Strasbourg, 04/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 4 July the European Commission launched its communication on a European strategy for children's rights, in which it sets out a number of short term measures, such as providing a telephone number to help children in distress and objectives for the near future. During a press conference in Strasbourg, the president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso said, “this is the first time that the European Commission has made child protection a priority”. To meet this challenge, Mr Barroso indicated that the Commission had chosen a “transverse approach” given the fact that children's rights involve both internal and external EU policies and cover more than ten political domains. Commissioner Franco Frattini underlined that “no less than fifteen Directorate Generals are working on this issue”. Underlining the fact that children's rights are still far from being universally respected in the world, the Commissioner cited some figures that testify to the scale of the difficulties and abuse confronting children in the world: 40 million children aged under 12 are victims of sexual abuse; 5.7 million children work in “horrible conditions”; 1.2 million are victims each year of trafficking; millions are subject to genital mutilation and 300,000 are child soldiers involved in around thirty global conflicts. Given the figures, Mr Frattini declared that, “the European Union can and must provide fundamental added value to this subject”.
In a not too distant future, the Commission hopes to set up a single six-figure telephone number (beginning with 116) throughout the European Union as a helpline to assist children. By end 2006, there will be another single telephone number for emergency calls relating to children that have disappeared or been the victim of sexual exploitation. The Commission also envisages the creation of an Internet site setting out all European and national legislations concerning children. It has suggested helping banks and credit card companies to combat the use of such cards for the purchase of pornographic images of children on the Internet (2006), as use of the cards for this is irrefutable proof that highly sophisticated crossborder criminal networks exist. The measure also aims to trace the financial movements of those who make purchases on pornographic sites, while continuing to ensure protection of privacy. “We shall continue to work towards this result”, Mr Frattini said, announcing the creation of a European police network specialised in tracking down paedophiles on the Internet, and measures aimed at preventing offences related to sexual tourism to be set in place on the basis of an exchange of best practice. In 2007, the Commission also plans to launch an action plan concerning children in the context of development cooperation, which deals with the priority needs of children in developing countries. Also in 2007, it intends to promote the grouping together of actions implemented in the EU to combat child poverty.
The communication also describes several specific objectives, including the need to use activities already implemented to best advantage while answering urgent needs and establishing priorities for future European Union action. The first consists of ensuring that all EU internal and external policies respect the rights of the child, in line with the principles of Community law, and that they are fully in line with the principles and arrangements in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and other instruments relevant in international law. With a view to assessing policies and initiatives taken at Member State level, Mr Frattini announced that the Commission would present an annual assessment report. The communication also seeks to improve the effectiveness of actions on children's rights and provides for a mechanism for this. The Commission proposes a communication strategy to raise public awareness on children's rights, in the interests of the children themselves, their parents and third parties. In addition, it allows for the appointment of a commissioner for children's rights who, within the Commission, would be the contact person and whose role would be to give greater visibility to children's rights and to oversee the coordination of the strategy among all the departments concerned. “It is a matter of sharing best practice” already existing in the EU, said Mr Barroso. There should also be cooperation between the European Commission and the Council of Europe, stressed Mr Frattini. Finally, the communication provides a first inventory of over 75 EU instruments which affect children's rights, including concrete financial, legislative and other measures, which will be proposed in 2006-2007. In conclusion, Mr Barroso hoped that “the process we have launched today will lead to a series of concrete measures strengthening children's rights”.
E.U.R.O.N.E.T. calls for children's rights commissioner
E.U.R.O.N.E.T., the European Children's Network, welcomes the Commission's initiative. Its President Simone Ek sees it as “a significant first step towards the recognition of children's rights at EU level” and calls on all the institutions to make this political commitment a reality. Secretary General Mieke Schuurman considers that the “investment in the 94 million children in Europe is an investment both in Europe's present and in its future”. The ONG believes that to make the strategy a success there has to be: - a European commissioner with responsibility for children's rights, to ensure visibility for the strategy and political responsibility; - significant involvement of children in the strategy in order to take real account of their needs (specialist NGOs should, therefore, be partners in this process); - a “child's rights proofing” for all EU legislation and policies, taking the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as its reference; - a European Children's Rights Forum, with equal participation of all the parties concerned, including children and NGOs defending their rights; - the close involvement of civil society in all aspects of the strategy; - sufficient resources to allow the strategy to be brought to fruition.