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A New NGO Action Group on the EU Child Rights Strategy

A new NGO action group has been set up to monitor the EU’s strategy on the rights of the child.

On 17 April, a hearing on the European Commission’s Communication "towards an EU strategy on the rights of the child" was held in the European Parliament. The NGO Action Group prepared a set of key messages to be distriibuted at the hearing.

The International Federation Terre Des Hommes, World Vision, the European Foundation for Street Children Worldwide, Save the Children, EURONET, Eurochild, Plan International and SOS-Kiderdorf International endorsed the statement of recommendations to the Parliament.

They call for the European Parliament to ensure that:

- children’s rights are mainstreamed;

- child participation becomes a central element of the EU’s work;

- the EU devotes sufficient human and financial resources towards the issue; and

- the European Parliament plays a monitoring role to ensure the European Commission relises its commitment.

The Action Group highlight the following processes as an important means of achieving an EU strategy on the rights of the child:

- There will be a Green Paper (consultation) and subsequent strategy on the rights of the child which is planned for 2008.

- Two preliminary studies will be conducted by the European Commission in 2007, regarding the impact of existing EU instruments and actions on children’s rights and data on children’s rights.

- The creation of a European Forum on the Rights of the Child.

In order to strengthen the input of the European Parliament on this issue, the group of NGOs has suggested the Parliament creates a joint or inter-parliamentary group on children’s rights.

For more information and the full statement of recommendations please see the attached file.

Related EPHA articles:

- Do children have a right to health?
- EPHA briefing note on Human rights and fundamental rights from an EU perspective

Last modified on May 1 2007.

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12 June 2007 11:13, by brian milne

A New NGO Action Group on the EU Child Rights Strategy

The initiative is naturally very interesting for everybody concerned with children’s rights. The idea that everything should be clearly defined and probably debated is extremely important. For instance, and seeing the number of NGOs involved, participation needs to be properly contextually placed in the whole scheme. Far too many organisations work at extremes with participation dominating at cost of other dimensions of the larger remit the UNCRC and ECHR alone create whilst other NGOs place disproportionate emphasis on protection at cost of all else. As one of the people who has worked in the children’s rights world since pre-UNCRC times and always with one foot in the NGO/activist world and the other in the academic world, it is clear to me that the latter has a very important contribution to make. That also needs to be multi-disciplinary thus accomodate the cooperation of researchers (and also teachers) in law, medicine, social sciences and any other domain in which children’s rights are in curricula. Balancing NGO and academic influence also needs the further stability of ’lay people’ and children. The latter are very important because thus far it has seldom been done well. Children’s rights is for 0- 18 year olds and many of us look on in despair as organisations for 16 - 25 year olds dominate. No child who is able to contribute, no matter how young, dare be excluded for this to really work. It will be very interesting to see how this develops, whether the ’usual suspects’ will attempt to dominate and inject ideologies or whether it might become a real people’s (here meaning children and adults with reference to Art 42 UNCRC) project.

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1 October 2007 15:43
A New NGO Action Group on the EU Child Rights Strategy

Nearly 40 - 50% children among working-children are street children. These children survive by begging, stealing, shoe polish, street performance, collecting scraps, street selling and other. Some, particularly girls, get involved into the flesh trade. The majority of children on the streets in developing countries are rural migrants. Children migrate with their parents and as a result of worst economical condition of parents, get involved into odd jobs. Some percentage comes alone to urban cities due to bad environment in their own home such percentage is less. Major percentages of such children get addicted to use of drugs and their main work is scrap collection or stealing. With girls it is serious issue as rural poor illiterate parents abandon girl child to end up life in brothel or street prostitution and of them some escape to streets begging, scrap collection and finally end up as prostitutes. In developing countries; girl child is considered as disgrace in poor illiterate orthodox uncivilized families. Nearly half of street beggars and garbage collectors are girl children. Most such girls are neglected by parents as are considered burden on them.

Urban children who turn as street children are 10% to 20% of working children. Family economical condition or unpleasant abusive environment or abandoned by parents or mental disorder are the major reason for them to leave home. Number of street Children on account of unpleasant abusive parents in Brazil, U.K, U.S.A, and Mexico are extremely high.

Aggressive Movies and TV channel environment too has contributed spoiling children to source money through ugly street jobs for drug addiction; become street children. Also friend circle or family alcoholic habit stimulates children to taste such life. (All above information is only my views observing and contacting urban and rural street children, may not be accurate).

Click below link for detailed facts and figures from various websites and sources for child prostitution - trafficking, and street children; clearly indicate that number of child prostitution and street children are increasing each day, each month and each year. Arresting child labor in factories in several countries have opened numerous fields for young children to opt alternate ways of sourcing money. New fields like pornography, sex tourism, plastic items, plastic bags and garbage collection, begging in streets, pick pocketing. Involvement of young children in these areas is much-much more than what figures show. Collection of facts and figures is tough job and may not achieve accuracy as such activities are hidden and illegal and fear of getting caught by authorities does not help revealing correct numbers. They can be seen in railway stations, national bus stops, retail markets, main road sides, city garbage dumping places, over and under bridges, unauthorized settlement areas, and in brothel areas. Clink link:- http://www.sadashivan.com/factsandfigures/

See online : Street working children growth

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