Building a Europe for and with children



Movers and shakers, the iconic and famous – all have spoken out and lent their name to support "Raise you hand against smacking"


Members of royal families

National, political and government figures, child rights activists and independent experts (by country)

International organisations

The arts

(updated every week)


Members of royal families

Her Majesty Queen Silvia (Sweden)

National, political and government figures, child rights activists and independent experts (by country)

Albania
Mr Kosta Barka, Minister for Labour, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities

Ms Liri Berisha, president of the Albanian Children Foundation

Ms Lajla Pernaska, Member of the Albanian Parliament, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Ms Jozefina Topalli, Speaker of the Parliament

Azerbaijan
Ms Hyra Husseynova, Chair of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children's Affairs

Ms Elmira Suleymanova,
Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman)

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mr Haris Silajdzic, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Belgium
Ms Ankie Vandekerckhove, Flemish Commissioner for children

Bulgaria
Mr Lazar Lazarov, Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Policy

Columbia
Mr
Francisco Santos Calderón, Vice-president of Colombia

Cyprus
Mr Dimitris Christofias, President of Cyprus

Czech Republic
Ms Dzamila Stehlikova, Minister for Human Rights and National Minorities

Finland
Ms Tarja Halonen, President of the Republic

Mr Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel Peace Prize 2008

Ms Maria Kaisa Aula, ombudsman for children

Ms Elisabeth Rehn, Minister 

Georgia
Mr Giorgi Nodia, Minister for Education and Science

Ms Sozar Subari, Ombudsman

Greece
Ms Maria-Aggeliki Trochani, General Secretary of Welfare, Ministry of Health and Social Solidarity

Hungary
Ms Edit Rauh, Deputy Minister for Social Affairs and Labour

Mr Máté Szabό, Parliamentary Commissioner for Civil Rights

Italy
Mr Luca Barbareschi, Member of Parliament

Ms Allessandra Mussolini, Member of Parliament

Ms Anna Sezafini, Member of Parliament

Latvia
Mr Bastiks Ainars, Minister for Children and Family Affairs

Luxembourg
Ms Marie Anne Roolesch-Hengesch, Ombudswoman for the Rights of the Child

Montenegro
Mr Lukas Redziniak, Deputy Minister of Justice

Norway
Mr Kjell Erik Oie, State Secretary, Norwegian Ministry of Children and Equality

Poland
Mr Lukasz Redziniak,  Under Secretary of State of Justice

Portugal
Ms Idalia Moniz, Secretary of State for Disability

Romania
Ms Cornelia Cazacu, President of the Senate Committee on Equal Opportunities

Mr György Frunda, President of the Senate Committee for Human Rights, Cults and Minorities

Ms Wajiha Haris, President of the Scheherazade Foundation

Mr Ioan Muraru, Romanian ombudsman

Ms Mariela Neagu, Secretary of State, National Authority for the Protection of Children's Rights

Mr Bogadan Olteanu, President of the Chamber of Deputies

Ms Gabriella Pasztor, Secretary of State, Ministry of Education, Research and Youth

Mr Nicolae Paun, President of the Committee for Human Rights, Cults and National Minorities Issues, Chamber of Deputies 

Mr Attila Szasz, National Council for the Audiovisual

Ms Gabriella Tonk, Subsecretary of State, National Authority for the protection of Children Rights

Russian Federation
Ms Olga Pishkova, Ombudsperson for children (Izhevsk)

Serbia
Mr Zarko Obradovic, Minister for Education

Slovenia
Mr Danilo Türk, President of Slovenia

Ms Dragoljuba Bencina, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Ms Zdenka Cebasek-Travnik, Human Rights Ombudsman

Ms Marjeta Cotman, former Minister for Labour, Family and Social Affairs

Ms Andreja Crnak-Meglic, Member of Parliament

Mr Pavel Gantar, President of the Slovenian Parliament

Ms Eva Irgl, Member of Parliament

Mr Pavle Kornhauser, paediatrician, Forum against Corporal Punishment of Children

Mr Igor Soltes, President of the Court of Auditors

Spain
Ms Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Vice-president of Spain

Mr Miguel Angel Moratinos, Minister for Foreign Affairs 

Sweden
Mr Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden

Mr Gören Hägglund, Minister for Health and Social Affairs

Ms Nyamko Sabuni, Minister for Integration and Gender Equality

Mr Anton Abele, founder of “Stop street violence now”

Turkey
Ms Nimet Cubukcu, Minister of State for Social Services

International organisations

Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe and Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Jean-Paul Costa, President of the European Court of Human Rights

Lluis Maria de Puig, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

Emily Logan, Irish Ombudsperson for children, on behalf of the European Network for Ombudsman for Children

Jorge Sampaio, United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilisations, former President of Portugal


The arts and entertainment

Lamberto Bava, Italian director 

Ole Bornedal, Danish film director

Claudia Cardinale, Italian actor

Jesper Juul, Danish writer

Caroline Munro, English actor 

Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film director

Tinkara Kovac, Slovenian singer

Andre Linman, Finnish singer

Elena Lombao, Spanish actor

Philippe Nahon, French actor

Rulo Pardo, Spanish actor

Jean-François Rauger, programming director of the Cinémathèque française

Gianni Rijavec, Slovenian singer, White Dove Foundation

Haije Tulokas, Finnish script writer

Ziva Vadnov, TV moderator, Miss Slovenia 2004

Milena Zupancic, actor, Unicef Regional Ambassador