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The Council of Europe addresses
children's rights by combining highly effective tools, such as standard setting – monitoring – policy development – co-operation and assistance
programmes – education, training and communication. The
following sections present an overview of this work, with relevant links.
Standard setting
The following legal texts concerning children are under preparation or newly adopted:
 The
European Convention on the Adoption of Children (Revised) (ETS No. 202)
was opened for signature on 27 November 2008
a Council of Europe Charter on citizenship and human rights education
is in preparation.
Committee of Ministers Recommendation
Rec(2008)11 on European Rules for juvenile offenders subject to sanctions
or measures was adopted 5 November 2008
Policy development /on-going activities
Council of Europe steering committees in the fields of legal co-operation, human rights,
social cohesion, education and youth have all placed children's rights
issues on their agendas:
Education
of Roma children (DG-IV, Education Division) / see
also the
Roma awareness-raising campaign (DG-III, Roma and Travellers Division)
and Dosta, joint
CoE-European Commission site ;
Education for democratic citizenship (DG-IV, Education Division);
The
rights of children with disabilities (DG-III)
See
the Council of Europe Action Plan to promote the rights and full
participation of people with disabilities in society, attached to
Recommendation Rec(2006)5. The action plan calls attention to: the
increased vulnerability of persons with disabilities to violence and
abuse, especially women and girls; gender-biased obstacles to
participation in society encountered by women and girls; the need for
specific measures to provide education for children with disabilities, and
which will enable them to reach their maximum potential in family and
community life.
Designing tools for decision makers on citizenship and human rights
education (DG-IV, Education Division, EDC pack);
National reviews of violence prevention
policies in the member states –
pilot
scheme.
Co-operation and assistance
Upon request, the Council of Europe will co-operate
with countries on an individual basis, assisting them with legal reform,
policy and institutional framework design, and training for professionals.
Outreach – communication, education and training
Standards and policies need to be accompanied
by communication, education and training strategies. Current activities
include:
Developing a website on children's rights;
Developing
further the online data base, Theseus, on
case law of the European Court of Human Rights relevant to children;
Developing child-friendly communication (web
and printed material);
Developing a child- and youth-friendly version of the Charter on the Participation of
Young People in Local and Regional Life;
Communication initiatives on specific issues,
such as sexual violence, corporal punishment, violence in schools
Developing further Through the WildWebWoods,
the e-game on Internet safety, by integrating human rights topics;
Publishing texts for lawyers on children's
human rights and texts on Council of Europe actions to end violence
against children;
Promoting Compasito, a manual for human
rights education for children, through training and publication in other
languages;
Developing further training courses on human
rights;
Organising events and thematic campaigns at national level.
Raise your hand against smacking! Launch of the campaign against corporal
punishment of children |
