Building a Europe for and with Children: Council of Europe three-year action programme - Launching conference, Monaco, 4 - 5 April 2006

(To be Checked against delivered Speech)

Draft intervention of Bogdan PANAIT, State Secretary, National authority for the protection of children's rights, Representing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe

Your Royal Highness, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour and a privilege for me to represent the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe at this Launching Conference of the Programme “Building a Europe for and with children”.

The Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe, which took place in Warsaw on 16 - 17 May last year, reconfirmed the role of the Council of Europe, as an essential component of the European political and security architecture and a unique framework to promote and defend human rights, advance democratic principles and values and foster the rule of law throughout Europe.

In this context important decisions concerning the issues to be discussed at this Conference were taken. I quote from the Action Plan adopted by the Heads of State and Government at the Summit:

“We are determined to effectively promote the rights of the child and to fully comply with the obligations of the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child. A child rights perspective will be implemented throughout the activities of the Council of Europe and effective coordination of child-related activities must be ensured within the Organisation.

We will take specific action to eradicate all forms of violence against children. We have therefore decided to launch a three year programme of action to address social, legal, health and educational dimensions of the various forms of violence against children. We shall also elaborate measures to stop sexual exploitation of children, including legal instruments if appropriate, and involve civil society in this process. Coordination with the United Nations in this field is essential, particularly in connection with follow-up to the optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.”

Since the adoption of the Action Plan, the Committee of Ministers has taken a number of decisions relating to its implementation. It has approved the three year programme: “Building a Europe for and with children”, identified the necessary resources within the budget and approved the creation of a coordination unit within the organisation.

As has already been stressed by the Deputy Secretary General, Mrs de Boer-Buquicchio, the Summit insisted on the implementation of a child rights perspective throughout the activities of the Council of Europe. The Programme on children will partly be implemented through the relevant intergovernmental steering committees which will include items relating to children in their respective agendas. These activities range from manuals on children’s rights education to the drafting of new legal instruments. But more generally a child rights perspective shall be guiding all activities of the organisation.

In this context, I would like to stress that the Council of Europe is the main standard setting organisation on children’s rights in Europe.

The Council of Europe has drawn up several legal instruments which protect children from violence and confer a number of other rights on them: among these are the European Convention on Human Rights, the revised Social Charter and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Both the European Court of Human Rights and the European Committee of Social Rights have developed case-law with particular emphasis on children, for example concerning the prohibition of corporal punishment and other forms of ill-treatment of children. I would like to add that the Committee of Ministers supervises the implementation of the judgments of the Court and the decisions of the European Committee of Social Rights and that it considers this to be one of its most important tasks.

Another significant Council of Europe treaty, the European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights, guarantees the exercise by children of certain procedural rights in family court proceedings.

Furthermore, a couple of the recent legal instruments adopted by the Committee of Ministers provide protection for children against sexual and other forms of abuse in certain contexts. The first one is the Convention on cybercrime, which contains a provision relating to the prohibition of the production, dissemination and possession of child pornography through or on a computer system. The second instrument is the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, adopted at the Third Summit. This Convention contains a number of provisions with the particular aim of protecting children from being trafficked and of providing adequate protection and assistance to children who have been victims of trafficking.

I might add that the Committee of Ministers only a couple of weeks ago, adopted terms of reference for a Committee to evaluate the need for an additional international legal instrument for the protection of children against sexual exploitation, that would fill any existing lacuna. This activity follows from the Action Plan adopted at the Summit.

The Committee of Ministers has also adopted a number of important recommendations concerning children’s rights. Other recommendations contain provisions providing specific protection for children in various contexts. In the first category of recommendations, I would like to highlight the one from 1985 on violence in the family, the one from 1990 on social measures concerning violence within the family, and the one from 1993 on the medico-social aspects of child abuse, which emphasise the general condemnation of corporal punishment and other forms of degrading treatment as a means of education.

More recent recommendations concern the protection of children against sexual exploitation, new ways of dealing with juvenile delinquency and the role of juvenile justice and the rights of children living in residential institutions.

Work is now progressing rapidly on a draft recommendation on victims which will deal with issues relating to persons vulnerable to victimisation, especially repeat victimisation. It will refer to victims of organised crime, including trafficking in human beings, and to the creation of specialised centres to help victims of crimes such as sexual violence and domestic violence.

Essential parts of the programme that we are now launching relate to the Council of Europe’s standard setting role, including awareness raising and information on the existing international and European legal instruments in the field, as well as assistance to member states with the implementation of these instruments. The programme will also focus on the implementation or revision of existing instruments and on the possible elaboration of new ones.

Conferences of Specialised Ministers will play an important role for the implementation of the new Programme. The Conference of European Ministers responsible for Family Affairs, to be held in Lisbon on 16-17 May, will deal with issues relating to parenting in the best interest of the child and to family policies in the light of demographic changes in Europe and different patterns of family life.

Later this year, the Conference of European Ministers of Justice, to be held in Armenia, will deal with the topic “Victims: place, right and assistance” and will cover both penal and civil aspects of the question of victims as well as issues relating to particularly vulnerable groups of victims, including children.

As Chair of the Committee of Ministers, Romania has made its contribution to the implementation of the Council of Europe's goals and priorities, as adopted in the Action Plan. A conference on children’s rights was organised in January 2006, focusing on the Romanian experience in connection with the examples offered by other countries and with international and European standards.

Your Royal Highness, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the Council of Europe member states taken as a whole, the population below the age of eighteen is around 155 million individuals. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified by all member states and they are all expected to develop national action plans to ensure its full implementation. The Heads of State and Government present in Warsaw considered that the complexity of the issues at stake called for a comprehensive strategy to coordinate the efforts of all key actors and to mobilise resources.

The presence here, at this Launching Conference, of high level representatives from such a large number of member and observer states, is a clear indication of our commitment to the issues to be discussed and of our expectations and hopes as regards the Programme we are now launching. But what I will find particularly interesting will be to hear the expectations, hopes and concerns of the young people present at this Conference. Let me also express the hope that you will be with us throughout the Programme and that your viewpoints and your ideas will be taken on board.

Finally, I would like to thank the authorities of Monaco for the excellent organisation of this event and, in particular, thank Her Royal Highness, Princess Caroline of Hanover, for her personal commitment to this cause.

Thank you very much.