Towards an EU strategy on the rights of the child European Parliament resolution of 16 January 2008: Towards an EU strategy on the rights of the child (2007/2093(INI))
Date: 2008-01-16
Institutions: Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament
Subjects: EU action, EU programme, child protection, children's rights, resolution (EU)

C 41 E/24

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Towards an EU strategy on the rights of the child

P6_TA(2008)0012

European Parliament resolution of 16 January 2008: Towards an EU strategy on the rights of the
child (2007/2093(INI))

(2009/C 41 E/04)

The European Parliament,

— having regard to Article 6(2) of the Treaty on European Union,

— having regard to the Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council meeting held on 21 and

22 June 2007 on the treaty reform process,

— having regard to the new Article 3 of the Treaty on European Union, as introduced by Article 1(4) of
the Treaty of Lisbon, which states that the Union ‘shall combat […] discrimination and shall promote
[…] protection of the rights of the child’, and specifies that ‘in its relations with the wider world, the
Union shall […] contribute to […] the protection of human rights, in particular the rights of the child’,

— having regard to the decision taken by the Heads of State and Government closing the IGC in Lisbon
on 19 October 2007 to give legally binding force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Euro-
pean Union (1), Article 24 of which contains specific provisions on ‘the rights of the child’ and states, in
particular, that ‘in all actions relating to children, whether taken by public authorities or private institu-
tions, the child's best interests must be a primary consideration’,

— having regard to the Union's decision to accede to the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), which provides for sanctions in the event of failure
to comply with the ECHR,

— having regard to the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional

Protocols thereto, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1989,

— having regard to the UN Programme of Action, adopted at the International Conference on Population

and Development, Cairo, September 1994,

— having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 168/2007 of 15 February 2007 establishing a European

Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2),

— having regard to the Commission Communication of 4 July 2006 entitled ‘Towards an EU Strategy on

the Rights of the Child’ (COM(2006)0367),

— having regard to the progress report of the European Parliament Mediator for International Parental
Child Abduction of 1 March 2007 alerting the Commission, Parliament and other institutions to the
dramatic increase in cases of parental child abduction,

— having regard to the results of the consultation conducted by Save the Children and Plan International
on the abovementioned Commission Communication entitled ‘Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of
the Child’ (3),

— having regard to the European Forum on the Rights of the Child established by the Commission fol-
lowing the publication of that Communication, which met for the first time in Berlin on 4 June 2007,

(1) OJ C 303, 14.12.2007, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 53, 22.2.2007, p. 1.
(3) http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/where_we_work/europegrp_haveyoursay.html

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/25

Wednesday 16 January 2008

— having regard to the political declaration adopted in Berlin on 4 June 2007 at the first Forum, which
reiterates the desire to systematically take children's rights into account in the internal and external
policies of the European Union,

— having regard to its resolution of 14 June 2006 on non-discrimination and equal opportunities for

all — a framework strategy (1),

— having regard to the thematic comment No 4 of 25 May 2006 ‘Implementing the rights of the child in

the European Union’ by the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights (2),

— having regard to the UN Secretary-General's Study on Violence against Children, presented to the UN

General Assembly on 11 October 2006,

— having regard to the Unicef Guidelines on the Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking of September

2006,

— having regard to Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA of 22 December 2003 on combating the

sexual exploitation of children and child pornography (3),

— having regard to Articles 34 and 35 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which concern
the protection of children from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse and seek to prevent
the abduction, sale of, or trafficking in, children,

— having regard to the Commission Communication of 22 May 2007 entitled ‘Towards a general policy

on the fight against cyber crime’ (COM(2007)0267),

— having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the
opinions of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
the Committee on Development, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Committee on
Culture and Education and the Committee on Legal Affairs (A6-0520/2007),

A. whereas the primary objective of the abovementioned Commission Communication entitled ‘Towards
an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child’ is to promote the positive affirmation of children's rights, in
particular the right to their own identity, the right to grow up in secure conditions/the right to care, the
right to a family, the right to be loved and to play, and the right to health, education, social inclusion,
equal opportunities, sport and a clean and protected environment and the right to obtain information
on such issues, with a view to establishing a child-friendly society, in which children can feel protected
and actively involved,

B. whereas Article 24(3) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter
of Fundamental Rights) states that ‘every child shall have the right to maintain on a regular basis a
personal relationship and direct contact with both his or her parents, unless that is contrary to his or
her interests’,

C. whereas, pursuant to Article 24 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Article 12 of the UN Con-
vention on the Rights of the Child, it is important to guarantee all children the right of ‘participation’
so as always to take account of their experience of and opinions on all matters affecting them, giving
due weight in accordance with the age, maturity and intellectual development of the child; whereas that
right is absolute and may not have limitations placed on it, and whereas ways must be found of
communicating with all children, even children who express themselves in a way that is not easy for
adults to understand, for example very young children, children with disabilities and children who speak
a different language,

(1) OJ C 300 E, 9.12.2006, p. 259.
(2) http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/cfr_cdf/doc/thematic_comments_2006_en.pdf
(3) OJ L 13, 20.1.2004, p. 44.

C 41 E/26

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

D. whereas it is essential that children's rights be incorporated and protected (mainstreamed) in all EU

policies affecting children directly or indirectly),

E. whereas for children, the poverty and social exclusion of their parents represent serious obstacles to
exercising their rights, and whereas there are also many other factors that prevent children from exer-
cising their rights, such as parents who fulfil their parental role less than satisfactorily, the necessity for
children to be represented by adults in legal matters, or the fact that the right to health care can be
exercised only with the consent of the person who has custody of the child,

F. whereas adults should provide children with favourable conditions to enable them to have their say, so
that they express their views and can be heard; whereas adults should promote children's gestures of
peace and friendship and encourage them to associate with other children; whereas time is an impor-
tant factor in creating conditions conducive to an open attitude and to giving children their say, and
not merely at specific events, and whereas the funding of public programmes should take that into
account,

G. whereas the abuse of children's rights, violence against children and trafficking in children for illegal
adoption, prostitution, illegal work, forced marriages, street begging, or any other purpose, remain a
problem within the EU,

H. whereas increasing numbers of children suffer from chronic illnesses such as neurodermititis and aller-

gies, and from respiratory diseases and noise,

I. whereas children's environmental rights are enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,

J. whereas the family environment provides a favourable framework for protecting children's rights, ensur-
ing the healthy development of their personalities, developing their skills and enabling them to acquire
the necessary knowledge to exercise their rights and become aware of their duties, and, consequently,
every effort must be made to support families by means of appropriate public policies, but whereas, in
the absence of such a framework, all children, including orphans, the homeless and refugees should, in
accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, have access to protection within a
replacement framework that allows them to grow up without being discriminated against in any way,

K. whereas the EU strategy on the rights of the child should be rooted in the values and principles laid

down in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,

L. whereas the rights of children as autonomous legal beings should be recognised, yet, despite national
and international legislation, girls and women are often victims of legal, social and economic inequal-
ities, which affect the exercise of their positive and fundamental rights, such as equal access to educa-
tion, training and healthcare, safe food and clean water and reproductive rights for adolescents,

M. whereas fundamental rights and values, including gender equality, should be an essential component of

education during childhood and should form the basis of all the other stages of life,

N. whereas gender mainstreaming must be applied to all policies affecting children, since gender equality
begins with the recognition of the equal rights of male and female children, starting from the first years
of life,

O. whereas human rights violations against immigrant women and girls in the form of so-called honour
crimes, forced marriages, genital mutilation, or other violations cannot be justified on any cultural or
religious grounds and should in no circumstances be tolerated,

P. whereas children in Europe are exposed at an early age to depictions of horror, pornography and
violence in the media, and this can have devastating psychological and social effects on children, such
as anxiety, depression, increased aggressiveness and problems at school,

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/27

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Overview of the strategy

1. Welcomes the Commission's initiative, which makes it quite clear that all conventions on fundamental
human rights apply equally to children and adults, as do a series of additional rights,
including those
enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was drawn up with particular reference
to the special situation of children and young people;

