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Summary: Statement delivered by the Chairman of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children at the launch of the European Forum on the Rights of the Child that took place in Berlin on 4 June 2007.
See also: Summary of event by the European Children's Network --------------------- The European Forum on the Rights of the Child and ENOC, George Moschos, ENOC Chairman, Berlin, 4 June 2007 Vice-President Frattini, On behalf of ENOC, the European Network of Ombudsmen for Children, I would like to warmly welcome today’s launch of the European Forum on the Rights of the Child and thank the organisers for inviting us to participate in this round table discussion. ENOC is a Network, consisting of independent institutions established by law in various Council of Europe member states, with the specific task to act for the protection and promotion of children’s rights at national or regional level. Children’s Ombudsmen, also called in some countries “Commissioners” or “Defendants of Children”, are the most specialised public institutions, acting at national level for the defence of children’s rights. We deal with children’s rights’ issues everyday, we meet with children and adults working with them or affecting their lives, we examine their complaints, we listen to their opinions and concerns, we address documented proposals and recommendations to the governments for the establishment and protection of children’s rights, based on the provisions of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The first Ombudsmen for Children appeared in Europe during the 80s. Since 1997 European Children’s Ombudspersons started operating through a Network (ENOC), in order to unite and strengthen efforts to improve the situation of the lives of children in Europe. ENOC has helped us to learn a lot from each other, to agree on common standards and to produce and disseminate important public statements on children's rights issues. ENOC envisages an EU policy with particular sensitisation and focus on children’s rights that can assist our common efforts to improve the legal and actual situation of children in our continent. We believe that it is very important that the EU has started talking about a European Strategy on the Rights of the Child. Such a strategy cannot of course just include the measures that have already been announced (like the establishment of European telephone help-lines, and measures to combat sexual and cyber crime) but it should extend upon the whole area of policies of EU. It has been argued that children’s rights are not really included in EU competence. ENOC completely rejects such arguments. EU policies (on economic, social, educational, justice, security, communications and various other fields) affect and include children in many ways, so they should consider and respect their rights, as they have been defined by the UNCRC, which has been ratified by all EU member states. Of course, it would be important that the new European Treaty will also include a direct reference to children’s rights. However, we believe that in any case, and the European Union has the obligation to take action in order to protect the rights of all children living in Europe, not only from sexual exploitation, but also from any form of violence (in the family and in all social contexts), extreme poverty, discrimination, social exclusion, lack of access to opportunities and marginalisation. The EU needs to properly elaborate and promote the rights of all children to participation, free expression, communication and access to information. Europe needs to know and respect all provisions of the CRC. For all the above reasons, ENOC has welcomed the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child and is particularly keen in collaborating with the European Commission for the successful operation of the European Forum on the Rights of the Child. We believe that a very important element of the EU Strategy is to mainstream children’s rights at EU level, with special guidelines issued and seminars organised for professionals at all levels of EU institutions. The EU should be able to develop child impact analysis of its own decisions. We agree with the general principles and the way in which the Forum is structured, and we suggest that it holds annual meetings, followed by thorough work throughout the year. We expect that: a) in depth and continuous work will be done during the year by the Experts’ Group and by the European Commission itself for an effective preparation of the following Forum meetings, In this way, the annual meetings of the Forum could associate better to the identified existing needs of children and to policies for children's rights at national and regional level. Sufficient funding should be made available by the EU to facilitate these procedures. In more detail, we believe that: The Forum itself should have two strands: We would like to stress that children’s participation in such meetings is very important, but it should be handled with a lot of care, because it may also in fact allow for some kind of systemic abuse! We should find ways to listen to children and not just to use them. In order to succeed, we should first organise good consultation meetings and hearings at national level and then bring children to European meetings to echo the voice of their peers. The Children’s Rights Experts’ Group (CREG) should be able to meet regularly in order to consider and incorporate the work of international institutions acting for children’s rights, such as the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Council of Europe, UNICEF, European NGOs networks, observatories and ombuds offices. The group should be able to propose to the Commission (EC) priority issues, to be focused upon during the year and in the following Forum meeting. Then, CREG should take into consideration