25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

 

SUMMARY OF:

European Parliament resolution on the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE RESOLUTION?

This European Parliament own-initiative resolution*, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereafter ‘the Convention’) results from a motion for a resolution under Rule 123(2) of the Parliament’s rules of procedure.

It:

• strongly affirms the Parliament’s commitment to working within the framework of the Convention and
• calls on various parties to take certain actions to ensure the Convention is fully implemented in policy and in practice and to take additional measures to ensure universal respect for the rights of all children, especially the most vulnerable.

KEY POINTS

The Parliament welcomes the EU’s commitment under the Stockholm programme to develop an EU common strategy for the protecting and promoting the rights of the child and to support the EU countries’ efforts in this area.

Investing in most disadvantaged and vulnerable children

Parliament calls

• on the European Commission to:
  • monitor and report on the implementation in the EU countries of its recommendation ‘Investing in Children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage’ and to ensure children’s access to and participation in quality services;
  • integrate that focus in the European Semester and in the Annual Growth Survey;
  • mainstream children’s rights in all EU legislative proposals, policies and financial decisions and monitor compliance with EU laws on children and with obligations under the Convention;
  • use the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework to ensure that EU funds benefit the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children;
  • explicitly consider children, particularly Roma children, as a priority when programming and implementing regional and cohesion policies, and
• on EU countries with above-average rates of child poverty to set national targets and prioritise investments to reducepoverty and social exclusion among children and young people.

Best interests of the child

It calls:

• on EU countries to ensure that the principle of the best interests of the child is respected in all legislation, in decisions taken by government at all levels and in all court decisions;
• on the Commission to assess the impact of detention and criminal justice systems on children;
• on the business community and stakeholders to refrain from aggressive and misleading advertising to children, to duly protect children’s personal data online and to prohibit online profiling of children.

Protect children against sexual abuse

It calls on EU countries to:

• to implement Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, and to take measures to combat the illicit transfer of children;
• to implement Directive 2011/93/EU on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, and child pornography, and tackle all forms of cyber predation and cyber bullying.

Improve education

It calls:

• on the EU and EU countries to invest in public services for children, including childcare, education and health, and particularly in extending the public network of kindergartens and nurseries;
• on EU countries to provide free compulsory secondary education for all and to adopt laws to safeguard and strengthen maternity and paternity rights in order to provide a healthy, stable environment for children in the first months of their lives.

End detention of migrant children and facilitate family reunification

It calls on EU countries to:

• fully implement the Common European Asylum System package in order to improve the condition of unaccompanied minors in the EU, and in particular for action to be taken to end the detention of migrant children across the EU;
• facilitate family reunification in a positive, humane and expeditious manner, in line with Article 10 of the Convention.

Finding missing children

It calls on EU countries to:

• increase police and judicial cooperation in cross-border cases involving missing children and to develop hotlines to search for missing children and support victims of child abuse;
• facilitate the smooth accession of Morocco, Singapore, the Russian Federation, Albania, Andorra, Seychelles, Gabon and Armenia to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Child abduction by parents

It calls on the Commission, when revising Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 concerning judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, to take serious note of the best interests of the child, in view of the loopholes in implementing and enforcing this regulation in the EU countries as regards parental and custody rights.

Combating violence against children and the use of child soldiers

It condemns:

• any form of violence against children, physical, sexual and verbal abuse, forced marriages, child labour, prostitution, trafficking, torture, honour killing, female genital mutilation, the use of child soldiers and of children as human shields, etc;
• the use of children for military and terrorist activities or purposes.

It calls on the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) to support the UN campaign ‘Children, not soldiers’, aimed at ending by 2016 the recruitment and use of child soldiers by national security forces.

Mainstreaming children’s rights in decision-making

It calls on EU countries and local authorities to explore ways to increase children’s and adolescents’ involvement in the decision-making process.

It expresses Parliament’s will to establish an intergroup on children’s rights and well-being, and supports the appointment of ‘focal points’ within each parliamentary committee to ensure children’s rights are mainstreamed in every policy and legislative text adopted.

International instruments

It calls:

• on EU countries to ratify without delay all the optional protocols to the Convention;
• on the Commission and the VP/HR to explore ways and means for the EU to accede unilaterally to the Convention.

It encourages the USA, Somalia and South Sudan to ratify the Convention in order to achieve universal ratification.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

• Rights of the child (European Commission)
• Rights of the child (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights).

KEY TERMS

MAIN DOCUMENT

European Parliament resolution of 27 November 2014 on the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (OJ C 289, 9.8.2016, pp. 57–64)

Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union — Title I — Common Provisions — Article 3 (ex Article 2 TEU)

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Commission Recommendation 2013/112/EU of 20 February 2013 Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage (OJ L 59, 2.3.2013, pp. 5-16)

Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (OJ L 335, 17.12.2011, pp. 1-14)

Successive amendments to Directive 2011/93/EU have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA (OJ L 101, 15.4.2011, pp. 1-11)

Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000 (OJ L 338, 23.12.2003, pp. 1-29)

See consolidated version.

last update 13.06.2018