Brussels, 17/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - In the framework of the French Presidency of the Union Council, EU ministers responsible for the issue of childhood will meet informally in Paris on Monday 20 November (World day of the Right of the Child), under the presidency of Segolene Royal, French Deputy Minister for the Family and Childhood, with the participation of Marie-George Buffet, Minister for Youth and Sports. This initial meeting will enable ministers to compare social and educational practices in Member States, to provide the best that can be achieved in each field for children in the EU. It should also enable them to adopt a joint action plan, that would constitute the beginning of a "Readable and Coherent European policy" regarding the right of children.
Ministers will discuss two topics: 1) the right of the child to be protected against violence, notably sexual, and educated whatever their social circle; 2) the right of the child to be respected, in relation to their filiation, family relations and decisions concerning them. Ministers will, moreover, assess the way the UN Convention is being implemented (ratified by all EU countries) and prepare the 2nd World Summit of Children, scheduled for September 2001 in New York (11 years after the first).
This ministerial meeting should take place every 20 November, date when the 1989 Convention on the right of the Child was adopted, in the framework of the next European Presidencies.