Call for Action to all European States by the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children

To be sent by ENOC to the Prime Minister and the Parliament of each European state, to the President of the European Commission and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, seeking a detailed action-oriented response in the period between the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child – November 20, 1999 and the anniversary of its coming into force – September 15, 2000.

 

In ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all European States have taken on detailed obligations under international law to respect the rights of all children in their jurisdictions. Yet, as human rights watchdogs for children across Europe, we see widespread disregard for many of their fundamental rights.

The key challenge for States is to create societies that recognise children as holders of rights, not simply objects of concern. Europe’s children deserve more than pious platitudes from their governments. As we enter the second decade of the Convention, the expectation must be that States move rapidly to ensure that all the rights the Convention guarantees are recognised and that all children in all States enjoy those rights, without discrimination.

A growing number of European states are demonstrating their commitment to children’s rights by establishing independent human rights institutions for children. ENOC urges each and every European state which has not yet done so to establish such institutions able to effectively monitor, promote and protect children’s human rights.

Europe’s children’s Ombudspersons are calling on all European governments to consider how individually and collectively they can address the following issues, identified by ENOC as demanding immediate attention:

Governments should invite children to become active participants in all decisions that affect them, in particular in designing schooling appropriate to the new millennium and in the planning of their local communities.
Children have the same rights as adults to human dignity and physical and psychological integrity: all corporal punishment and humiliating treatment should be prohibited explicitly in every European state.
The Convention requires that all children in a State’s jurisdiction, including asylum-seeking and refugee children, children of "illegal" immigrants, and unaccompanied children have the same human rights as other children.
ENOC condemns those European states that persist in recruiting under 18 year-olds into their military forces and even sending them into armed conflict: there is a need for a clear Europe and world-wide ban on recruitment of under 18 year-olds.
Some forms of exploitation of children cross national boundaries; this calls for effective collaborative work by each European Government, for example to combat the dissemination of child pornography through the Internet and abduction and trafficking of children.
The best interests of affected children should always be a primary consideration before a parent is sentenced to imprisonment. Children who accompany an imprisoned parent should be provided with special protection and support.
In the light of growing commercial pressures on children governments should develop ethical codes and regulations – national and transnational - to moderate the effects of the market on children and to give them new competencies as consumers.

 

Per Schultz Jorgensen
Past Chairperson
Chairperson, Danish Council For Children 		Javier Urra
ENOC Chairperson
Defensor del Menor de la Communidad de Madrid		 Trond Waage
Past Chairperson
Norwegian Ombudsman for Children

Madrid, Spain, 30 October 1999

 

Last edited by Barneombudet September 02, 2003
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