Building on the State’s efforts to strengthen the national child protection system and ensure prompt handling of at-risk situations, the Minister of National Solidarity, Family, and the Status of Women, Soraya Mouloudji, conducted a working visit last Thursday to the headquarters of the National Authority for the Promotion and Protection of Children, at the invitation of its national commissioner, Meriem Chorfi.
This meeting, centred on cooperation and prevention, reaffirmed the government’s determination to place child protection at the heart of national social policy, while strengthening ties between institutions and frontline actors.
Ms. Mouloudji immediately emphasized that child protection is a national priority and a central pillar of the State’s social policy, underlining the importance of shifting from a traditional care model to an integrated preventive approach based on reinforcement, support, and rapid response to at-risk situations. The visit reflects the minister’s approach to consolidating institutional partnerships and enhancing complementarity between specialised national bodies to develop the child protection framework. It also allowed examining ways to intensify cooperation between the ministry and the Authority, particularly in prevention, monitoring, support, and early intervention.
The meeting began with a working session attended by members of the legal affairs committee and heads of national childhood working groups. A detailed presentation was given on the Authority’s missions and the draft national childhood action plan.
The minister then visited the unit responsible for receiving reports related to violations of children’s rights, where she reviewed the alert processing mechanisms and coordination methods with relevant sectors. She also explored the digital management system for reports, which enables better traceability and faster case handling.
On this occasion, Ms. Mouloudji stressed the importance of strengthening listening and guidance mechanisms within ministry structures, while ensuring ongoing coordination with reporting units from other institutions such as the national Gendarmerie, national Police, and associations active in the field.
She added that it was essential to broaden reporting channels for the benefit of citizens and civil society to guarantee swift and effective intervention in all situations that could compromise the safety or dignity of a child. She noted that child protection is not limited to one-off assistance but relies on a strategy of prevention, awareness, and mobilisation of all institutional and social actors.
Ms. Mouloudji specified that her department operates within the framework of a coherent national policy aimed at establishing a comprehensive and sustainable child protection system. She highlighted the importance of network cooperation among various institutional and associative stakeholders to adapt existing frameworks to contemporary social changes, ensuring compliance with national laws and Algeria’s international commitments relating to children’s rights.
The minister also praised the sustained efforts of the National Authority for the Promotion and Protection of Children, which plays an essential role in monitoring, awareness-raising, and intersectoral coordination.
Furthermore, Ms. Mouloudji declared that investing in childhood means investing in the wealth of the future and the builders of tomorrow. She recalled that child protection is not limited to crisis intervention but requires creating a healthy, secure, and stimulating environment guaranteeing every child’s right to education, play, participation, and personal development. The objective is to build a generation conscious of its rights, protected, and fully integrated into the national development process.
At the end of her visit, the minister issued firm instructions to the ministry departments responsible for child protection to actively participate in drafting the national childhood plan and updating the data and statistics requested by the National Authority. She also ordered the opening of direct communication channels between the Authority and the ministry’s open environment services across the entire national territory to accelerate the processing of reports and strengthen emergency social interventions.
She further directed that regular quarterly reports be submitted by the ministry’s local offices to the relevant central services as well as to the National Authority for the Promotion and Protection of Children, ensuring rigorous and continuous monitoring of the national protection system.