2. Welcomes the IGC decision of 19 October 2007 to incorporate children's rights as one of the objec-
tives of the EU in the Treaty of Lisbon, thus providing a new legal framework for children's rights;

3. Welcomes the development of the Commission's Action Plan on Children in External Relations, which
will come under the approved framework and commitments of the EU strategy on the rights of the child;

Notes that a growing number of areas within the EU's competence affect children's rights directly or
4.
indirectly, and calls on the Commission to incorporate into the impact assessment provided for in its com-
munication of 27 April 2005 entitled ‘Compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights in Commission
legislative proposals — Methodology for systematic and rigorous monitoring’ (COM(2005)0172), a section
devoted to the extent to which children's rights are taken into account legally;

5.
Calls on the Commission to put forward a proposal to create a specific budget line for children's
rights, in order to finance work to implement the abovementioned Commission Communication entitled
‘Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child’, and child-specific projects, such as a European early
warning system on child abductions, and a coordination body made up of representatives of the central
authorities of Member States mandated to reduce the number of cases of child abduction; the budget line
should also include subsidies for NGO networks working in this field and ensure children's participation in
the work to implement that Communication and those projects;

6.
Calls for an effective monitoring system backed with financial means and annual reports to ensure the
implementation of the commitments set out in the abovementioned Commission Communication entitled
‘Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child’ and the future strategy on the rights of the child;

7.
Recalls that the success of the future strategy requires long-term commitment and action, increased
and effective monitoring of the implementation of children's rights through the development of indicators
and the involvement of NGOs and parents' and educational associations and coordination with national and
international children's rights initiatives and policies;

Calls on the Commission to draw up a comprehensive European Union Child and Youth Report every

8.
two years, beginning in 2008;

Applauds the Commission's plan to introduce an EU-wide child helpline telephone number and points
9.
to the need for this service to be free of charge and available 24 hours a day; calls on the Member States to
inform children, through informational measures, about the possibility of using this service;

10.
Awaits with interest the Commission's report on the implementation by Member States of the
abovementioned 2003 Framework Decision on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child
pornography;

11.
Calls for the protection of children's rights, as laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child, to be included among the priorities Multiannual Framework of the European Union Agency for
Fundamental Rights (the Agency), and for the Agency to set up a network for cooperation with interna-
tional institutions, particularly ombudspeople for children and NGOs working in this area as soon as poss-
ible in order to take full advantage of their experience and the information available to them;

C 41 E/28

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

12.
Calls on the Commission, the Agency and the Member States to work in cooperation with relevant
UN agencies, international organisations and research centres towards improving the gathering of compar-
able statistical data on the situation of children in the EU, if necessary by extending Eurostat's mandate, with
a view to developing and including a larger number of indicators relating specifically to children, on child
poverty and social exclusion, for example; children's participation in the collection of data should be
ensured;

Asks the Commission to provide a breakdown by gender and age of data on all types of discrimina-
13.
tion and violence against children, to integrate equality between women and men into all the policies and
instruments of its future strategy, including the activities of the Forum on Children's Rights, and to follow
up and evaluate these policies, inter alia, by means of gender budgeting;

14.
Calls for children's rights to be mainstreamed in the external policies and actions of the EU, including
the European Neighbourhood Policy and the Strategic Partnership with Russia, as set out in the forthcoming
Commission Staff Working Paper on ‘A European Union Action Plan on Children's Rights in External Rela-
tions’, and in the enlargement process, recognising that these policies are powerful tools providing oppor-
tunities to promote children's rights'; calls on the Commission to translate these opportunities into specific
objectives in the external work of the Community and the Member States;

15.
Calls on the Commission to submit a report on the possible inclusion in all international agreements
between the EC and third countries of a specific and legally binding clause on respect for children's rights, as
defined at international level;

16.
Calls on the Commission to redouble its efforts to assist developing countries in translating the
provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocols thereto into their
national legislation;

17.
Calls for consideration to be given to the EU's accession to the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child and the two Optional Protocols thereto, as well as the Council of Europe conventions on the rights of
the child, including the ECHR, and those on the exercise of children's rights, adoption, exploitation and
sexual abuse, and calls on the Council to adopt a position of principle to enable the EU in future to take
part in negotiations on conventions relating in particular to children's rights;

Points out that any strategy on the rights of the child should be rooted in the values and four basic
18.
principles enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: protection against all forms of
discrimination; the best interests of the child as a primary consideration; the right to life and development;
and the right to express an opinion and to have that opinion taken into account,
in any matter or
procedure affecting the child;

19.
Considers it regrettable that not all Member States have yet established an ombudsperson for chil-
dren's rights, as called for by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, to promote the upholding of
children's rights and the further implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and calls
on those Member States who have not yet done so to take this step as soon as possible; takes the view that
the EU should make financial support available to the European Network of Ombudspeople for Children
(ENOC), so that ENOC is able to address more intensively and on an EU-wide basis issues that relate to the
rights of the child;

that

Points out

20.
the implementation by the national authorities of Council Regulation (EC)
No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of
judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility (1) is giving rise to a variety of
interpretations; urges the Commission to draw up guidelines and a list of best practices with a view to
clarifying and facilitating the implementation of that Regulation;

(1) OJ L 338, 23.12.2003, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 2116/2004 (OJ L 367, 14.12.2004, p. 1).

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/29

21.
Emphasises the importance of full implementation by the Member States and candidate countries of
existing international commitments, in particular those under the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which contains specific provisions
for children with disabilities, and ILO conventions on child labour;

Wednesday 16 January 2008

22.
Urges those Member States which have not yet done so to ratify the Hague Convention of 19 Octo-
ber 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Cooperation in respect of Parental
Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children; urges the EU institutions to promote the third-
country ratification of the main international child protection instruments, especially those tending to
improve the situation of immigrant children;

Urges the EU to take an active part in promoting awareness and dissemination of the UN Conven-

23.
tion on the Rights of the Child inside and outside the EU by the use of ‘soft power’;

Reminds the Member States of the need to comply forthwith with their European and international

24.
undertakings regarding the protection of children's rights;

25.
Urges the Member States to set up exchange programmes for teachers and pupils with countries
outside the EU, particularly in the Middle East and developing countries, and to disseminate and promote
children's rights, drawing attention to the right to education and gender equality;

26.
Emphasises the imperative for a differentiated consideration of children's needs, a good example for
such a differentiated scale being the Report Card 7 by the Unicef Innocenti Research Centre, with six
dimensions of child well-being,
including material well-being, health and safety, educational well-being,
family and peer relationships, behaviour and risks and subjective well-being;

27.
Urges the Commission and the Member Sates to take action to ensure observance of the rights of
mentally disabled children, with particular reference to their right to freedom, education and access to the
courts, and to protect them from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;

Calls on all the Member States to ensure that children have effective and independent representation
28.
in any judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings concerning them and have a legally appointed guardian where
no responsible, competent and appropriate adult family member is able to fulfil such responsibilities;

Emphasises that, since the vast majority of children, especially young children, are cared for in a

29.
family, a strategy on the rights of the child must include provisions to promote the welfare of families;

30.
Calls on the Commission to develop policies and carry out comprehensive, cross-cutting action
aimed at the protection of children's rights so as to achieve inter-territorial equity and equal opportunities
for children;

Proposes that the EU define as ‘children at risk’ all children who are victims of a social situation that
31.
threatens their mental or physical health and/or exposes them to the risks of delinquency, both as actors
and as victims;

32.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take measures (information campaigns,
exchanges of best practice, and so on) to prevent children from being put ‘at risk’, including the prevention
of juvenile delinquency;

C 41 E/30

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

33.
Recalls that the right to education and training is a basic social right, and calls on all Member States
and candidate countries to guarantee this right, whatever the child's or his parents' social or ethnic back-
ground, physical condition or legal status;

