Children's Rights

Local and regional authorities have a responsibility to safeguard and promote the safety and welfare of children and young people, working together with partners such as the third sector, public organisations and the private sector. To meet this challenge, the Congress aims to raise Europe’s towns and regions awareness of the issue, to develop and implement community-based action plans and strategies, and to invest in better services.
The Congress has devised a Pact of Towns and Regions to Stop Sexual Violence against Children which proposes measures and strategies to prevent abuse, protect victims, prosecute perpetrators, and ensure the full participation of children in the entire process.


- Coordinated strategies to protect children from sexual abuse at the heart of our territories
- Lanzarote Committee Meeting: “Local and regional authorities have a key role in protecting unaccompanied refugee children”, says Johan van den HOUT
- Johan van den HOUT: “The protection of children against abuse is a long-term battle”
- The Baden-Württemberg County Association joins the Pact of Cities and Regions to stop sexual violence against children
- Unaccompanied refugee children: a matter of urgency for local and regional authorities

The Pact of Towns and Regions to Stop Sexual Violence against Children is a tool, launched at the initiative of Council of Europe Congress, that brings together the towns, regions and associations of towns and regions of many countries of Europe. The Pact proposes measures to prevent abuse, protect victims, prosecute perpetrators and ensure the full participation of children in the process as a whole.

Seminar on the pact of towns and regions to stop sexual violence against children (13 June 2017, Belgrade, Serbia)
Conclusions
Seminar on the pact of towns and regions to stop sexual violence against children (30 June 2015, 's Hertogenbosch, Netherlands)
Conclusions

Lanzarote Convention
The Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse