Chapter 3. Observing the rights of the child OBSERVING THE RIGHT OF THE CHILD 71 In 2019, the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was celebrated. In the context of an armed conflict for Ukraine, the Convention should be assessed not only in terms of its commitments, but also in terms of the effectiveness of this international instrument for the protection of children. After all, according to statistics, every fifth citizen of our country is a person under 18. In 2019, there were 7,579.7 thousand children in Ukraine. To ensure proper control over the observance of the rights of children and families in these fields, 130 monitoring visits were carried out to 15 oblasts (Cherkasy, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsky, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhia, Zhytomyr oblasts). As a result of the visits, the Commissioner sent 10 submissions and 206 requests (namely, to institutions and organizations – 84, to public authorities – 67, to local self-government bodies – 45) to take measures to eliminate identified violations of the rights of the child and prevent them in the future. 2019 1,006 reports of citizens 130 monitoring visits 3.1. Rights of the child in alternative care system To monitor the observance of the rights of the child in the system of alternative care, the visits covered 8 oblasts (Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Luhansk, Lviv, Odesa, Zaporizhia, Zhytomyr) and evaluated the activities of service providers for children, centres of social services for families, children and youth and other facilities where children stay. The monitoring was conducted within the framework of a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding between the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children’s Fund CHAPTER 3 The Commissioner’s activities in the framework of monitoring the observance of the rights of the child and reports from citizens (1,006) received by the Commissioner during the year revealed violations of the rights of the child in Ukraine in the system of alternative care (guardianship, foster families, familytype orphanages, care institutions, families of foster carers); lack of capacity of territorial communities to ensure equal access of every child to the exercise of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine; lack of access of children affected by hostilities and armed conflict to quality services, rehabilitation and lack of financial support from the government. Also, one of the risks of violations of the rights of the child is using electronic communications to commit violence on the Internet – cyberbullying.