Newsletter on rights of the child No 5 2018 – 14 December 2018
date: 14/12/2018
Contents
European Commission - Funding
2. 2018 – Open call: Erasmus+ Call for proposal. See deadlines for submission of proposals
Other EU institutions and agencies
Other Organisations
7.18.11.2018 - Council of Europe: End Child Sex Abuse Day - 2018 Edition
8. 10.09.2018 - Council of Europe – HELP course on refugee and migrant children
Studies and promising practices
10. 16.10.2018 - Save the children – Report ‘From Europe to Afghanistan’
11. September 2018 - Quaker Council on European Affairs - ‘Child Immigration Detention in Europe’
15. FGM EU - Fundraising for the Youth4Change: Young Activists Ending Female Genital Mutilation
16. Missing children Europe, Child Focus and FamousGrey- Notfound project
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
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European Commission - Funding
1. 29.11.2018 - Annual Work Programmes 2019 for the Rights Equality and Citizenship Programme and the Justice Programme have been adopted
The 2019 Annual Work Programmes (AWP) for the Rights Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme and the Justice Programme have been adopted. A total budget of €43.675.000 for Justice and €64.771.000 for Rights Equality and Citizenship has been approved for the activities that will be developed by public authorities, universities, NGOs and other organisations to support the Commission’s policies in these areas.
The indicative publication date of the calls for proposals will be the first quarter of 2019.
In particular, the Rights Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme includes two actions grants to finance rights of the child activities:
- Call for proposals to prevent and combat all forms of violence against children, young people and women (DAPHNE)
Priority 2: Preventing and combating violence against children
Indicative amount: € 4.680.000
2.1 capacity-building by expert practitioners in the field for trainee and in-service medical practitioners (general practitioners, dentists, paediatricians, nurses, accident and emergency practitioners), social service practitioners, police and the education sector (early childhood education and care, schoolteachers, all other school/ early childhood education and care staff), with the aim of systemising robust prevention, detection, identification and responses to adverse childhood experiences;
2.2 capacity-building by expert practitioners in the field for specialist forensic interviewers for child victims of violence (in line with national systems, e.g. assigned to the police or to Barnahus), with the aim of systemising the adequate national coverage of forensic interviewing specialists, to prevent further trauma to child victims, ensure a pathway to therapy and improve prosecution rates;
2.3 capacity-building by expert practitioners in the field for trainee and in-service specialist practitioners providing evidence-based and trauma-informed therapeutic services and treatment to child victims of violence, with the aim of systemising the adequate national coverage of therapeutic services for child victims, taking account of individual children as well as groups of children and children as a group (e.g. in cases of mass victimisation and/or terrorism).
- Call for proposals on capacity-building in the area of rights of the child – child-friendly justice
Total budget available: € 4.000.000
- To systemise and further roll out evidence-based supports to children involved in criminal, civil or administrative judicial proceedings, taking account of children’s documented experience in the country/ies concerned.
- Capacity-building for judicial and other practitioners involved in systemising robust, multidisciplinary individual assessments under Art. 22 of Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime and Art. 7 of Directive (EU) 2016/800 on procedural safeguards for children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings, taking account of the Member States which transposed/are due to transpose these Directives.
2. 2018 – Open call: Erasmus+ Call for proposal. See deadlines for submission of proposals
A call for proposals for projects in the fields of education is open under the Erasmus+ programme: the Union Programme for education, training, youth and sport. This call for proposals offers a whole range of funding opportunities to students, professionals and organisations, including in early childhood education and care.
The two main funding strands for early childhood education and care are:
- KA1 – Learning mobility of individuals (Mobility projects): mobility projects on higher education, which offer learners and educational staff the opportunity to study abroad, perform job shadowing or job placements, and to attend courses and events for their professional development.
Deadline for applications: 21 March 2019
- KA2 - Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices (strategic partnerships): 2-3 year cooperation projects between minimum 3 organisations in Europe, with the aim to "promote innovation, exchange of experience and know-how", and which can sometimes include some mobility activities.
Deadline for applications: 5 February 2019
The KA3 focuses on Support for policy reform.
The funding is open to the Member States of the European Union, the EFTA/EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and EU candidate countries (Turkey, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia).
The 2019 Erasmus+ Programme Guide is available in all official EU languages on the Erasmus+ website. Anyone interested to apply should seek further information from their National Agency.
There are different deadlines for the submission of applications, depending on the action seeking to be funded.
