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Recommendation 1778 (2007)
Child victims: stamping out all forms of violence, exploitation and abuse
1. The Parliamentary Assembly, referring
to its Resolution 1530
(2007) on child victims: stamping out all forms of violence,
exploitation and abuse, recommends that the Committee of Ministers
invite those Council of Europe member states which have not already
done so to sign and ratify as soon as possible the existing international
and European legal instruments relating to the protection of children,
in particular those mentioned in the resolution, to confirm within
six months action taken on this point, and to introduce a procedure
for monitoring the safeguards provided for children in member states.
2. The Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers to take all
appropriate steps in order that the Council of Europe member states:
2.1. draw up and establish domestic
legal and social procedures as set out in Resolution 1530 (2007) in order to guarantee children’s protection against
all forms of violence, exploitation or abuse;
2.2. encourage the competent national authorities to ensure
wide circulation to both children and adults of information and
advice on prevention, detection and prosecution of child abuse,
and to enhance specialist training in this respect for professionals
dealing with children;
2.3. encourage partnerships and co-operation at national, European
and international level in implementing effective machinery to protect
children, such as the provision of central files that make it possible
to record the various types of violence encountered and the victims
thereof, to discover and dismantle any child exploitation networks
that exist, and to activate appropriate and effective criminal justice
machinery;
2.4. establish action plans backed by adequate material and
human resources in order to combat all forms of violence, exploitation
and abuse of children
3. In addition, the Assembly urges the Committee of Ministers
to instruct its competent governmental committees, particularly
the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ), working closely
with the Parliamentary Assembly, to produce a draft convention aimed
at affording children comprehensive, effective protection against
all forms of violence, exploitation or abuse, and a model law transposing
the provisions of this draft convention which could be applicable
in all member states and would in particular define such concepts
as the child’s best interests, harmonise criminal law definitions
of offences committed against children, and seek to protect them
comprehensively against all interference with their bodily or psychological integrity,
whatever their cause and form.
4. The Assembly asks the Committee of Ministers to instruct the
relevant governmental committees to propose measures to facilitate
and optimise children’s access to the appeals and complaints procedures
for upholding the rights bestowed on them by the Council of Europe’s
existing legal instruments, in particular the European Convention
on Human Rights (ETS No. 5) and the revised European Social Charter
(ETS No. 163).
5. The Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers to find ways
and means of involving children as much as possible in the work
done pursuant to this recommendation.