An independent voice for children's rights in Europe? The role of independent children's rights institutions in the EU

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel A Thomas ◽  
Karl C Hanson ◽  
Brian B Gran
Keyword(s):  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Distinctive Role ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis article attempts to understand the distinctive role of independent human rights institutions for children (IHRICs) in Europe, in the context of the proposed EU strategy on the rights of the child. It begins by explaining the distinctive characteristics of IHRICs, their presence, location and organisation in Europe, and the role of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC). It goes on to examine their developing relationships, individually and collectively, with European institutions (in particular the institutions of the European Union, but also with reference to the Council of Europe). The article draws on observations of the annual conference of ENOC in 2010, and on interviews with members of ENOC. The article follows this with a discussion of how IHRICs may be understood as operating at the interface of regional, national, European and global mechanisms, and concludes with a review of current issues and some questions for future research.

The Evolution of the Children’s Rights Movement

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
Jonathan Becker
Keyword(s):  
Child Labor ◽  
Sexual Exploitation ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Past Century ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
International Laws

This chapter examines the evolution of the children’s rights movement and particularly the role of individuals and nongovernmental organizations in driving the creation of new international laws and norms and global campaigns to address the abuse and exploitation of children. Over the past century, child rights advocates have helped shape the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and international treaties addressing child labor and child soldiers, thereby influencing policies and practices related to education, child marriage, corporal punishment, sexual exploitation, and violence against children. The chapter also explores the role of children themselves as activists at the forefront of change.

European Union’s external strategies for the rights of the child

Childhood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-406
Author(s):  
Johanna von Bahr
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

This article offers the first quantitative analysis of European Union external strategies for children’s rights. Drawing on original data, it finds that European Union diplomatic pressure and economic aid have increased over time but that the European Union still lacks independent policy positions on children’s rights. European Union strategies target states to different degrees and international non-governmental organizations are favoured over domestic organizations. Findings suggest that the European Union is becoming a more significant actor of child rights governance, underscoring the value of a comparative approach.

COMMUNICATION ROLE OF RIGHTS AND LEGAL STATUS

2019 ◽  
pp. 233
Author(s):  
Inta Siliniece
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Civil Justice ◽  
Active Lifestyle ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
The Right

One of today's most important issues in the field of international civil justice is the provision of family and children's rights. These are the right of the child to be in contact with both parents and the right of parents to take part in the upbringing of children. This is especially important if parents live separately or even in different countries. The global processes of globalization and the active lifestyle of people moving from one country to another determine the topicality of the issue. Increasingly, children are illegally moved from one country to another, thus limiting both the rights of the child with the other parent and the right of the other parent in the upbringing of the child.

scholarly journals Harmful Commercial Marketing and Children’s Rights: For a Better Use of EU Powers

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 841-850
Author(s):  
Amandine GARDE
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
European Union ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Unhealthy Food ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Tobacco Products ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The Eu

The marketing of tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy food and gambling services is harmful to public health, the European economy and sustainability. If the European Union (EU) has embraced the regulation of cross-border marketing for tobacco products for over two decades, it has consistently resisted evidence-driven calls to regulate the marketing of other harmful commodities, preferring instead to rely on ineffective industry pledges. This contribution reflects on why the EU has failed to use its competence to regulate cross-border marketing more systematically to protect health and highlights why the time is ripe to reconsider the issue, before concluding with a possible way forward.

scholarly journals ‘Children in Criminal Procedure – Friendly Law’

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-255
Author(s):  
Marcin Wielec
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Criminal Procedure ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Scientific Article ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Legislative Proposal ◽  
Child Friendly ◽  
The Law

The considerations undertaken in the scientific article constitute an analysis and evaluation of the solutions included in the government's legislative proposal aimed to change the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Family and Guardianship Code, and the Law on the System of Common Courts with regard to the position of minor victims. The legislative initiative is a significant change that aims to improve the protection of children participating in criminal procedures. This legal act’s draft indicates the provision of a special position to children in the criminal procedure. If children happen to be the aggrieved parties in criminal procedures, they deserve to be met by the court and participants with exceptional awareness and sensitivity. I am of the opinion that the criminal procedure must be structured in such a way that the participating children feel safe. The judiciary should aim to be child-friendly. It is extremely important that children feel understood as well as they understand the new legal reality in which they find themselves. In this analysis, I have referred to the regulations on the protection of children's rights under the international law and the law of the European Union. In this study, I have laid emphasis on the point that the proposed legislative solutions should meet the assumptions of the European directives issued by the European Union institutions as well as the Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on child-friendly justice, the main act on the protection of children's rights issued by the Council of Europe.

scholarly journals Juvenile Justitia and the protection of children’s rights in Europe: the practice of the European Court of Human Rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (68) ◽  
pp. 167-185
Author(s):  
Mykola Bondaruk ◽  
Serhiy H. Melenko ◽  
Liubov Omelchuk ◽  
Liliya Radchenko ◽  
Anzhela Levenets
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Legal Tradition ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
European Court ◽  
Analysis And Synthesis ◽  
The Status

