YEREVAN. - A three-day international conference on children’s rights, organized by National Assembly of Armenia and UNICEF has opened in Yerevan.

In her speech, Armenia UNICEF Representative Leyla Moshiri stressed domestic violence for educational purposes is a frequent violation of children’s rights, adding measures should be taken to prevent it. She focused attention on two topical issues, particularly protection of children’s rights for education and reducing child mortality rate. Moshiri considered the distribution of young children to orphanages unacceptable, as it is not a very good start of life.

She stressed the region holds leading positions in the world by the number of children, brought up in orphanages (600,000 children). Moshiri emphasized that UNICEF is implementing programs on the distribution of children living in orphanages and families. She also drew attention on children’s social problems, stressing it is a serious problem for the region.