feedback from European institutions and from national debates and reports, in order to elaborate and finalise its proposals for every annual Forum Meeting. Particular consideration should be given also to the needs for EU external relations, regarding interventions in developing countries. The Office of the Commission that co-ordinates EU Strategies on the rights of the child (DG.JFS) should be adequately and appropriately staffed, so that it can undertake collection and elaboration of data and to work on common operational definitions, specifying indicators and allowing fruitful comparisons. It should also create a good database on EU legislation and on existing reports on the implementation of children’s rights in Europe. The Office should be able to consider the work produced in all departments of the EC affecting children, including the EU external relations. It should be able to utilise the work produced by the mechanisms of the Council of Europe and the reports and recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. It should also be able to liaise with national governments, in order to address issues to be debated in the Forum and to receive reports from national and regional consultation meetings, hearings and mutual learning procedures. Finally, the Office should be responsible for the preparation, reporting and evaluation of annual Forum meetings. We have many expectations from the European Commission. A Strategy on the Rights of the Child could not just rely on the work of external independent organisations! We believe that the Commission should invest in creating a strong office with specialist professionals in order to deal with all issues connected with children’s rights. The Advisory Group of Children (AGC) can be elected by children’s Forum meetings and should be able to give young persons’ input to the procedures and proposals and to shape the agenda by children’s perspectives. However, we insist that child participation is more crucial at national level. National and regional consultation meetings should take place in every member state under the responsibility of governments and with the participation of specialised bodies, such as Ministries, research institutions, observatories, ombudspersons, NGOs, etc. These meetings will focus on the issues chosen by the Commission (on the recommendation of CREG ) and will aim to identify national needs, existing data, good practices and proposals for new EU policies on the chosen issues. Hearings of children should take place at national level on selected subjects. ENOC members could contribute to the organisation of such events, in collaboration with the existing structures in every member state, ensuring that children from different social backgrounds are also heard and considered. Based on the work produced at national level, and taking into consideration the work of other specialised international organisations, like the Council of Europe, the European Forum can form specific proposals for the shaping of European internal and external policies. It can suggest the adoption of campaigns, special programmes, guidelines and directives by the European Commission, which at the end of the day will affect children themselves and improve the protection of their rights. In this way, the Forum could actually act as an adviser to EC as it has been foreseen. The agenda of the European Forum meetings will be shaped through dialogue. ENOC believes that there are many crucial issues that should be included in the European Union Strategy on the Rights of the Child. We expect the European Union to be able to take specific measures for the implementation of the recommendations of the UN Study for the Protection of Children from Violence, in particular to promote the prohibition of all forms of corporal punishment to children, the protection of children victims through the justice system and the prevention and tackling of bullying at schools. There are also many other important issues, such as: promoting child participation, especially within educational settings, tackling discrimination among children, protection of unaccompanied children and children of undocumented immigrants, adjustment of juvenile justice systems to the provisions of CRC, setting standards and supervision mechanisms in child care, protecting the rights of children with disabilities, fighting illiteracy of children, preventing early school drop outs, combating child labour, exploitation and trafficking, protecting children from mass media violations and commercial pressure, measures against victimisation of children in broken families and against international abductions, tackling the use of alcohol and drugs by children, etc. We in ENOC believe that protecting and promoting children’s rights is a hard and demanding task. We all need to join hands and to unite our efforts in order to fulfil this task. At this important moment, when the EU starts talking about the rights of the child, let us all remember that children do not need big words and promises about the future. They need real acts, measures, investments and a practical reassurance that they are considered, respected and protected as subjects of full rights in present.
Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
ENOC has nowadays 27 members. Twenty-two of them are established in 18 EU member states (UK, Belgium and Spain have more than one children’s ombudsman).
b) the Forum should be related to consultation meetings and debates and to special children’s hearings taking place at national and regional level.
a) The first one should be addressed to children and young persons (aged 14-18) from all EU member states. One boy and one girl from each member state could participate in these meetings, accompanied by adult facilitators.
b) The second strand of the Forum should involve both adults and children, as described in the existing “Terms of Reference”.