Another effective mechanism of the Ombudsman for consulting the opinion on the observance of children's rights in the Republic of Moldova is the National Children's Forum organized annually. The People's Advocate for Children's Rights draws attention to the fact that in 2019 there were created impediments in the conduct of the National Children's Forum. Thus, the People's Advocate for Children's Rights considers as an interference in the exercise of his duties the attempt to discredit the activity of consulting children's opinion and pressure actions to cancel the forum, by a small group of civil society representatives and public officials. Moreover, these circumstances are to be considered as actions to discredit the National Institution of Children's Rights and to interfere in the activity of the People's Advocate institution, provided in Article 3 paragraph (4) of the Law on the People's Advocate (Ombudsman). Likewise, the respective actions fall under the incidence of the provisions of Art. 320 of the Contravention Code "Interference in the activity of the People's Advocate and the People's Advocate for Children's Rights"179. Referring to the General Comment no. 2 of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child180, the People's Advocate for Children's Rights notes that the State, as a high contracting party and a direct subject of fulfilling its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, must ensure the independence of the National Institution for the Protection of the Rights of the Child and to create conditions for its efficient activity. The State must also provide the Children's Ombudsman with effective and qualitative conditions for consulting children's opinions in order to properly fulfill the child's right to opinion and related rights. At present, the Children's Ombudsman considers that the State has failed to fully ensure the support of the mechanism for consulting the child's opinion, developed by the Children's Ombudsman. The unsatisfactory situation is also caused by the superficial interest of the central public authorities towards the National Children's Forum (absence from the forum or passivity to the actions within the event). In this context, it is necessary to urgently remedy the situation created by connecting and respecting the international standards stipulated by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The created situation was discussed with the representatives of some non-governmental organizations at a meeting, organized at the initiative of the People's Advocate for Children's Rights, where the parties presented their 179 http://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=119550&lang=ro https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/TBSearch.aspx?Lang=en&TreatyID=5&DocTypeID=11 180 108