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Recommendation 1905 (2010) Final version
Children who witness domestic violence
1. Referring to its Resolution 1714 (2010) on
children who witness domestic violence, the Parliamentary Assembly
reiterates that the situation of children witnessing domestic violence,
and the particular dangers they are exposed to, are too often neglected
with regard to related policies. It therefore considers that the reinforcement
of specific action for such children is needed at all political
levels and that different aspects of the specific impact of domestic
violence on girls and boys must be taken into account.
2. The Assembly therefore calls on the Committee of Ministers
to instruct the Ad hoc Committee on Preventing and Combating Violence
against Women and Domestic Violence (CAHVIO) to:
2.1. consider the question of children
who witness domestic violence in a future Council of Europe convention
which focuses on violence against women, including domestic violence,
as already recommended by the Assembly in its Recommendation 1847 (2008) on combating
violence against women: towards a Council of Europe convention;
2.2. provide children concerned, in the respective articles
of the future convention, with a veritable status of “secondary
victims” in order to appropriately consider, having regard to the
gender dimension, the impact that situations of domestic violence
can have on them;
2.3. include in the future convention provisions regarding
the development of comprehensive and transversal social services,
the access to which is guaranteed for all children and which ensure
that the interests of children will not be overshadowed by problems
which predominantly concern adults;
2.4. insist, in appropriate articles of the future convention,
on the importance of education of children, from the earliest age,
towards behaviour based on mutual respect and non-violence, that
is, on the prevention of an intergenerational transfer of domestic
violence.
3. It also invites the Committee of Ministers to:
3.1. instruct the committees represented
in the Group of Specialists on child-friendly justice (CJ-S-CH)
to include in the future Council of Europe guidelines on child-friendly
justice, presently being drawn up, adequate procedural measures
in respect of the taking of evidence from children having witnessed domestic
violence, both during the investigation phase and during court proceedings,
in order to avoid the repetition of humiliating testimony and to
lessen the traumatising effects of proceedings;
3.2. further harmonise children’s rights in all Council of
Europe policy areas and better co-ordinate its action, notably via
the Council of Europe Platform on Children’s Rights, in order to
contribute to higher visibility and more efficient implementation
of European standards at national level.