7th Regional Meeting of NGOS
Children’s Rights Coalitions in Europe
Working Group 2
How can the EU support the implementation of the
concluding observations?
28 April 2014
Facilitator: Mieke Schuurman
Rapporteur: Daniela Gheorghe
Structure of the Working Group
• Presentation of Eurochild study on mainstreaming of
children’s rights - Mieke Schuurman
• Presentation of Flemish example of child and youth
impact report JoKER – Farah Laporte (Flemish
Children’s Rights Coalition)
• Questions and Answers
• Discussion and Debate
Eurochild Study
Mainstreaming of Children’s Rights in EU Legislation,
Policy
and Budget: Lessons from Practice
• Reasons for carrying out the Study
• Involvement of group of CR experts (NGOs and
academics)
• How was the study carried out? Interviews,
Literature Review and Case Studies (national and EU)
Mainstreaming of Children’s Rights in EU Legislation,
Policy and Budget: Lessons from Practice
Objectives of the study:
• Assess the current situation – processes in
place to mainstream children’s rights and
learn from national and international best
practices
• Give guidance on how effective
mainstreaming of children’s rights can be
undertaken in the EU’s internal policies
Defining Mainstreaming
Article 3 Lisbon Treaty: reference to children in the
objectives of the Treaty.
Mainstreaming is central plank to the EU’s children’s
rights agenda.
Mainstreaming is an equality issue: integrate equality
considerations in all aspects of policy formulation,
implementation and evaluation (definition of Bell and
similarly used by the Council of Europe)
Outcomes of international studies
Integration of the Principles of the UNCRC would
act as a ‘child-proofing tool’ –
UN Committee UNCRC: continuous process of
child impact assessment and child impact
evaluation is necessary.
‘ No policy is child neutral’ (De Vylder)
Outcomes of Studies:
Inadequate attention paid to children’s
right in EU legislative processes
Examples:
• Asylum and Immigration law
• Audio-Visual Media Directive
• Unfair Commercial Practices Directive
• EU’s work-family reconciliation framework
Good practice EU Example:
• Victim’s Rights Directive
7 STEPS to effective CR Mainstreaming
1)
2)
3)
4)
Political will & leadership
Awareness, capacity and resources within the services responsible
Commitment to use the UNCRC as the starting point
Application of mainstreaming tools to legislation, policy and funding and
throughout the policy cycle
5) Systematic use of impact assessments in policy formulation and
implementation
6) Consultation and involvement of stakeholders in decision-making
7) The views and experiences of children and young people themselves are
sought and taken seriously
Recommendations to the European
Commission
1. A robust successor to the Agenda on the Rights of the Child
2. A high-level children’s rights co-ordinator
3. An internal tool on child rights mainstreaming – integrating
the seven steps
4. Training modules for European Commission staff
5. Critically analyse the ‘EU acquis and policy documents on
the rights of the child’
6. Peer reviews on child rights mainstreaming
Recommendations to the
European Parliament
Strengthen institutional capacity of the
European Parliament on children’s rights:
 A permanent mechanism needs to be created
in the European Parliament to promote
children’s rights across all policy sectors
Take leadership for championing children’s
rights through inclusion in all EP documents
and processes
Recommendations to the Council
of Ministers
• Be a driver for implementing children’s rights
• Bridge the gap between internal and external
dimensions.
Overarching Recommendations to all EU
institutions:
Strengthening capacity and involvement of
civil society
Reinforce inter-institutional co-operation
• Presentation Good Practice Example
from Belgium – Farah Laporte
• Questions and Answers
• Discussion and Debate
Discussion and Debate
• How can the Concluding Observations and General
Comments of the UNCRC Committee be reflected in Member
States reporting processes towards the EU institutions? What
role can NGO coalitions play in this?
• How can EU legislation and policies contribute to
implementation of the UN Committee’s Recommendations?
• How could the Concluding Observations and
recommendations to EU member states feed into a new EU
Framework for Children’s Rights?