3. 2018 - Reminder on open call for proposal: AMIF - transnational actions for integration of third-country nationals in the EU member states and supporting legal migration – deadline for proposals: 31.01.2019
Topic 4: care for migrant minors, including unaccompanied minors
Objectives: Finance projects focusing on the exchange of good practices and/or provision of the necessary training so as to support the implementation/expansion/improvement of alternative care systems (such as family-based care, or foster care, or supervised independent housing arrangements) or of effective alternatives to detention. (Projects with an exclusively national/regional/local focus should seek AMIF funding via the National Programmes, taking account of projects already co-funded in this area).
A functional mailbox is available for requests: HOME-AMIF-UNION-ACTIONS@ec.europa.eu
4. Continuously open call - List of experts to help the Commission in the framework of the Rights, equality and citizenship programme (includes rights of the child and Daphne funding on violence against children)
Other EU institutions and agencies
• 5.11.2018 - FRA - A New set of findings on differences in legal minimum ages covering social rights, education, employment and finance, alternative care, LGBTI and mobility.
FRA published a new set of findings on differences in legal minimum ages for children in a variety of areas, such as social rights, education, employment and finance, alternative care, LGBTI and mobility. By highlighting the differences, FRA aims to help the EU and its Member States eliminate inconsistencies, protection gaps and seemingly arbitrary restrictions resulting from different age thresholds.
The findings complement previously released findings on areas such as on marriage and sexual activity, citizenship, political participation, health, religion, migration and asylum procedures as well as the digital world.
• November - FRA - Overviews of migration-related fundamental rights concerns
This newly released update of the FRA data collection on migration-related fundamental rights concerns covers the timespan 1 September - 31 October 2018 and contains information relevant to children, including the situation in some Member States with a particular chapter on child protection.
• 17.10.2018 - FRA - Report ‘Combating Child Poverty: An issue of fundamental rights’
The report highlights how child poverty can threaten fundamental rights and deprive children of the opportunity to escape the poverty cycle.It shows that one in four children under 18 are at risk of poverty or social exclusion across the EU. In some Member States, like Romania, it is as high as 1 in 2. While it can affect all children, some groups, like Roma and migrant children are even worse affected by poverty. In fact, a FRA survey revealed over 90% of Roma children in nine Member States experience poverty.
The report includes suggestions and recommendations on what the EU and its Member States can do to address the issue, such as to prioritise the protection of vulnerable children and establish a European child guarantee scheme, as proposed by the European Parliament or to ensure each child has a decent home, diet, healthcare and education.
6. 18.10.2018 - EUROPOL - ‘Situation Report on Criminal networks involved in the Trafficking and Exploitation of Underage Victims in the European Union’
This Europol report on child trafficking provides an up-to-date picture on this criminal phenomenon, including the features of criminal networks involved in the abuse of vulnerable children.
In Europe, thousands of minors continue to be trafficked and exploited to generate profits for criminal networks, accounting for over 20% of all identified victims of trafficking (according to UNICEF). Europol increasingly receives information on trafficking networks operating across Member States, taking advantage of the vulnerability of children to sexually exploit them and to abuse them in labour exploitation. Other criminal groups place victims on the streets to beg for money, force them to commit various types of crimes, sell them through illegal adoption schemes and defraud the welfare state.
Other Organisations
Council of Europe
7. 18.11.2018 - Council of Europe: End Child Sex Abuse Day - 2018 Edition
Sexual abuse does happen in sports and children find it hard to speak out. For this reason, the Council of Europe focused on the European Day on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and sexual abuse on the topic of ‘The protection of children against sexual abuse in sport’.
Since 2015, thanks to projects together with the European Union, the Council of Europe Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sports (EPAS) developed a set of tools. In 2018, EPAS launched the Start to Talk Initiative to call public authorities and the sport movement for action to stop child sexual abuse. The initiative provides guidance and materials to raise awareness and empower coaches, clubs, federations, associations, children and their families to prevent and respond to sexual abuse.
These include:
- a training kit for sport professionals and volunteers
- a powerful video clip (long version) and a TV spot
- printed material for distribution (a postcard and a flyer)
- an online resources centre to promote existing practices and give concrete advice
8. 10.09.2018 - Council of Europe – HELP course on refugee and migrant children
The European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP), jointly with the Office of the Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General on Migration and Refugees, Tomáš Boček, developed a HELP course on Refugee and Migrant Children. The course is one of the measures implementing the Council of Europe Action Plan on protecting Refugee and Migrant Children in Europe (2017-2019).
This course explains how critical issues are addressed in the international and European legal framework and provides an overview of the relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. It allows legal and other professionals to improve their knowledge and skills on the existing standards in this area and to apply them in their daily work.
It is developed in an interactive way and includes various practical exercises through seven modules covering introduction to the legal framework, child-friendly procedures, alternatives to detention, family reunification, social rights and integration, guardianship and age assessment.
