Print
See related documents
Resolution 1530 (2007)
Child victims: stamping out all forms of violence, exploitation and abuse
1. The Parliamentary Assembly believes,
like the heads of state and government of the Council of Europe member
states in the Final Declaration and Action Plan adopted at the 3rd
Summit (Warsaw, 16-17 May 2005), that the Council of Europe has
an important role to play in finding concrete and effective solutions
to cases of violence, exploitation and abuse in respect of children,
whatever their form.
2. The Assembly supports the implementation, in this context,
of the Council of Europe’s three-year action programme (2006-2008)
for the promotion of children’s rights and the protection of children
from violence, “Building a Europe for and with children”, launched
in Monaco on 4 and 5 April 2006.
3. It continues to be concerned about the high numbers of children
in member states who, particularly because of their vulnerability,
their legal incapacity as minors and the inadequacy of the legal
and social protection they receive, are victims of violence, ill-treatment,
exploitation, trafficking, trade in their organs, child prostitution
and child pornography.
4. The statistics gathered in this field by international organisations
such as UNICEF and the International Labour Organization (ILO) still
fall short of reality since many children are not able to report
to the authorities or to specialist associations the violence and
abuses which they suffer.
5. The Assembly recalls that there is an extensive legal apparatus
at international level intended to secure children’s rights and
combat certain forms of exploitation, in particular the 1989 United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and its protocols,
and more recently Resolution
61/146 on the rights of the child adopted by the UN General
Assembly on 19 December 2006, Convention No. 182 of the ILO concerning
the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the
Worst Forms of Child Labour, and the Yokohama Global Commitment
made in 2001 at the 2nd World Congress against Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children.
6. At European level, the Assembly recalls in particular the
relevant Council of Europe conventions, especially the European
Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5), the revised European Social
Charter (ETS No. 163), the European Convention for the Prevention
of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (ETS
No. 126), specialised conventions such as the Convention on Cybercrime
(ETS No. 185) and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against
Trafficking in Human Beings (CETS No. 197), as well as many of its
own resolutions and recommendations concerning the recognition,
promotion and protection of children’s rights.
7. The Assembly recalls the Committee of Ministers’ reply of
20 April 2005 to its Recommendation
1666 (2004), stressing the importance which it attached to the issue
of children’s protection and its commitment to the welfare of children
as a group in need of special protection from all forms of violence.
8. It is important that the Parliamentary Assembly and the Committee
of Ministers ensure that resolute action is taken Europe-wide to
eradicate all forms of violence against children. From this standpoint,
it is indispensable, in so far as they are also subjects of law,
to grant children adequate legal protection as well as legal representation
outside the family whenever necessary.
9. The Assembly welcomes the fact that work on a draft Council
of Europe convention on the protection of children against sexual
exploitation and abuse has recently been commenced.
10. It deems indispensable that, over and above the standard-setting
measures already taken, and in view of the multitude of instruments
each relating to specific forms of violence, an integrated approach
be adopted at European level in order to achieve greater effectiveness
and coherence in the protection of children against the intolerable
and extremely varied situations of discrimination, violence, exploitation
and abuse which persist and are even increasing in some areas. It
accordingly considers that the existing convention-based system should
be strengthened by adopting an approach aimed at integrated protection
of children whatever the type of violence, exploitation or abuse
committed, and that co-operation between member states in this area
should be intensified.
11. The increase in cross-border family disputes in which children
are direct victims is also of concern to the Assembly. In this context,
it recalls the Council of Europe Convention on Contact concerning
Children (ETS No. 192) and encourages the member states to ratify
this convention as soon as possible.
12. Also, in this matter, the Assembly considers it urgent to
strengthen co-operation among member states as a whole by using
speedy judicial procedures suited to children, where they are not
in place already, especially in the context of family conflicts,
and as a supplementary measure to mediation procedures which are
not always successful, so as to avert additional harm to children
resulting from lengthy and distressing contentious proceedings.
Furthermore, the Assembly calls on all member states to provide
specialist training to a proportion of their judges in relation
to child issues.
13. The Assembly furthermore recalls its Recommendation 1460 (2000) on setting up a European ombudsman for children and
welcomes the stance of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human
Rights in favour of creating more such institutions in member states
or extending the remit of existing ombudsmen to include the functions
of promoting, safeguarding and strengthening children’s rights.