34.
Asks that the future EU strategy on the rights of the child include measures for the prevention of
gender-based violence focusing, inter alia, on awareness campaigns regarding equality between men and
women, which target girls and boys, parents, educators and vulnerable communities, and have the aim of
emancipating girls, securing their equal opportunities and improving the defence of their rights; calls for the
promotion of the active participation of boys and men in the abovementioned preventive measures; calls on
the Commission to make its development aid policy and trade agreements conditional on the implementa-
tion of legislation guaranteeing equality between men and women and the abolition of all types of violence
against women and children;

Calls on the Commission,

35.
in its relations with third countries, to encourage ratification of the
international treaties on ending discrimination against women and to promote women's participation in
economic, social and political life, thus enhancing their children's wellbeing;

Child participation

36. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has launched a Forum bringing together representatives of
the Member States, Parliament and the Commission, non-governmental organisations, national and interna-
tional organisations working in the field of children's rights, and children; believes that child participation
should be one of the main aims of the Forum; calls on the Commission to ensure the participation of
children and also of ombudspeople for children's rights in the Member States, as well as that of parents'
and family associations;

37. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has established an inter-service group and appointed a
coordinator for children's rights and calls for the establishment of a coordination unit in Parliament in
accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon, to act in liaison with the Commission's inter-service
group and to link up and rationalise all Parliamentary initiatives and activities relating to children's rights;
takes the view that such bodies should also provide a network for the exchange of information and good
practices, in relation to the national strategic plans on children being implemented by some Member States;
calls for these bodies to establish direct contact with child and youth-led organisations in order to develop,
implement, monitor and ensure the meaningful and effective participation of children in all decision-making
that affects them;

38.
Recalls that children and young people, regardless of age, have the right to express their views;
considers that girls and boys alike are entitled to have their say and that that right should be guaranteed
in the work undertaken to develop an EU strategy on the rights of the child and that an equal participation
of girls and boys should be ensured;

39.
Recognises that active participation is closely linked to information; welcomes the establishment
of a communication and information strategy that will publish EU measures in a child-friendly manner,
accessible to all;

40.
Awaits with interest the publication by the Commission in 2008 of its study assessing the impact of
existing EU actions affecting children's rights and a consultation document aimed at establishing the main
priorities of the EU's future action in the field of children's rights, with the goal of adopting a White Paper;
calls on the Commission to take account of the results of the abovementioned consultation carried at the
beginning of 2007 out by Save the Children and Plan International among some one thousand children,
which showed that the priority issues, in their view, are violence against children, discrimination, social
exclusion and racism, the effects of drugs, alcohol and smoking, prostitution, child trafficking and environ-

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/31

mental protection; believes that, in addition to these specific priority issues, children's rights to participation
and influence must be the comprehensive goal of the strategy; therefore calls on the Commission to develop
a process in which all stakeholders involved, including children, are able to take part in the consultation
leading up to the definition of the EU strategy on the rights of the child;

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Regards it as highly important that information on children's rights is disseminated to children in a

41.
child-friendly way and via suitable means; calls on the Commission to:

— develop effective communication tools, including a child-friendly website, to promote the work of the

EU on children's rights;

— set up a permanent and shared information system in order to increase awareness of the situation of

children in the EU;

— create and promote periodic and regular information channels on the situation of children in the EU,

such as statistical reports, studies and exchanges of information and good practices;

Priorities of the EU strategy on the rights of the child

Violence

42.
Affirms that no forms of violence against children in any setting, including the home, can be justified
and that all violence must be condemned; therefore calls for Community legislation that prohibits all forms
of violence, sexual abuse, degrading punishment and harmful traditional practices; condemns all forms of
violence against children including physical, psychological and sexual violence, such as torture, child abuse
and exploitation, child abduction, trafficking in or sale of children and their organs, domestic violence, child
pornography, child prostitution, paedophilia, and harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutila-
tion, forced marriages and honour crimes;

43.
Recalls the recommendations contained in the abovementioned UN Secretary-General's Study on
Violence against Children on preventing and responding to all forms of violence against children; in par-
ticular, acknowledges the need to prioritise preventive policies and reinforce social services, with special
reference to family mediation services, to improve the support offered to victims of violence, to hold perpe-
trators accountable and to strengthen the collection and analysis of data on this hidden problem; calls for
the promotion, within the framework of policies to prevent violence against children, of awareness-raising,
information and education campaigns and capacity-building activities for professional groups working with
and for children;

Calls on the Member States either to implement specific legal provisions on female genital mutilation

44.
or to adopt laws under which any person who carries out genital mutilation may be prosecuted;

Calls on the Member States to act against honour crimes, irrespective of the reason, be it in connec-

45.
tion with homosexuality, religion or gender identity, arranged marriages or marriages with minors;

46.
Urges the Member States to raise medical practitioners' awareness of harmful traditional practices and
to ensure that crimes are punished consistently under the legislation in force, with particular attention being
paid to vulnerable groups including immigrant girls and women, those from ethnic minorities and disabled
girls;

47.
Calls on the Member States to introduce compulsory recording by healthcare workers of all cases of
female genital mutilation, and also to record cases where there is a suspicion that genital mutilation may
take place;

C 41 E/32

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

48.
Calls on the Member States to speak out against tradition-based violence against women, to condemn
family-induced violations of immigrant girls' human rights, and to check which laws may be applied to hold
family members responsible, especially in cases of so-called honour crimes;

49. Maintains that, if violence against and abuse of children is to be diagnosed and tackled at an early
stage, a specific procedural protocol must be introduced for the registration and treatment of such incidents,
together with training measures for the medical and healthcare personnel responsible for matters relating to
the physical and mental health of children;

50.
Supports the appointment of a Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Elimina-
tion of Violence against Children, with the mandate and resources required to enforce global commitments
to end violence against children;

51.
Stresses that a legal framework should be established on sexual exploitation and child abuse and that
judicial cooperation should be strengthened between Member States, Europol, Eurojust and all competent
international bodies;

Calls on the Member States to allocate funds for educational and media campaigns targeting parents

52.
and professionals and to ensure provision of child-friendly legal, medical and psycho-social services;

53.
Calls on all the institutions and the Member States to take an active part in combating child sexual
exploitation, child trafficking, paedophilia, the sexual abuse of children via the Internet, child prostitution
and sex tourism involving children, taking all the necessary measures to complete the approximation of
legislation based on common minimum principles adopted in the abovementioned Framework
national
Decision 2004/68/JHA, and also in other legislative instruments providing for the involvement of all public
and private stakeholders, as set out in the abovementioned Commission Communication entitled ‘Towards a
general policy on the fight against cyber crime’;

54.
Affirms that the sexual exploitation of children should be considered equivalent to the crime of rape
insofar as concerns penal sanctions; considers that aggravating circumstances should be taken into account
when a child is a victim of sexual exploitation or abuse;

55.
Calls on the Member States to consider gender-neutral legislation when it comes to sexual violence
and to consider that buying sex from a child (i.e. a minor) should be criminalised in accordance with
Article 1 of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children,
Child Prostitution and Child Pornography adopted by the UN General Assembly on 25 May 2000; stresses
that public awareness is crucial in order to combat and reduce demand for child prostitution and child
pornography;

Recalls its recommendation of 16 November 2006 to the Council on fighting trafficking in human
56.
beings — an integrated approach and proposals for an action plan (1), recital E of which proposes a goal of
halving the number of victims of trafficking in human beings in the next ten years, with the overarching
aim of eradicating this crime as rapidly and comprehensively as possible;

57.
Urges the Member States to take effective legislative and other measures, including the collection of
data broken down by age and sex in order to prevent and eliminate all types of violence committed within
their territories, in both the private and public spheres;

58.
Calls also on the Commission to support the rapid ratification of the abovementioned Optional
Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to that Convention
on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict;

59.
Calls on all the EU institutions and Member States to ensure full protection and assistance for victims
of trafficking, with particular regard to finding appropriate durable solution for child victims of trafficking;

(1) OJ C 314 E, 21.12.2006, p. 355.