Studies and promising practices
9. 7.12.2018 – UNICEF Office of Research, Innocenti – Byrne, K. - Towards a Child Rights-based Assessment Tool to Evaluate National Responses to Migrant and Refugee Children, Innocenti Discussion Paper DP 2018-04
This paper examines a range of tools, guidelines and formats available to monitor and evaluate various aspects of national responses to migrant children and argues for the need to integrate them into a single coherent, child focused, rights-based framework. Their current disparate application leaves gaps in the child’s protective environment and is not consistent with a holistic, child rights-based approach. The paper puts forward for consideration an integrated evaluation framework that incorporates and links existing practice models in order to ensure quality child-centred monitoring at each and every stage of the migration process.
10. 16.10.2018 - Save the children – Report ‘From Europe to Afghanistan’
This Save the children report assesses the impact on children of being returned from Europe to Afghanistan. Through interviews with individual children, their parents or guardians, and with governmental and non-governmental actors, it builds a picture of children’s material, physical, legal and psychosocial safety during the returns process. Returns processes implemented by EU member states and Norway are examined to analyse where European governments are failing to provide appropriate support.
11. September 2018 - Quaker Council on European Affairs - ‘Child Immigration Detention in Europe’
This QCEA report explores aspects of child immigration detention in Europe with updated data. After briefly describing the legal framework and standards at international and European level, the report gives an overview of the situation in Europe on how many children are detained in the context of migration, the laws and policies that regulate the practice and the existing alternatives to child immigration detention. The report discusses the impacts of detention, especially on children and the detrimental impact that this practice can have on their health and well-being.
The EU-funded project IDEA: Improving Decisions Through Empowerment and Advocacy has produced some new tools, which are available on-line:
If you are litigating a children’s rights issue in the national courts, and your case is unsuccessful, you may wish to pursue a remedy under the European Convention on Human Rights or the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child individual complaints procedure (Optional Protocol 3). However, most claims are declared inadmissible as a result of decisions made during the domestic phase of litigation. This checklist is designed to help you avoid that eventuality.
This tool is a quick reference guide for practitioners working in child protection in Ireland seeking to use international law in advocating for children’s rights in domestic courts. More specifically, it provides an overview of children’s rights sources which can be drawn upon to argue for the participation of children in care in court proceedings. Utilising these sources of law can also bolster submissions in court, thereby improving decisions for children.
This document provides summaries of judgments delivered by the European Court of Human Rights concerning the right to contact with children in care. It aims to assist child protection practitioners to utilise this case law in advocating for this right in domestic courts. The judgments focus on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
13. 2018 - Fair trails and partner organisations– Legal training - online toolkit for lawyers - Advancing the Defence Rights of Children
This EU-funded on-line course “Advancing the defence rights of children” offers a useful introduction to the core juvenile justice concepts, legal instruments and extra-legal understanding of adolescent development required by practitioners working with child suspects and accused persons.
The final conference of this EU-funded project Children´s rights behind bars was an opportunity for professionals working for and with children in conflict with the law to present their work. The participants exchanged on current challenges, learnt new approved and good practices as well as about the results of the CRBB 2.0 project. The participants ranged from professionals working in closed institutions for children (educators, directors, teachers, etc.) or in child protection organisations, to members of the civil society, researchers and academics active in the field of children in conflict with the law. In addition, international stakeholders notably from the EU institutions, the Council of Europe or UNICEF attended the event.
The handbook ‘Children´s Rights Behind Bars – Reintegration and Rights from a participatory perspective. Innovative practice examples in EU countries’ is available in English and French.
Other activities
15. FGM EU - Fundraising for the Youth4Change: Young Activists Ending Female Genital Mutilation
End FGM EU has organised a fund-raising campaign´Youth4Change’ to get a group of activists from across Europe together more regularly to stand up and speak out against FGM - ultimately helping to change the lives of women and girls in their communities. Collectively, these young and talented game-changers will organise and campaign to raise awareness to end FGM, collaborate on best practices for working with communities and receive proper training in the fields of advocacy and communication for awareness raising.
16. Missing children Europe, Child Focus and FamousGrey- Notfound project
In Europe, a child is reported missing every 2 minutes. To help find these children and give hope to their families, NotFound lets website owners automatically display the picture/details of missing children on the '404 - not found' pages of their websites. This offers a much wider exposure by reaching out to internet users around the world, who may have useful information that could help find missing children. The web app was developed in 2012 and has been already downloaded by over 5,700 websites.
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
You will find previous issues of the Newsletter on the rights of the child from January 2017 onwards here.
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