Type: Acts of the European Union: European Parliament resolution: Towards an EU strategy on the rights of the child

Authority: European Authorities - European Union: European Parliament

Date: 01/16/2008

Subject: The European Parliament called 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, and for the Agency to set up a network for cooperation with international institutions, particularly ombudspeople for children and NGOs working in this area as soon as possible in order to take full advantage of their experience and the information available to them. It called 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 comparable statistical data on the situation of children in the EU. The EP called for children's rights to be mainstreamed in the external policies and actions of the EU, and it called 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. The EP pointed out that any strategy on the rights of the child should be rooted in the values and four basic 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.

Classification: Equality - Art. 24 Children’s rights

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Notices: The European Parliament included in the documents concerning the protection of children’s rights also article 24 of the Charter of fundamental rights of EU.