Print
See related documents
Recommendation 1939 (2010) Final version
Children without parental care: urgent need for action
1. Referring to its Resolution 1762 (2010) on
children without parental care: urgent need for action, the Parliamentary
Assembly draws attention to the fact that, despite numerous efforts
undertaken with a view to improving the situation of children deprived
of parental care at national, European and international level,
the issue should be given a new sense of urgency in the current
context of globalisation and the economic crisis. This should also
be done with regard to national policies which are not sufficiently
oriented towards an approach promoting the de-institutionalisation
of childcare, notwithstanding that certain measures may have been
found to be in the “best interests of the child” as enshrined as
a guiding principle in the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child.
2. The Assembly therefore calls on the Committee of Ministers
to:
2.1. complete and consolidate
Council of Europe activities undertaken under the current programme Building
a Europe for and with Children and its 2009-2011 strategy by:
2.1.1. focusing on the issue of de-institutionalisation of childcare
according to a broad understanding of the concept, including the
development of prevention strategies, the restructuring of residential
care and the transfer of children to arrangements which are more favourable
to their personal development;
2.1.2. mandating the competent intergovernmental bodies to prepare
a European practice report presenting the progress made as regards
the de-institutionalisation of childcare in Council of Europe member
states and to promote, amongst member states, the preparation of
national studies which could develop synergies with the European
reporting process;
2.1.3. mandating the same intergovernmental bodies to prepare
a draft recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on the de-institutionalisation
of alternative childcare, taking into consideration the Guidelines
for the Alternative Care of Children, adopted by the United Nations in
November 2009, and the good practice guide on “De-institutionalising
and Transforming Children’s Services” published in February 2010
by the European Commission’s Daphne Programme, as well as the Committee
of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)2 on deinstitutionalisation
and community living of children with disabilities;
2.1.4. promoting, in the meantime, the implementation of existing
international instruments, notably the recent United Nations Guidelines
for the Alternative Care of Children, also by calling upon member
states involved in relevant intergovernmental activities to prepare
national action plans;
2.1.5. continuing to deploy and strengthen specific child-related
activities which can contribute to consolidating the situation of
children without parental care, such as those concerning child-friendly
social services, health-care and justice systems;
2.1.6. launching a pan-European campaign to stop sexual violence
against children as a way of contributing to the prevention of children
being separated from their parents;
2.1.7. multiplying pragmatic approaches aimed at supporting the
implementation of European and international standards at national
level, such as those pursued in recent years by the Joint Council
of Europe/European Union programme Enforcing the Rights of the Child
and Re-integrating Children at Risk into Society, Russia 2007-2008;
2.2. with regard to any future Council of Europe reporting
or standard-setting activities, continue to closely co-operate with
other European and international organisations undertaking substantial
work regarding various groups of children without parental care
or adequate alternative childcare arrangements, such as the United
Nations and its agencies (notably Unicef), the European Commission, and
European networks such as Eurochild, SOS KDI or Save the Children.