-Kabbag, Minister of Social Solidarity, and Ms. Cristina Albertin, UNODC Regional Representative for the Middle East and North Africa, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the provision of technical support to social care institutions in Egypt including the only closed institution for boys in conflict with the law in El-Marg area.
This MoU continues a 14 year-long partnership between the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS) and UNODC Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (ROMENA), which started in 2006 targeting the only closed institution in Egypt for boys in conflict with the law in El-Marg area. It aimed at establishing a comprehensive rehabilitation and reintegration approach to ensure that children are capacitated to smoothly reintegrate into their society as positive actors.
This successful partnership led to the institutionalisation of many policies and approaches not only inside the Institution in El-Marg but also in 8 other Institutions such as but not limited to, a classification policy, children rights and duties, reintegration units, etc.
By 2018 more than 320 children had received literacy classes and certificates, 540 children benefitted from psycho-social support services, 1,696 children benefitted from vocational training workshops, 1500 children benefitted from the medical clinics’ services, 972 children benefitted from the reintegration programme, 827 children benefitted from legal support, and this vital support continues today.
The signed MoU aims at promoting institutional and human resource development, as well as improving the efficiency of professional and vocational trainings in those institutions and enhancing the children’s reintegration into society. “We sign this MoU because of our common belief that children, defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as all persons under the age of eighteen, are best served and protected by justice systems through effective rehabilitation and reintegration from the day of admission into any social care institution until release,” Ms. Cristina Albertin stated during the event. “It is also at the heart of the principle of equality within the overarching objective of the 2030 Agenda: to leave no one behind and that includes children”, she added.
Under the framework of the MoU, UNODC will be able to reach around 20 social care institutions where a bigger number of children will benefit from the different services provided to ensure that each one of them has another chance to prove him/herself and becomes a positive member of his/her society.
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