WRITTEN QUESTION E-0606/01 by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission. European Union campaign to combat child deaths caused by accidents.
Date: 2001-03-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: accident in the home, accident prevention, child, public awareness campaign, road safety, transport accident

C 261 E/158

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

in Europe. All the police forces in the Member States share a willingness to learn from each other for
community policing.

It was considered appropriate to:

(cid:129) develop study missions on the principles and practicalities of community policing;

(cid:129) create a documentary base in order to capitalise on experience and practice;

(cid:129) hold meetings on topics central to community policing.

In its Decision of 22 December 2000 establishing a European Police College (1) the Council assigned

2.
to this College responsibility for disseminating best practice and research findings [Article 7(e)].

During 2001 France will organise an exchange and training session on community policing for

3.
police officers in the field.

(1) OJ L 336, 30.12.2000, p. 1.

(2001/C 261 E/183)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0606/01

by Juan Naranjo Escobar (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(1 March 2001)

Subject: European Union campaign to combat child deaths caused by accidents

Accidents are the main cause of child deaths in the developed countries and a UNICEF report has
estimated that 20 000 children will die as a result of accidents by the end of this year. Injuries caused by
accidents are responsible for 40 % of deaths among children aged from one to 14 in the OECD countries.

The most frequent causes of fatal
poisoning.

injuries to children are road accidents, drowning, burns, falls and

In view of these alarming figures and bearing in mind the campaigns conducted by the EU against other
scourges affecting our society, such as cancer or tobacco, does the Commission not think it should launch
a forceful Community-wide campaign to raise public awareness of the risks to children, so as to bring
about a sharp reduction in the alarming number of accidents of this kind?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(23 April 2001)

The Commission shares the concern of the Honourable Member about the very high number of children
aged one to fourteen who are killed in accidents, particularly in road accidents. Under the Community
Action Programme on Injury Prevention the development of a Community policy is on the way. In setting
up such a policy the Commission,
the
fundamental aspects of the prevention of accidents an awareness building strategy with a view to reducing
fatal accidents involving children.

together with the Member States, will develop as one of

Furthermore, the protection of children and other (cid:145)vulnerable road users(cid:146) has been a feature of the
Commission(cid:146)s road safety policy since the early 1990(cid:146)s. The Commission is currently preparing its 3rd
Road Safety Action Plan which will cover the period 2002-2010. Protection of children against accidents
and education to prevent accidents will be addressed in this document.