The objective of the research is to analyze the main violations of children's rights within the European Convention on Human Rights to highlight the basic positions of the European Court of Human Rights ECHR on their protection, as well as to determine the advisability of applying the practice of this court by the European states. The methodological basis of the work consists of different methods, such as analysis and synthesis, dialectical, logical-legal and formal-legal. The result of this work allowed identifying the role of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights as a source of European law and its importance for the protection of the rights of the child, interpreting the legal positions established in the pertinent decisions of the said court and comparing them, to justify the need for your careful observation of the practice of the ECHR in the application of the law. It is concluded that the practice of the ECHR is recognized as a source of law in most states. And although the Ukrainian legal tradition does not recognize the status of judicial precedent as a source of law, such precedents are actively used in everyday legal activity.

scholarly journals A Council of Europe perspective on the European Union: Crucial and complex cooperation

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Polakiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Member States ◽  
Financial Arrangements ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

The article addresses the institutional role of the EU in the Council of Europe, with particular emphasis on EU participation in Council of Europe treaties and EU accession to the ECHR. While recognising the joint effort to achieve greater unity in the region of Europe through respect for the shared core values of pluralist democracy, human rights and the rule of law, the concerns raised by non-Member States of the EU about the impact of EU law and policies on the Council of Europe’s standards are examined. It is argued that the Council of Europe and the EU have a shared responsibility for upholding the effectiveness of their respective frameworks and ensuring that any overlapping competences do not create conflict. This is particularly evident when it comes to the European system for the protection of fundamental rights, which is characterised by overlapping standards and procedures. The existing cooperation between the Council of Europe and the EU should be strengthened through a more rational, rules-based approach. In particular, it is suggested that the two systems should jointly agree on a series of basic principles on the treaty-making process, providing for horizontal application by the introduction of specific rules on, for example, voting and speaking rights of the EU, the sharing of reporting obligations between the EU and its Member States under Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms, and financial arrangements. The EU’s participation and financial contribution to monitoring follow-up should always be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the specificities of each mechanism.

scholarly journals A Children’s Rights Perspective to Ruiz Zambrano and Chavez-Vilchez: An Examination in Light of Theory, Practice and Child Development Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-101
Author(s):  
Ellen Nissen
Keyword(s):  
Children's Rights ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Immigration Law ◽  
Parental Rights ◽  
Development Research ◽  
The Right ◽  
Paradigm Shifting ◽  
The Eu

Abstract This contribution demonstrates that the CJEU cases Ruiz Zambrano and Chavez-Vilchez are particularly significant from a children’s rights perspective. The article connects these two judgments and their implementation in the national Dutch context, with three commonplace themes from children’s rights literature; (1) the child as an equal bearer of rights, (2) the child as a distinct bearer of rights, and (3) the important role of developmental research. This perspective shows that the approach adopted by the CJEU with regard to the EU citizen child is paradigm shifting, as it breaks with dominant approaches in fundamental rights law and immigration law which historically place parental rights front and centre. The contribution demonstrates that the importance of this shift cannot be underestimated, because it provides the contested notions of children’s rights and the Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) with both legitimacy and meaning.

scholarly journals Achieving Child Friendly Justice through Child Friendly Methods: Let’s Start with the Right to Information

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Stalford ◽  
Liam Cairns ◽  
Jeremy Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Children's Rights ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Child Friendly ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
Right To Information ◽  
The Right

Making the justice process ‘child friendly’ is a key priority for the children’s rights community. An abundance of commentary has been produced by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to highlight how justice proceedings can be made more accessible for children and, in 2010, the Council of Europe issued its comprehensive ‘Guidelines on Child Friendly Justice’. Despite these efforts, children remain ill-informed, not just about the nature of justice proceedings in which they may be implicated, but about the very existence and scope of their rights and how to enforce them. Despite unequivocal acknowledgement that the availability and accessibility of information is the crucial starting point in a children’s rights-based approach to dispensing justice, there has been surprisingly little attempt to scrutinise the availability, quality and accessibility of information about laws and policies affecting children. This article takes a closer look at what, exactly, ‘child friendly’ information means in practice. In doing so, we argue that attempts to develop child friendly information have yet to progress beyond adult-driven, largely tokenistic and superficial re-branding exercises. As such, efforts to develop child friendly resources are often of limited value in empowering young people to develop their legal literacy and realise their rights in practice. We reflect on our attempt to develop an explicitly children’s rights-based approach to the development of child friendly resources with a view to enhancing their purchase. This took place in the context of a pilot project, commissioned by the Council of Europe in June 2014, to create a child friendly version of their Child Friendly Justice Guidelines.

The World Declaration of the Rights of the Child: Anticipated Challenges

1993 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 1011-1022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammadreza Hojat
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
History Of ◽  
Role Of Parents ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Early Parent

The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child which was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly is described as a memorable chapter in the history of human civilization. This landmark document has neither been ratified by the United States nor publicized by child health professionals and media. A few of the Convention's guidelines related to early parent-child relations are briefly cited and the role of parents, particularly that of mothers, in protecting their children's rights is discussed. The author anticipates implementation of the guidelines might generate conflict of interest among groups with nontraditional views on family and child care and challenges to the implementations of the guidelines could therefore be expected. Among the reasons for such anticipated challenges are the ongoing controversial and emotional arguments in the literature on child development concerning maternal paid employment and alternative child care, changing views and emphasis on a new definition of marriage, family and motherhood by feminist groups, and inadequate educational indoctrination on child-care issues among some family physicians and pediatricians. The guidelines should not be buried under personal agendas, organizational biases, wishful thinking, ignorance, and political considerations Finally, the obligation of professionals in health and human services as well as State authorities to support positive ideology on children's rights is discussed.

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