14. In the light of the foregoing, the Parliamentary Assembly
invites all parliaments of Council of Europe member states to:
14.1. consolidate and develop strategies
and national policies aimed at protecting the rights of children;
14.2. examine the existing legislative framework and improve
it as appropriate to ensure children’s protection against all forms
of violence, exploitation and abuse, making all interference with
the child’s bodily or psychological integrity a criminal offence
defined in relation to its degree of gravity and carrying effective,
proportionate and dissuasive penalties;
14.3. harmonise these provisions in order to set up child protection
legislation common to all states, in particular concerning the concept
of the child’s best interests and the definition of criminal law
offences committed against children;
14.4. make legal provisions to:
14.4.1. suspend, where a relevant provision does not already exist,
the limitation period for serious offences until the victim has
reached the age of majority;
14.4.2. establish that prosecution of the most serious offences
committed against children may not be subject to limitation;
14.4.3. extend states’ jurisdiction so that perpetrators of serious
offences against children committed beyond their borders may be
effectively prosecuted;
14.4.4. introduce speedy civil and criminal law procedures which
are suited to children, comprising, for example, the right to be
heard by a court where capable of discernment, the right to be assisted
by a lawyer paid for by the state or the right to obtain appropriate
legal aid;
14.4.5. train specialised judges to conduct the above procedures,
and in particular to train them to question children victims of
violence, exploitation or abuse; and, when it is absolutely necessary
to bring them face to face with the accused, to do so in a manner
that safeguards the interests of the child as well as that of justice;
14.4.6. adapt civil and criminal law proceedings to children with
emphasis on methods which spare unnecessary anguish, especially
with regard to their testimony and appearance in court (by video
link, for instance);
14.4.7. encourage member states to introduce legislation forbidding
convicted child sex offenders from travelling abroad.
15. The Assembly also calls upon the member states to:
15.1. ratify international and European
legal instruments relating to the protection of children as enumerated
above;
15.2. establish, or promote where they already exist, mediation
mechanisms designed to alleviate children’s suffering, particularly
in such contexts as their parents’ separation, and to set up an ombudsman
for children whom they can approach directly in serious cases, or
to extend the responsibilities of the established ombudsmen to encompass
children’s protection against all forms of violence;
15.3. strengthen co-operation, at national and international
level, between police forces and investigatory bodies for effective
action against child exploitation and trafficking in Europe and
beyond;
15.4. work towards the creation of a national body to collect
information on child victims of violence, exploitation or abuse,
and persons convicted of such offences, in order to produce a central
file allowing the exchange of information, to which file all interested
parties should have access, thus promoting the fight against these
phenomena, and aiding the speedier resolution of disputes which
involve children, in particular family conflicts, and with a view
to creating an observatory of ill-treatment in each state and at the
European level which would establish reliable statistics on cases
of violence, exploitation and abuse involving children;
15.5. set up specialised European bodies as well as national
and international co-operation and co-ordination networks between
governmental authorities, judicial authorities, police forces, national
bodies and NGOs specialising in the protection of children’s rights.
16. Finally, the Assembly calls upon member states to consolidate
their child welfare policy by the following means:
16.1. developing action plans at local
and national level to eliminate violence, exploitation and abuse of
children, in particular within the family unit, at school, in care
institutions and in the community;
16.2. implementing long-term education, information and awareness-raising
mechanisms aimed at children, parents, professionals and all authorities
with special responsibility for the legal and social protection
of children, with regard to the detection of ill-treatment and of
all forms of abuse and ways to address these problems;
16.3. arranging for child victims or perpetrators of violence
to receive close and regular attention in order to provide them
with support from properly trained professionals and ensure their
social readjustment and rehabilitation;
16.4. establishing machinery for the supervision of institutions
charged with caring for children (such as schools, orphanages, placement
centres, detention centres for young offenders, etc.), as well as methods
of detection (for example, through school and pre-school medical
examinations and interviews with psychologists) of acts of violence,
exploitation or abuse of children, in order to certify and sanction all
such behaviour;
16.5. providing Freephone numbers, telephone answering services
and websites to enable children to anonymously report violence,
exploitation or abuse, and to promote the wide dissemination of information
to children who are victims of any kind of ill-treatment, particularly
concerning social welfare facilities, specialised associations,
bodies or institutions such as an ombudsman, to which they can directly
and anonymously complain about acts of violence committed against
them or against other children.
17. The Assembly encourages its Monitoring Committee to continue
to include child welfare in its supervisory activities and reports.