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/33

60.
Calls on all the institutions and Member States to take an active part in combating trafficking in
children for all forms of exploitation including labour (e.g. child labour (1), forced labour, domestic servitude,
slavery, bonded labour and begging), forced marriage, illegal adoption and illicit activities (e.g. drug dealing,
pickpocketing), sexual exploitation and prostitution, etc.;

Wednesday 16 January 2008

61.
Calls on the Commission to proceed immediately with an evaluation of the national implementing
measures taken under Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA with a view to a proposal for the immediate
amendment of national provisions which are contrary to that Decision, and supports the commitment
shown by the Commission which, in conjunction with the main credit card issuing companies, is assessing
the technical feasibility of excluding websites involved in online sales of child pornography material to be
excluded from the online payment system or introducing other restrictions; calls likewise on other eco-
nomic players such as banks, bureaux de change, Internet service providers and search engine operators to
take an active part in efforts to combat child pornography and other forms of commercial exploitation of
children; calls on the Council and the Commission, with regard to Directive 2007/65/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2007 amending Council Directive 89/552/EEC on the
coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States
concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities (2), to prohibit child pornography and violence
against children in all audio-visual media services; considers that one of the Commission's basic priorities
should be to strengthen cross-border operations against child pornography Internet sites and to improve
cooperation between public authorities and private sector bodies with a view to making a commitment to
closing down illegal websites;

62.

Draws attention to the exploitation of children and minors in fashion, music, film and sport;

63.
Calls for the creation, in the interests of the defence of children's rights, of an adequate, effective and
proportionate regulation system in dialogue with providers, the media (public and private television compa-
nies, advertisers, the press, video games, mobile telephone operators and the Internet) and industry, aimed,
among other things, at prohibiting the broadcasting of harmful images and content (including cyber bully-
ing) and the marketing of violent video games, which, by encouraging violence and sexism, may cause harm
to children's physical and psychological development; points with concern, moreover, to the growing prob-
lem of MMS exchanges of pornographic or child-abuse related images; expresses its support for the Safer
Internet plus Programme through the implementation of operational and technical measures, especially for
the protection of children; within this framework, also calls on the Member States and Internet service
providers, in collaboration with search engine companies and the police, to implement blocking technology
to stop Internet users from accessing illegal sites related to child sexual abuse and prevent the public from
accessing material depicting the sexual abuse of children;

64. Welcomes the beginning of the implementation of a European framework for the safer use of mobile
telephones by adolescents and children, which was adopted as a self-regulatory code between leading com-
panies in this sector in the EU and which will be followed by the adoption of corresponding national self-
regulatory codes; emphasises that this framework constitutes a first important step towards ensuring the
protection of minors from specific dangers arising from the use of mobile phones, but that it is essential
that the Commission constantly monitor and evaluate its implementation at national level with the aim of
evaluating its results and examining the need to adopt a Community legislative initiative;

65.
Supports the creation of a uniform classification and labelling system in the EU for the sale and
distribution of audio-visual content and video-games intended for minors, so that the European standard
serves as a model for countries outside the EU;

66.
Recalls that a special label for online games was recently added to the existing European system for
age-classification of computer and video games (PEGI); takes the view that the Commission and the Member
States should encourage and give greater support to self-regulation of this kind in the labelling of games, in
order to provide better protection for minors from inappropriate content and to inform parents of possible
risks associated with the games, as well as drawing good examples to their attention;

(1)

ILO Convention 182 on the worst form of child labour refers directly to trafficking as one of those worst forms of
exploitation.

(2) OJ L 332, 18.12.2007, p. 27.

C 41 E/34

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

67.
Calls on the Member States to tighten their controls over the content of television programmes
shown at a time when the number of child viewers is at its highest and to aid parental control by providing
adequate, homogenous information about television programmes; emphasises that information technology
gives further possibilities for children to access television programmes at any time, from any computer with
an Internet connection; points out that greater consideration is needed to review the mass media's unrest-
ricted right of access to children and the right of the child to access the mass media without restriction;

Points out that there has been an alarming increase in all Member States in the phenomenon of
68.
juvenile delinquency involving juvenile perpetrators and — in most cases — victims, a situation which
calls for an integrated policy, not only at national, but also at Community level; recommends therefore, as
a necessary measure, that an authoritative survey of the problem be compiled without delay and that a
framework programme integrated at Community level then be drawn up, grouping together measures
around three guidelines: preventive measures, social integration measures for juvenile perpetrators and judi-
cial and extrajudicial intervention measures;

Emphasises that the promotion of ‘children's culture’ by the European Media and Culture Pro-
69.
grammes must be stepped up and calls on the Council and the Commission to use innovative projects in
child-friendly form to encourage a delight in European culture and European languages and stimulate chil-
dren's willingness to learn at an early age; also underlines the importance of media literacy to promote more
informed use of the various media with the introduction of educational content;

Calls on the Member States and the Commission, in its future strategy, to draw up a comprehensive
70.
prevention plan against youth crime and bullying in schools and other harmful behaviour and the specific
problem of youth gangs involving in particular families and schools, the social services working in support
of families, sports and youth centres, young people themselves, with a focus on providing opportunities and
promoting their active participation in society; recommends that the Member States share their good prac-
tices with each other;

71.
Calls for the establishment of safe, well-publicised, confidential and accessible mechanisms for chil-
dren, their representatives and others to report violence against children; all children, including those in care
and justice institutions, should be aware of the existence of complaint mechanisms;

Calls for the Member States to introduce a system of access to information on child abuse convic-
72.
tions to ensure that people who, as a result of convictions on sex abuse charges, should be considered as
unsuited to working with children can be excluded, ultimately throughout the Union, from access to certain
occupations involving contact with children, in accordance with its position of 1 June 2006 on the initiative
by the Kingdom of Belgium with a view to the adoption by the Council of a framework decision on the
recognition and enforcement in the European Union of prohibitions arising from convictions for sexual
offences committed against children (1); considers it necessary to introduce measures to avoid further
offences, for example when a person convicted of sexual offences against children travels abroad; welcomes,
in this connection, the progress achieved in the Council with regard to the exchange of information between
Member States on national criminal convictions and calls for the Council to act swiftly to interconnect
national criminal records through a European networks;

Calls for efforts to tackle the sale and consumption of drugs and alcohol in educational establish-
73.
ments and in their vicinity, and for children to be provided with information about the dangers they
present;

Requests that the Member States determine a common understanding of what constitutes child

74.
abuse, given that they have differing legislation concerning the age of consent, for example;

(1) OJ C 298 E, 8.12.2006, p. 220.

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/35

Wednesday 16 January 2008

75.
Calls for the effective protection of children against sexual exploitation including by considering sex
tourism involving children as a crime in all the Member States and by making it subject to extraterritorial
criminal laws; calls for any citizen of the Union committing a crime in a third country to be dealt with
under a single set of extraterritorial criminal laws applicable throughout the EU, in accordance with the
Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitu-
tion and Child Pornography;

Calls for Europol to be duly mandated to cooperate with the police forces of Member States and
76.
countries affected by this type of tourism in order to conduct investigations with a view to identifying those
responsible for such crimes and to this end calls for the creation of European liaison officer posts; calls for
adequate measures for the rehabilitation and social integration of the victims of sexual exploitation who
have been liberated from their exploiters; calls as well for more comprehensive information on child sex
tourism in the Member States;

77.
Encourages Member States to set up a legislative framework to penalise child sex tourists and calls on
the Member States and the Commission to explore the possibility of adopting a concerted EU strategy
against child sex tourism and to sign and promote codes of conduct in the hotel and tourism industry,
such as the ECPAT (1) Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel
and Tourism of 21 April 2004;

78.
Highlights the fact that a large majority of child victims of trafficking for commercial sexual exploita-
tion reasons such as prostitution and the production of child pornography, as well as in the case of forced
marriages, are teenage girls, which consequently makes human trafficking a major gender issue; emphasises,
moreover, that even within groups involved in attempts to control and stop human trafficking, conventional
attitudes about the relationship between the sexes and traditional perceptions of the roles of women and
girls are still present;

Calls on all Member States to regard a child who has witnessed domestic violence as a victim of

79.
crime;

