Towards an EU Strategy on children’s rights
An opportunity to prioritise the wellbeing of children inside and outside the European Union
New challenges and opportunities are emerging in the 21st century: the impact of climate change on children and their role as agents of change; children and new technologies, including social media; children in migration; mental health; the impact of armed conflicts on children; and the participation of adolescents and young people in decisions that affect their lives.
All these demonstrate the pressing need to refresh the relevance and urgency around implementing the Convention of the Rights of the Child in the 21st century.
It is critical that children’s rights become part of the highest political agenda of the EU and are made an integral part of EU policies and practices in a holistic and comprehensive way with a new EU Strategy on Child Rights.
The EU’s intention to develop a comprehensive Child Rights Strategy represents an important opportunity for the EU to champion the rights of the child within its borders and across the world.
How an EU Child Rights Strategy should look like
UNICEF and 28 child rights organizations ask for a systematic and coherent approach to promote and defend children’s rights inside and outside Europe in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Agenda 2030.
Our specific objectives are:
- Put children’s rights high on the political agenda of the EU institutions and EU Member States with a comprehensive and coherent approach in internal and external policies
- Propose EU action on new challenges and opportunities for children -e.g. digital and new technologies, migration, climate change, mental health, children under attack
- Track and monitor EU investments in children
- Institutionalise child participation in EU policy making
What’s next
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has entrusted Vice President for Democracy and Demography, Dubravka Šuica, to launch a comprehensive EU Child Rights Strategy. The upcoming Child Rights Strategy is expected to be launched at the beginning of 2021.
On 16 July 2020, UNICEF, together with 28 child rights organisations launched its Joint Position Paper on a Comprehensive Child Rights Strategy.