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Summary: Speech by Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Maud de Boer Buquicchio at the III Intergovernmental Conference on Children in Europe and Central Asia, held from 19-20 June in Palencia, Spain: "Children’s Rights: a bridge over the gap." Two years ago, I spoke to the participants of the Second Intergovernmental Conference “Europe and Central Asia fit for children” which was held in Sarajevo. I ended my speech with a quote by Robert Frost: “The woods are lovely, dark and deep. Two years onwards, I should like to try to answer the following questions: How many miles since Sarajevo? How many promises have been kept? Why are we progressing so slowly and what should we do next? The Study on violence against children, commissioned by the Secretary General of the United Nations is about to be completed. The results of the regional consultation for the study organised by the Council of Europe in cooperation with Unicef, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organisation and several non-governmental organizations in July 2005 in Slovenia, shows that Europe has gone a long way in the right direction. Europe has indeed developed many standards, tools and institutions to protect children from violence. Furthermore, economic growth and political stability throughout the continent should –at least in principle- increase our chances to succeed in building the societies our children need and deserve. However, blatant violations of children’s rights occur daily in all our countries. Some of these violations, such as sexual abuse or corporal punishment, are not new but have just started to be dealt with properly, while others, such as child pornography on Internet, racism and trafficking in human beings including children, are emerging or taking unprecedented proportions. Even in the richest countries, children are excluded and ignored, neglected, abused and ill-treated, and even killed. All this suffering should haunt our conscience until we we have done absolutely everything in our power to prevent them. And here we are today. There may be a long way behind us, but there are still many children whose well-being requires our immediate action. We need to step up our efforts to bridge the gap • between laws and realities In April this year, the Council of Europe decided to mobilise all the expertise and resources available to overcome these gaps, through a three-year Programme “Building a Europe for and with Children”. This programme will help our member states to honour their commitments effectively, by assisting them in devising integrated children’s policies and legal frameworks, establishing the requisite institutions and structures, developing networks and producing tools and working methods, as well as resources for informing, training and raising the awareness of the general public and the players directly concerned. Special attention will be paid to the consultation and participation of children and their access to information. The programme also aims at eliminating violence against children. It will assist states in devising and implementing integrated prevention policies and alerting professional circles and the general public to the problems. It is based on four principles - the “four Ps”: protection of children, prevention of violence, prosecution of criminals and participation by children. The programme will ensure appropriate follow-up at the European level to the recommendations included in the UN Secretary General’s study on violence against children. We intend to develop instruments and methodologies adapted to different situations in which violence against children occurs, namely the family environment, schools, residential institutions, broader social communities, but also in media and cyberspace. The main priority will be to draw up models for national and local integrated prevention policies and strategies. The Programme will integrate the gender perspective and particular attention will be paid to vulnerable children, including children with disabilities. It will also focus on very specific types of violence against children, namely violence that remains concealed behind a wall of silence or taboos, such as sexual abuse and corporal punishment. It will also deal with new forms of violence stemming from the use of the new information technologies: pornography and solicitation, or “grooming” on Internet and harassment via Internet and mobile phones. Ladies and Gentlemen, This third intergovernmental conference should provide building blocks for the construction of the bridge over the gap between needs and realities. The three topics chosen for the Palencia round tables are particularly close to our heart. In Sarajevo, I focused my intervention on two of the issues in your agenda: violence against children and monitoring of children’s rights. Today, I have decided to focus on the third subject: poverty and social inclusion. The increasing number of families facing poverty, the risk of social exclusion and difficulties in bringing up their children, is a worrying phenomenon in a number of European countries. There is a need for adequate responses. Research as well as meetings with families living in these conditions, like the recent one organised by the Council of Europe in order to better evaluate the impact of social policies and the efficiency of social services, show that many parents find themselves in a vicious circle of poverty, social isolation, alcohol or drug addiction and other ills which diminish the possibilities of stable employment and social reintegration. Far too often, poverty almost automatically leads to exclusion. Early prevention of the social exclusion of parents and children is extremely important and should also take into consideration the fact that often parents in such situations are not capable of benefiting from their rights. Some parents may need help but might avoid the “official” social services because they fear that their children may be taken away from them and put into care. On the other hand, these services are not always welcoming towards parents in difficulties, who often feel more supported by non-governmental organisations working in the field, many of which suggest efficient solutions to break the social isolation of these families and to facilitate their inclusion. School can be a factor of inclusion or exclusion. Parents fear the risk of school failure, which is higher amongst children from socially and economically disadvantaged families, and often regret the lack of understanding from the teaching staff and adequate cooperation from the school. Above all, school failure aggravates the already complicated family situation and makes the social inclusion of the child even more difficult. Social inclusion of children at risk should be the result of concerted efforts made by schools, social and health services. Professionals should receive adequate training and should consider parents as full partners. In addition, although financial support is a basic need for parents in a situation of poverty and exclusion, they also need stable employment and moral and psychological support. The conference of European ministers responsible for family affairs on changes in parenting, which took place last month in Lisbon, also focused on governmental efforts to prevent exclusion and poverty. Situations where the risk of poverty and social exclusion are increased were particularly highlighted, for instance in the case of single - parent families. In many of our member states there are “social orphans”, or children in need of care because their parents have abandoned them as a consequence of family breakdowns or lack of financial resources and there is an urgent need to find adequate solutions to help them. The ministers were in agreement that the well-being of families and their children should be a policy priority and that measures should aim to provide adequate living conditions, especially those relating to income and access to services, for positive parenthood. In its political declaration, Ministers also undertook to promote equal chances for children and parents regardless of their gender, family situation or background. The Council of Europe is currently focusing on positive parenting including within families at the risk of social exclusion. We are considering how such problems affect the child/parent relationship and the child’s relations with the outside world. We strive to clarify how the individual needs, interests and rights of a child and the creation of equal opportunities and favourable environments for the personal development of children are connected. We shall prepare guidelines for helping parents in their parental functions to give children a future outside poverty. But the future is not tomorrow. As Gabriela Mistral once wrote: “the future of children is always of today. Tomorrow will be too late”. We need to act now. The long way from Sarajevo to Ljubljana, Monaco an then Palencia has helped us to identify the resources, to pull the energy, to collect the raw materials and to agree on the design. In a few weeks, the European Commission will publish its communication on children’s rights and hopefully add a strong impetus to the momentum already created in Europe. These days, in Palencia, in a region known by its ancient, beautiful and solid bridges, you are invited to adopt and implement a declaration which contains a reference to everything you need to start the most beautiful and needed of all bridges: a bridge to children’s rights. May this declaration and the texts and processes it refers to, inspire your daily work and help to meet your objectives. Simon and Garfunkel wrote a beautiful song about a bridge. When you’re weary, feeling small, The Council of Europe, Unicef and the European Commission should work together with you, intensively. We must not only build a bridge, we must become one.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
• between policy makers and implementers
• between commitments and resources
• between ambitions and expertise
• between data and facts
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all;
I’m on your side. When times get rough
And friends just can’t be found,
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.