Establishment of an intergovernmental committee on children

Doc. 8336

4 March 1999

Establishment of an intergovernmental committee on children

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

to Written Question No. 371

by Mrs Pozza Tasca

I. Written Question No. 371 (17 February 1997)

Mrs Pozza Tasca,

To ask the Committee of Ministers,

1. What action it intends to take for the protection of the rights of the child on the basis of the relevant United Nations Convention of 1989 and more specifically how it intends to contribute to the framework of international co-operation that is taking shape, in the light of the guidelines adopted by the World Congress against commercial sexual exploitation of children, held in Stockholm from 27 to 31 August 1996;

2. What it envisages doing for the establishment of an intergovernmental committee with a permanent structure and a multidisciplinary membership, which would deal with all the issues pertaining to children, from sexual exploitation to child labour, from the alarming trade in the sale of organs to the thousands of children missing even in Council of Europe member countries, as called for in Recommendation 1286 (1996), considering that such a committee should also submit an annual report on its deliberations.

II. Reply from the Committee of Ministers (23 February 1999)

Written Question No. 371 by the Honourable Member on the establishment of an intergovernmental committee on children is one of those Parliamentary Assembly texts which raises issues of the greatest importance for our societies. The protection of children is one of the priorities of intergovernmental co-operation within the Council of Europe, and the Committee of Ministers follows the relevant activities with the greatest attention.

Where European follow-up to the World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (Stockholm, August 1996) is concerned, the Committee of Ministers wishes to point out that, in April 1998, the Council of Europe organised, following the recommendations of the Second Summit of Heads of State and Government of member States that co-operation be developed on preventing any form of exploitation of children, a regional follow-up conference to the Stockholm congress. The reply of the Committee of Ministers to Recommendation 1371 (1998) of the Parliamentary Assembly on abuse and neglect of children specifies those matters which are, and those which will be, dealt with at intergovernmental level so as to prevent the inhumane treatment of children and so as to protect them through legal measures.

It should be added in this context that it is planned to include a special provision concerning child pornography in the draft Council of Europe Convention on Cyber-crime, which is now being drawn up. Furthermore, following the decisions of the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC), which is responsible for criminal law aspects of the protection of children, an expert study has been commissioned on possible future activities to strengthen the national and international measures taken to combat the sexual exploitation of children and the abuses to which they are subjected. A particular aim is to identify the problems encountered by governments in the implementation of the Stockholm Agenda for Action, bearing in mind the relevant legal instruments both at European level and within the United Nations system. The aim is to update Recommendation No. R (91) 11 of the Committee of Ministers to member States concerning sexual exploitation, pornography and prostitution of, and trafficking in, children and young adults, to which the Committee of Ministers attaches great importance.

The Committee of Ministers also drew attention to the European Convention on the Exercise of Children's Rights (ETS No. 160), which was drawn up at the Council of Europe following the adoption by the Parliamentary Assembly of Recommendation 1121 (1990) on the rights of children. The convention, opened for signature on 25 January 1996, will shortly be able to come into force, as one more ratification is all that is still required for this. The purpose of the convention is to make it easier for children to exercise their substantive rights, as these have been recognised by, in particular, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; it emphasises the promotion of these rights, with the word "promotion" having a broader sense than that of "protection". It provides for the setting up of a standing committee responsible for examining the questions relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. The conclusions of the committee will be able to take the form of a recommendation. Furthermore, the committee will provide advice and assistance and will promote international co-operation between national bodies.

It should also be noted that, since 1981, an intergovernmental committee, the Committee of Experts on Family Law (CJ-FA) has, under the authority of the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ), been responsible for the Council of Europe's intergovernmental activities relating to the legal protection of families, and particularly of children. The work of the CJ-FA has led to the adoption of several international legal texts: the European Convention on the Exercise of Children's Rights already mentioned, and Recommendation No. R (98) 1 on family mediation being among the most recent. At present, the CJ-FA is drawing up a draft Convention on Contact concerning Children, with a view to promoting the child's right to regular personal relations and direct contact with both parents. The CJ-FA has also drawn up a report on principles concerning the establishment and legal consequences of parentage, which is to serve as a basis for the drawing up of an international legal instrument so as to improve children's legal status. The CJ-FA also organised the 4th European Conference on Family Law, on the theme of "Family mediation in Europe" (Strasbourg, 1 and 2 October 1998), so as to promote this means of achieving friendly settlements of family disputes, thereby reducing the numbers of disputes, in the interests of all family members, and particularly of children.

To date, the Council of Europe has conducted intergovernmental activities on childhood policies (in the former Steering Committee on Social Policy (CDPS) and in the aforementioned CJ-FA), without having among its structures a multilateral intergovernmental committee taking a multidisciplinary approach to the issues. In May 1998, following the encouragement given by the Second Summit to the adoption of a programme to promote children's interests in partnership with the international governmental and non-governmental organisations concerned, the Committee of Ministers started a wide-ranging two-year Programme for Children. The programme is appended to the reply of the Committee of Ministers to Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1286 (1996) on a European strategy for children, which also provided a source of inspiration for the intergovernmental sector in this field.

In accordance with this programme, the European Committee for Social Cohesion (CDCS), in November 1998, set up a Forum for Children, in the form of an ad hoc committee of experts. The forum comprises member States' representatives from 11 steering committees and two partial agreements of the Council of Europe in the sphere of social affairs and public health, and the Pompidou Group), as well as representatives of other international organisations. This also has an opportunity to draw on the significant experience and commitment of CLRAE and Parliamentary Assembly representatives. The programme's three "focus groups" represented in the forum will study the issues relating to social assistance for children who are at risk of, or are subjected to, ill-treatment, violence and exploitation, as well as questions concerning day care facilities and children's environment. The forum is answerable to the CDCS, to which it will report on the results of its work and make recommendations as to future action and appropriate activities. The CDCS, responsible for the European strategy for social cohesion, which encompasses childhood issues, will report to the Committee of Ministers, which, when examining its conclusions and suggestions, will certainly pay the necessary attention to the questions concerning children. In January 1999, the Committee of Ministers, for example, instructed the CDCS to include in the Programme for Children Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1336 (1997) on combating child labour exploitation as a matter of priority.