Calls on all Member States that have not yet done so to ratify the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
80.
Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by the UN in Palermo in 2000 and to take all necessary measures
to provide protection for child victims of human trafficking, inter alia by permitting victims of trafficking to
remain in their territory on a temporary or permanent basis;

81.
Recommends that the future EU strategy should attach particular importance to the medical, psycho-
logical and social care of children who are victims of neglect, abuse, ill treatment, exploitation and direct
and/or indirect violence, taking the best interests of the child and the gender dimension into account; recalls
that the impact of indirect violence on children's well-being and prevention of such violence should be
included in the Commission's work; stresses that these issues are often linked to poverty and social exclu-
sion among families and that new social policies with a greater stress on solidarity are needed if these
problems are to be tackled;

82.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to investigate the role played by demand for both
sexual exploitation of children and other forms of exploitation of children; calls, once this is ascertained, for
measures to be taken to reduce this demand,
looks on
trafficking in children as a form of organised crime, and therefore calls for joint efforts by the Member
States to combat such crimes; calls on the Member States to give priority to children's right to protection;

inter alia by campaigns directed at the public;

Calls on all the Member States to recognise that girl children are disproportionately represented
83.
among the sexually exploited and that efforts to end the sexual exploitation of children must therefore
implement a gender perspective;

(1) ECPAT stands for End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes,

international support network.

C 41 E/36

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Takes the view that gender relations between girls and boys in the early stages of life pave the way

84.
for gender equality in other phases of the life cycle;

85.
Calls for alternatives to imprisonment to be provided for in relation to minors, with due considera-
tion for the seriousness of the offence committed, and for re-education measures, such as youth community
service, to be guaranteed for the future social and occupational reintegration of such persons, taking due
account of the need to teach children that they have rights, but also duties, while observing that the deten-
tion of minor offenders should only be undertaken as a last resort and for as short a period as possible;
calls also for educational measures to ensure social and vocational reintegration; takes the view that re-
education measures should aim inter alia to provide the young person with the knowledge and tools needed
to deal with the real situation in which they have to live, which means making their responsibility to respect
the rights of others clear to them, as well as their responsibility to abide by the laws and rules laid down by
society; regards it as essential for the possible development of young people into responsible individuals to
involve them and give them the right to influence their own situation and the issues that concern them;

Notes that the age of criminal responsibility is not currently the same in all the Member States and
86.
requests that the Commission undertakes a study concerning the differing views among Member States of
the age of criminal responsibility, their treatment of young offenders and their effective strategies concerning
the prevention of juvenile delinquency;

Stresses the need to provide legal practitioners in the youth justice sector (judges, lawyers, social

87.
workers and police officers) with specific training;

Expresses the wish that a specialised section on children's rights be set up in the European Court of

88.
Human Rights;

89.
Calls on the Member States to implement serious measures to ban all different forms of exploitation
of children including exploitation for prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or
services, slavery or practices similar to slavery or servitude, use of children associated with begging, illegal
activities, sport and related activities, illicit adoption, forced marriage or any other forms of exploitation;

90.
Calls for action to be taken on the problem of the international abduction of children, who are often
fought over by parents following separation or divorce, giving prime consideration in all circumstances to
the best interests of the child;

Stresses that Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that ‘In all actions
91.
concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law,
administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary considera-
tion’; under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Hague
Convention), the interests of the child are understood to mean a rapid return after abduction; however, the
interests of the child encompass more than simply a rapid return, for example a secure direct physical
environment, a climate of affection, a supportive, flexible family structure, appropriate role-modelling by
parents, continuity of upbringing and care, as well as decent living conditions; the Hague Convention takes
no account of these criteria; for example, it does not consider who the abducting parent is, whether or not
that parent has parental responsibility, how old the child is, how long the child has already spent in the
other country, whether the child goes to school and has made friends there, etc.; it may be concluded that
despite the ‘good’ intentions of the Hague Convention and Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, the rights of the
child are often not well protected; calls on the Commission to take action to protect the rights of the child
better here too, and urges it to make proposals to that effect;

92.
Calls for appropriate and swift measures to be taken to look for and identify missing and abducted
children, including the use of the Schengen Information System to prevent them from crossing borders;
welcomes the European communications hotline for missing children and the corresponding action of
NGOs and encourages the Commission to promote the creation of a European open telephone agency for
children and young people with problems;

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/37

Wednesday 16 January 2008

93.
Calls on the EU institutions and the Member States to implement UN General Assembly Resolutions
A/RES/46/121, A/RES/47/134 and A/RES/49/179 on human rights and extreme poverty, A/RES/47/196 on
observance of an international day for the eradication of poverty, and A/RES/50/107, on observance of the
International Year for the Eradication of Poverty and proclamation of the first United Nations Decade for
the Eradication of Poverty, and UN Economic and Social Council Documents E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/13,
E/CN4/1987/NGO/2, E/CN4/1987/SR.29 and E/CN.4/1990/15, on human rights and extreme poverty,
E/CN.4/1996/25, on the right
to development and E/CN.4/SUB.2/RES/1996/25 on the realisation of
economic, social and cultural rights;

Poverty/Discrimination

94.
Recalls that 19 % of children in the EU live below the poverty line and that appropriate assistance
measures geared to the needs of children must therefore be taken, including measures to support their
families, and calls on the Member States to adopt ambitious and achievable targets for reducing — and
eventually eradicating — child poverty;

Advocates the creation of suitable structures in the Member States for helping children and parents

95.
adapt to changed family circumstances;

Calls on the Commission to take steps to allow children to enjoy their childhood years and take part

96.
in children's activities without suffering social discrimination or exclusion;

97.
Calls on the Commission to seek the integration of strategies specifically addressing child poverty,
youth unemployment and social inclusion of minorities within all relevant development strategies including
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and Indicative Programmes;

98.
Calls on the institutions concerned to provide children with an opportunity to make a real contribu-
tion to fighting poverty; calls, with a view to combating child poverty more effectively, for all the parties
concerned, including the poorest children, to be given a genuinely active part in the planning, setting up
and evaluation of such projects to eradicate extreme poverty;

Stresses that action against the commercial sexual exploitation of children — i.e. trafficking in chil-
99.
dren for sexual purposes, child pornography and child sex tourism should be made one of the strategy's
major objectives for action both within and outside the European Union, in particular in the light of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); points out that poverty is often one of the many causes of and
reinforces social exclusion, discrimination and endangering of children; takes the view, however, that com-
mercial sexual exploitation of children has its true origin in the demand for sex with children and in
organised crime, which is prepared to exploit situations that place children at risk;

100.
Calls for consideration to be given to providing psycho-social care and emotional support to chil-
dren living in difficult situations such as armed conflict and crisis situations, displaced children or children
living in extreme poverty;

101.
Calls on the Member States to perform their duty to assist and protect all children against the risks
of malnutrition, disease, ill-treatment and abuse, whatever their social and/or legal status or that of their
parents;

Calls on the Commission to submit a proposal for a directive covering all the forms of discrimina-
102.
tion referred to in Article 13 of the EC Treaty and all areas covered by Council Directive 2000/43/EC of
29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or
ethnic origin (1);

(1) OJ L 180, 19.7.2000, p. 22.

