Social affairs Minister Dime Spasov [middle] | Photo by: mtsp.gov.mk

The Ministry of Social affairs said a new law will significantly up the fight against child labour by making it easier to place child beggars in care.

If a child is caught begging on the strets, social workers will first put the parents under monitoring, the new law says.

“But if a parent continues to push his child to beg, the social centre will temporarily take the child away from him\her. In tandem, it will file criminal charges against the parent and a court request to deprive them of parenthood rights,” the minister, Dime Spasov, said.

If social workers conclude that the child’s life is being put at risk by begging, the child will be taken into care immediately, without any monitoring of the parents, the ministry noted.

Officials say the main flaw in existing legislature is that if children are caught begging in the presence of their parents, they are usually left alone.

Macedonia’s Helsinki Committee for Human Rights said it would not contest the planned changes in procedure.

Uranija Pirovska, the head of the committee, said: “Normally, a child is best off growing up with its parents, but only if that means a normal child’s life. Depending on the circumstances, a decision to deprive people of parenthood rights may be justified.”

Macedonian authorities say that several thousand children routinely beg in Macedonia, mainly because of family poverty.

According to the state statistical office, around 30 per cent of the population live in poverty, defined by UN standards.