COUNCIL OF EUROPE: Call for research/participation on children and parental responsibilities

Summary: The Council of Europe is looking for help in drafting a Recommendation on the Rights and Legal Status of Children and Parental Responsibilities.

The Council of Europe is currently drafting a Recommendation on the Rights and Legal Status of Children and Parental Responsibilities, to be adopted by the Committee of Ministers in 2011.  The Recommendation will address issues of family name, succession, identity, parental affiliation and parental responsibilities.  It will look to consider the challenges posed by modern innovations like assisted human reproduction and surrogacy, and it will also consider parental responsibility and children’s status and rights in the context of new family forms.  Some issues relevant to children's rights in particular include:

• Who should be granted parental responsibility and how should this be decided; 
• How parental responsibility or authority should be exercised;
  
• What say should children have in the decisions made about their lives; and
  
• How children's voices can be heard and taken into account both in the legal process and in family decision-making.

The Group of Experts responsible for drafting the new Recommendation considers it important that their work be informed by children's views and perspectives, and child participation has been increasingly embraced in the Council of Europe's “Building a Europe for and with Children” programme.

With this in mind, the Council of Europe wants to hear from you about the views and experiences of children and young people and adults on any of the topics addressed by the Recommendation.  The Council is interested not only in research that you might be able to undertake, but also in any relevant research of which you are already aware.  There are many ways you can help, including:

• Researchers can send publications or other documentation on the views of children and young people on the issues covered by the Recommendation;
• Organisations working with and for children can submit relevant information that has come to their attention via other processes. For example, Commissioners or Ombudsmen for Children might be aware of the concerns of children via their complaints mechanisms or other ‘listening’ exercises;
• Children and young people and/or their representatives or advocates can also tell the Council of Europe directly what they think about these issues.

Please contact the Council at [email protected] if you are able to assist or have questions about participation, or visit their Family Law homepage for more information.