C 41 E/38

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to pay special attention to all forms of discrimina-
including discrimination against children suffering from learning difficulties

103.
tion concerning children,
(e.g. dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia) or from other various disabilities;

104. Welcomes the existence of many NGOs and voluntary workers, which create friendship and soli-
darity ties between the least-favoured children and children from different social backgrounds in order to
combat extreme poverty and social exclusion; calls on the EU institutions and the Member States to ensure
that the poorest children can also benefit from Community projects and that the European Voluntary
Service's projects provide such organisations with more opportunities to take on young voluntary workers;

105.
Calls for Roma children and children belonging to other national minorities in particular to be
covered by targeted measures, in particular with a view to ending the discrimination, segregation, social
and educational exclusion and exploitation of which they are often victims; calls also on the Member States
to make efforts to eliminate the over-representation of Roma children in institutions for the mentally dis-
abled; calls also for the promotion of schooling campaigns, measures to combat the high levels of early
school leaving and preventive health protection and assistance projects, including vaccinations;

106.
Takes the view that the EU should set itself the objective of ensuring that there are no homeless
children or street children in the EU; calls for appropriate and targeted measures to be taken to assist
homeless children and street children, since most of them are badly traumatised and socially excluded, do
not receive formal education or health care, are particularly vulnerable to becoming the victims of human
trafficking (including prostitution, organ trafficking and illegal adoption), drug addiction and crime or are
often forced to beg;

Asks the Commission and the Member States to recognise the thousands of street children and
107.
children forced to beg as a serious social and human rights issue which infringes the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child, and also calls on the Member States to introduce sanctions against those responsible
for the degradation of children forced to beg;

108.
Calls on the European Union, the Member States and civil society organisations to ensure that each
child is given the opportunity to form part of a children's group or association in order to meet other
children and exchange views with them; calls, on this basis, for support measures taken by adults seeking
to ensure that every child feels part of the group and can express himself within it, to be adopted; calls
therefore on the Member States and relevant local authorities to encourage projects which are aimed at
enabling children to express themselves in this way, such as children's local councils or parliaments, while
ensuring that the most excluded children are involved;

109.
Calls for consideration to be given to the possibility of devising a Community instrument on adop-
tions, developed in conformity with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant
international standards, that improves the quality of care with regard to information services, the prepara-
tion of international adoptions, the processing of international adoption applications and post-adoption
services, bearing in mind that all international conventions on the protection of children's rights recognise
the right of abandoned children and orphans to have a family and be protected;

Calls on the Member States to act in order to guarantee the basic right of children to have a family;
110.
urges the Member States, therefore, to act in order to identify effective solutions to prevent the abandon-
ment of children and offset the placement of abandoned children and orphans in institutions; when finding
a new solution for a child, the best interest of the child, as laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child, should always be the primary consideration;

111.
Takes the view that adoption can take place within the country of the child's nationality, or by
finding a family through international adoption, in accordance with national legislation and international
conventions, and that placement in institutions should only be used as a temporary solution; alternative
family care solutions, such as foster families, could be considered; urges the Member States and the Com-
mission, in cooperation with the Hague Conference, the Council of Europe and children's organisations, to
establish a framework to ensure transparency, effective monitoring of adopted children's development and to
coordinate their actions in order to prevent child trafficking; urges the Member States, in this context, to
give special consideration to children with special needs, e.g. children in need of medical treatment and
disabled children;

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/39

112.
Encourages Member States to introduce measures in favour of young adults who were previously in
orphanages or child care establishments so that they benefit from support measures to help them plan their
professional future and facilitate their integration into society;

Wednesday 16 January 2008

113.
Emphasises the social exclusion experienced by many perpetrators who are minors, which in many
cases makes their smooth social reintegration impossible; encourages Member States, therefore, to define
strategies in support of such minors and young adults at risk so as to help them plan their professional
future and facilitate their integration into society;

Observes that those children who are acting as carers for parents or siblings with specific needs

114.
should be entitled to specific targeted support;

115.
Points out that the future EU strategy should recognise the important role of the family as the basic
institution in society for the survival, protection and development of the child; takes the view that full
account should be taken of children's rights in issues regarding the conciliation of work and family life,
and working time, with particular focus on the circumstances of mothers with disabilities and mothers of
children with disabilities, as well as in the formulation of policies for the public and/or private support of
the children and their parents in order to enable both parents to take on and share responsibility for bring-
ing up and caring for their children; is of the opinion that recognition should be given to the fact that an
increasing number of people now live in alternative family structures that do not correspond to the tradi-
tional nuclear family, consisting of a mother and father and their biological children;

Urges the Member States to remove all restrictions on the right of parents to have contact with
116.
their children resulting from nationality differences, particularly in connection with the choice to speak a
language other than the official language within a given country; takes the view that the removal of restric-
tions on multinational families in which there is a conflict between the parents should entail unrestricted
freedom to speak in the language chosen by the child and the parent, with due respect for any requirements
that meetings be supervised which may have been imposed by the courts;

117. Welcomes the introduction of ombudspeople for children's rights and calls on all Member States to
facilitate such an introduction at national and local levels;

Child labour

Stresses that it is essential to ensure that those children who are legally old enough to be in employ-

118.
ment are remunerated on the basis of equal work for equal pay;

119.
Calls on the Commission to ensure that deliberations by human rights committees and sub-groups
set up under trade and cooperation agreements focus on the problem of child labour and the protection of
children from all forms of abuse, exploitation and discrimination;

120.
Emphasises the need to ensure that all policies, both internal and external, both at Member State
and at EU levels, should have regard to the elimination of child labour in all its forms; believes that full-time
education is the best means to tackle the problem, for girls as well as boys, both in terms of preventing such
abuse and also in breaking the cycle of illiteracy and poverty into the future;

121.
Strongly condemns all forms of child labour, slavery and bonded labour and other forms of work
which adversely affect children's health and safety; calls on the Commission and the Council to link the
European Union's trade with, and development aid to, third countries more closely to such countries'
implementation of the ILO Convention concerning the Prohibition of, and Immediate Action for the Elim-
ination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour;

C 41 E/40

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

122.
Points to the fact that products being sold in the EU may be produced by child labour; calls on the
Commission to implement a mechanism by which victims of child labour can seek redress against EU
companies in the national courts of the Member States; calls on the Commission to enforce supply-chain
compliance and especially to come forward with mechanisms that make the main contractor liable in the
EU in cases of violation of UN conventions on child labour in the supply chain; to this end, calls on the EU
to use the generalised system of preferences (GSP) procedure as one way of combating more effectively the
exploitation of child labour which occurs in various regions of the world, with special measures for danger-
ous work which a large number of children are forced to do;

Children of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees

123.
Calls for special attention to be given, and in the best interests of the child, to the situation of
refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant children, and children whose parents are asylum seekers, refugees or
illegal immigrants, to ensure that such children can enjoy their rights regardless of the legal status of their
parents and that they do not suffer from the adverse effects of a situation for which they bear no respon-
sibility, and that their special needs are addressed; taking special care to preserve family unity where it is in
the best interests of the child;

124.
Calls for unaccompanied minors to be paid special attention in the context of all forms of immi-
gration, since organised crime makes use of every opportunity to bring a child into a country in order to
exploit it; takes the view that the Member States should therefore be vigilant and ensure that there are child
protection policies for every imaginable situation;

125.
Calls for access to education for immigrant children and for the establishment of programmes and
resources, from an intercultural perspective, with particular focus on situations of vulnerability and on
unaccompanied minors;

126.
Points out that international child protection standards are applicable to unaccompanied minors
arriving in the territory of the European Union via irregular immigration procedures; calls on all local,
regional and national authorities and on the EU institutions to cooperate as far as possible in protecting
these unaccompanied minors; calls on the Commission to establish international cooperation and assistance
procedures with the third countries of origin so as to ensure that minors are properly returned to those
countries, and calls for mechanisms to be established to protect such minors once they have returned to
their countries or origin, both within their biological families and through mechanisms or institutions that
will offer them effective protection;

Calls, in the context of the adoption under the codecision procedure of new instruments on which
127.
the common asylum system will be based, for the protection of children's rights to be given a prominent
position and for specific measures to be drawn up for them, taking due account of their vulnerability and
providing, in particular, adequate access for children to the asylum system, guidance on child-related proce-
dures, due regard for the individual grounds for asylum of a child within an asylum-seeking family and
broader scope for family reunification within the asylum process;

128.
Draws attention to the particular situation of migrant children separated from both their parents or
their previous legal or customary primary carer and calls for the need for a dedicated EU measure to be
considered, addressing the right to assistance of all lone children, the right of access to the territory, the
appointment and role of guardians, the right to be heard, conditions of reception and family-tracing mea-
sures and other durable solutions;

129.
Draws attention to the fact that children unaccompanied by adults, stateless children, as well as
children not registered at birth, are at particular risk, and calls on the Member States to take special mea-
sures on the basis of what is best for the individual child, as defined, in particular, by the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child and by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees;

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/41

Wednesday 16 January 2008

130.
Draws attention to the role of education, which should be egalitarian and without the use of vio-
lence or corporal punishment; urges the Commission to allocate the resources needed to prevent violence of
any kind in refugee communities, especially gender violence and sexual exploitation, by setting up pro-
grammes for education and awareness-raising on gender issues, human rights, sexual and reproductive
health, female genital mutilation and HIV/Aids, targeted at minors of both sexes;

131.
Stresses that there is a discrepancy between what the law requires and what is actually practised as
regards the implementation of European asylum instruments and that huge differences remain in the way
children with refugee status are treated in the different Member States;

132.
Highlights the fact that 5 % of asylum seekers are unaccompanied minors, which indicates the need
to appoint well-trained legal guardians for unaccompanied children to represent their best interests following
their arrival in the host country; calls for an improvement in living conditions for children in reception
facilities; is disappointed by the lack of child-sensitive asylum procedures;

Notes that many of the risks faced by refugee children are equally faced by children who have been

133.
forcibly displaced within the borders of their own countries;

134.
Insists that children should be returned to their country of origin only when their safety and secur-
ity are assured, and emphasises the need for family tracing and family reunification; stresses that their return
must be prohibited where there is a danger of serious harm being done, through, for example, child labour,
sexual exploitation, violence or the risk of female genital mutilation, social exclusion or involvement in
armed conflict;

135.
Stresses the need to improve the collection of data on children seeking refugee status, children
residing illegally in the territory of another State but not seeking refugee status the outcome of their asylum
procedures and the future of such children following the adoption of a final positive or negative decision on
their asylum application, in order to ensure that such children do not vanish into obscurity or become the
victims of crime;

136.
Underlines the negative consequences of emigration and the precarious situation of children left
alone in their countries by parents who have emigrated; stresses the need to ensure comprehensive care,
integration and education for such children, as well as family reintegration whenever possible;

Calls on the Commission to make a study on the possibility of offering citizenship of the Union to

137.
children born in the EU regardless of the legal status of their parents;

138.
Recalls that the administrative detention of children should be an exceptional measure; stresses that
children accompanied by their families should be detained only as a last resort, for the shortest possible
period of time and only if such detention is in their best interests, pursuant to Article 37(b) of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child, and that unaccompanied minors should not be detained or sent
back;

139.

Recalls that migrant children have a right to education and to enjoy themselves;

Right of the Children to Information and Education

140.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to draw up an effective system to ensure that, at
home and at school, and to a degree appropriate to their age and intellectual development, children are
made aware of and may exercise their rights;

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate access for young girls to information

141.
and education about reproductive health and reproductive health services;

C 41 E/42

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

142.
Urges Member States to take every necessary measure to ensure the quality of their childcare facil-
ities, including continuous professional training as well as training in children's rights, good working con-
ditions and a decent pay for those caring professionally for children, as these facilities and their staff provide
children with a strong foundation for their future, while also being of benefit to parents, particularly with
regard to the workload of working and single parents, and this in turn contributes to a decrease in poverty
among women and subsequently among children;

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to make a concerted effort to help partner coun-
143.
tries to achieve the target of free, universal primary education (MDG 2) and calls on the Commission and
the Member States to provide the necessary funding for the Education for All — Fast Track Initiative;

144.
Highlights the need for special attention to be paid to MDG 3 on gender equality and the education
of girls, the recruitment and training of local female teachers, the elimination of any male bias in curricula,
the location of schools closer to the communities which they serve and the provision of appropriate sanita-
tion facilities; stresses that schools should be zones of safety where the rights of children are respected, and
that sexual harassment and violence in and around schools should be vigorously prevented and dealt with;

Calls on the Member States to promote inter-generational communal

145.
inter-
generational houses) in order to enable children to grow up with elderly persons, and in return to enable
elderly persons to benefit from a social support network and to contribute to the children's development by
sharing their knowledge and experience;

living projects (e.g.

Emphasises that the right to education is a basic requirement for children's social development and
146.
must be accessible to all children on the basis of their individual capabilities and irrespective of their ethnic
and social origin or their family background;

Considers that children should have access to education regardless of their status and/or their par-

147.
ents' status; underlines the importance of granting such access to migrant and/or refugee children;

Emphasises that the future EU strategy should recognise the right to education on the basis of equal

148.
opportunity and non-discrimination;

Encourages the Member States to prioritise the inclusion in educational curricula of material related

149.
to human rights and the shared values which are the bedrock of democratic citizenship;

Calls for the EU strategy's priorities to include the adoption of a consistent set of measures to
150.
ensure that children with disabilities are always able to enjoy their rights, with a view to ending all forms
of discrimination and promoting their educational, social and occupational integration at all stages of their
life;

Also recommends that the Commission and the Member States study the specific needs of disabled

151.
pupils and implement tailor-made schooling programmes to encourage their integration into society;

152.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to give particular consideration to the integrated
education of children with disabilities, thereby ensuring their smooth social integration whilst still at school
and increasing the tolerance of healthy non-disabled children towards disabilities and social inequalities;

153.
Calls for steps to tackle with greater determination issues relating to discrimination, social diversity,
the teaching of tolerance in schools, education in healthy living, food education, prevention of the abuse of
alcohol, drugs, medicinal and psychotropic products and other intoxicating substances and appropriate
education relating to sexual health;

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/43

Wednesday 16 January 2008

154.
Notes that providing early care for children in collective institutions (e.g. crèches, schools) is one of
the best ways of solving the problem of balancing working and family life and is also a means of ensuring,
at an early stage of children's development, that they have the benefit of equal opportunity and become
socialised;

Points out that the banning of girls from taking part in school tuition and sports such as swimming

155.
on cultural grounds is not justified by any culture or religion and must not be tolerated;

Calls on Member States to give all children free or affordable access to play and sports facilities

156.
possibilities appropriate to their age;

Health

157.
Points to the worrying fact that obesity, especially among children, is on the rise in Europe; under-
lines that estimates indicate that more than 21 million children are overweight in the EU, with this figure
growing by 400 000 each year; calls on the Commission to bring forward proposals to regulate aggressive
and misleading advertising and to improve the provisions for nutritional labelling of processed food in order
to tackle the growing obesity problem;

158.
Calls for the Member States and their relevant authorities to do their utmost to ensure that children
experience a healthy physical environment, given the disproportionate effect that pollution and poor living
conditions have on the young; due attention should also be paid to conditions of children's learning envir-
onment, and appropriate standards should be introduced;

159.
Recalls children's right to health and, in particular, adolescents' right to sexual and reproductive
health and stresses that the protection of maternal health must be an integral part of the future EU strategy
on the rights of the child, which should promote living and working conditions suitable for pregnant and
breastfeeding women and insist on compliance with the existing legislation protecting the rights of female
workers, as well as equal and universal access for all women to quality pre- and post-natal care in the public
sector in order to reduce maternal and infant mortality and transmission of diseases from mother to child;
stresses the vital importance that maternity leave has for a child's development, particularly on account of
the child's bond with its mother not only during the early months following birth but also during the first
years of its life;

160. Welcomes the fact that the Commission recognises that children, from birth to adulthood, have
very different needs at different developmental stages of their lives; recalls children's right to the highest
attainable standard of health and, specifically, adolescents' right to sexual and reproductive health and family
planning education and services and that it must therefore be an integral part of the future EU strategy on
the rights of the child;

161.
Notes that children's rights, as laid down in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, refer to
all human beings below the age of 18 and that specific needs on sexual and reproductive health and rights
of adolescents must be acknowledged;

162.
Underlines the importance of promoting policies on sexual and reproductive health in order to
reduce and possibly prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (including HIV/AIDS), unwanted pregnan-
cies and illegal and unsafe abortions for young women, and to avoid lack of understanding on the part of
young people of their reproductive health needs;

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take steps to protect children whose parents
163.
suffer from HIV/AIDS and highlights the need to meet MDG 5 (to improve maternal health), MDG 4 (to
reduce child mortality) and MDG 6 (to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases); also urges investment
in research into and the development of paediatric anti-retroviral formulations, in the provision of anti-
malarial bednets and in the promotion of immunisation through the GAVI Alliance (formerly known as
the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation);

C 41 E/44

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

164.
Calls on the Member States to provide sexual education, information and counselling in order to
increase awareness and respect for a person's sexuality, and to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread
of HIV/AIDS and other STDs, and to facilitate access to and information on different contraceptives;

165.
Calls for the Member States to ensure that all children and adolescents in and out of school are
provided with tailored and comprehensive scientific information on sexual and reproductive health in order
to make informed choices on issues related to their personal well-being, including the prevention of STDs
and HIV/AIDS;

166.
Encourages the Member States and the Commission to promote, both within and outside the
Union, equal access for children of both genders to health care, with particular emphasis on disadvantaged
children and those from ethnic or social minorities;

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to step up their efforts to combat alcohol-related

167.
harm for women and children, by:

(a) providing better information to women on foetal alcohol syndrome disorders,

(b) providing adequate health services and counselling for women with alcohol problems during and after
pregnancy as well as for women and children in families with alcohol and substance-abuse problems,

(c)

introducing stronger regulations on advertising for alcoholic beverages and the sponsoring of sport
events by the alcohol industry, in the form of a ban on advertising between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., and
by prohibiting advertising for alcohol in children's content (computer games, comics), so as to not
communicate a positive image of alcohol to children, and

(d) prohibiting alcohol beverages which in their design are hardly different from sweets or toys, since

children cannot make the distinction between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages;

168.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that conditions are created to enable
every child to have access to all kinds and levels of health service, and where necessary to take positive
measures to enable disadvantaged groups to benefit from healthcare service options from which they would
otherwise remain excluded;

169.
Recalls that Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to
encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have
recently given birth or are breastfeeding (1) sets out employment rights for pregnant and breastfeeding
women, requiring employers to take all appropriate steps to ensure that neither the woman nor the unborn
child are exposed to a health risk in the workplace;

170.
Calls for research into and the assessment of the effects of environmental pollution on children's
hormonal, neurological, psychological and immune systems, the introduction of child-friendliness tests in all
urban and transport planning, and the positive labelling of imported toys not produced by child labour;

Birth registration

Acknowledges the right of every child to be registered at birth as a legal recognition of his/her
171.
existence and of his/her right to acquire nationality and identity, irrespective of his/her gender or ethnic
origin, or of his/her parents' nationality or status as refugees, immigrants or asylum seekers;

172.
Recognises that birth certificates help to protect a child against rights violations that stem from
doubts about his/her age or identity; considers that reliable birth registration systems hinder trafficking in
children and their organs, curb illegal adoption and prevent the overestimation of a child's age for the
purposes of early marriage, under-age military recruitment, sexual exploitation, child labour (2) and the
judicial treatment of minors as adults;

Highlights the fact that the ‘invisibility’ of non-registered children increases their vulnerability and

173.
the likelihood that violations of their rights will go unnoticed;

(1) OJ L 348, 28.11.1992, p. 1.
(2) As defined in Article 32(1) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

19.2.2009

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 41 E/45

Wednesday 16 January 2008

174.
Deplores the existence in some countries of gender discrimination in birth registration, with laws
and practices operating that are contrary to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Dis-
crimination against Women, and which include the denial of registration to single mothers, refusal of the
mother's nationality and discrimination in the registration of girls without a school education where access
to registration is based on the education system;

175.
Calls on the Commission and on both children's rights and humanitarian aid organisations to join
in action to raise awareness of the need for birth registration in third countries; notes that the absence of a
birth certificate may prevent children from obtaining recognition of possible inheritance rights and from
gaining access to education, healthcare services and material assistance from the State; calls for the promo-
tion of measures to ensure that such services are provided universally until the completion of the official
registration process;

176.
Calls on the Commission to urge States to establish permanent registration systems operating from
the national to village level, available free of charge to the entire population including those living in remote
areas, through the provision of, inter alia, mobile registration units where appropriate, adequate training for
civil registrars and the allocation of sufficient resources to finance these initiatives;

177.
Calls on the Community institutions and the Member States to step up their efforts to ensure the
effective coordination of policies to encourage birth registration, in particular with the involvement of the
UN and dependent agencies, with a view to the agreement of a common agenda that will foster an effective
worldwide response;

Children in armed conflicts

178.

Stresses the crucial need to implement the EU Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflicts;

179.
Urges the Member States to incorporate the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court into
their national laws and to investigate, prosecute and punish all those who have unlawfully recruited children
into armed forces or groups, or used them for active participation in conflict situations, in order to ensure
that every effort is made to end the culture of impunity in respect of such crimes;

180. Welcomes the adoption of the 2007 ‘Paris Commitments to protect children from unlawful recruit-
ment or use by armed forces or armed groups’ as an update of the 1997 Cape Town Principles, and urges
all States to adopt them;

Considers that measures are needed to ensure that children who are deprived of their liberty are
181.
treated in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights laws, taking account of their spe-
cial status as children, and to prohibit the detention of children with adults, except for parents with small
children; in this respect, underlines the need to promote training programmes for raising awareness among
the officials and staff of the legal and police systems of the countries where the use of boys or girls as child
soldiers has been noted;

182.
Stresses the need for children to be treated in accordance with the rules of youth justice as well as
the need to seek alternatives to judicial proceedings; calls for specialist youth prosecutors and lawyers active
in the field of social law to assist children in court; calls for the establishment of truth and reconciliation
commissions;

Calls for the reintegration, and the physical, social and psychological rehabilitation of former child
183.
soldiers and other children affected by armed conflicts, their reunification with their families, alternative care
for those for whom reunification is not an option, educational catch-up courses and the dissemination
of information on HIV/AIDS; underlines the need to address specific failings in the reintegration of girl
soldiers, who are sometimes socially rejected and marginalised, by allocating special resources to set up
programmes for education, sexual health, psychological support and family mediation;

C 41 E/46

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

19.2.2009

Wednesday 16 January 2008

Stresses the need for the Member States to take joint diplomatic action wherever there are reports

184.
of children being recruited into military units or armed groups;

Notes that emergency provision for children in conflict-affected fragile States rarely extends to
185.
appropriate education and calls on the Commission to support education activities, including the implemen-
tation of the Minimum Standards outlined by the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies, both
in emergencies and in the transitional phase from crisis to development;

Stresses that the lack of a final settlement of frozen conflicts creates a situation in which the rule of
186.
law is neglected and human rights violations are committed in the areas concerned, and that this constitutes
a major impediment to ensuring that all the rights of the child are respected; calls for steps to be taken to
address the specific needs of children and their families in areas of frozen conflict;

Children and democracy

Stresses the right of children to grow up in a free and open society where human rights and
187.
freedom of expression are respected and where death sentences are no longer imposed, particularly on
under-age individuals;

Stresses that the position of children in non-democratic States is very precarious and calls on the

188.
Commission to give consideration to this group of people;

189.
Calls on the Commission to look into the issue of raising the political awareness of children and
young people in third countries where democracy is restricted, so that they can develop into politically
aware citizens;

Calls on the Commission to stress the importance of young people being able to voice their

190.
opinions on a voluntary basis through (political) youth organisations;

*

*

*

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Member
191.
States, the European Network of National Observatories on Childhood (ChildONEurope),
the Council
of Europe, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, Unicef, the International Labour
Organization (ILO), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health
Organization (WHO).

Adult learning: it is never too late to learn

P6_TA(2008)0013

European Parliament resolution of 16 January 2008 on adult learning: it is never too late to learn
(2007/2114(INI))

The European Parliament,

(2009/C 41 E/05)

— having regard to the Commission's Communication ‘Adult learning:

It is never too late to learn’

(COM(2006)0614),

— having regard to Decision No 1720/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of

15 November 2006 establishing an action programme in the field of lifelong learning (1),

(1) OJ L 327, 24.11.2006, p. 45.