Shona Minson, a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford and a COPE member since 2014, has released her book Maternal Sentencing and the Rights of the Child at a crucial moment when awareness of children with imprisoned parents is reaching critical mass in some European contexts. Drawing … Read More
Year: 2019
European Parliament resolution on children’s rights (2019/2876(RSP))
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Parliament has presented a motion for a resolution on children’s rights. The resolution (2019/28769RSP)) takes into account a number of developments in recent years. Some of the considerations include: promoting children’s rights is an explicit objective of … Read More
Making EU Charter truly effective in people’s lives
Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) is helping to make fundamental rights a reality for the 800,000 children of the incarcerated as the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights celebrates its 10th anniversary. Article 24(3)[1] of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights enshrines the right of children to family contact when in their best interests. Clear evidence … Read More
European Parliament on the 30th Anniversary of the UNCRC
2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the landmark United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and a conference was held on November 20th at the European Parliament to commemorate this child’s rights standard, the most widely ratified international human rights treaty in history. Much of the conference consisted of reflections on the … Read More
It’s Time to Act: Child-friendly version of Council of Europe Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)5
Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) has published It’s Time to Act, a child-friendly version of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)5 to Member States concerning children with imprisoned parents, which provides guidance on how to better support the rights of children with a parent in prison. The original Recommendation, a combined effort … Read More
It’s Time to Act – CoE Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)5
After the adoption of Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)5 of the Committee of Ministers to member States concerning children with imprisoned parents in April 2018, organisations across Europe worked with children, including their voices to make this milestone document more accessible. This set of European guidelines is designed to help encourage action, as well as being a useful … Read More
Launch of the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty
The Child Rights Connect Working Group on Children of Incarcerated Parents welcomes the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of their Liberty. We particularly welcome the Study’s detailed discussion on the rights of children living in prison with a parent, and the research which has been undertaken on this crucial subject. Laurel Townhead, Human Rights … Read More
Stakeholder briefings
Among the many publications that COPE produces annually, these stakeholder briefings serve several functions. Intended to provide report summaries and outline research findings; introduce good practice; provide policy updates; bring awareness to special issues; or report on program and campaign launches, they are pithy documents geared towards network members, professionals in the field and researchers. … Read More
INCCIP Conference 2019: Children of Roma & Traveller Prisoners Workshop
The 2019 International Coalition of Children with Incarcerated Parents (INCCIP) conference entitled, ‘When a parent is incarcerated: International perspectives on a child’s journey’ and held at Huddersfield University on 12-14 August 2019, included a workshop focusing on Roma and Traveller children of prisoners. The workshop set it’s aims on reckoning with the intersection of two … Read More
2019 INCCIP conference “When a parent is incarcerated: International Perspectives on a Child’s Journey”
Following the success of its first conference in New Zealand in 2017, the International Coalition for Children with Incarcerated Parents (INCCIP) held its second biennial conference entitled When a parent is incarcerated: International Perspectives on a Child’s Journey on 12-14 August 2019 at the University of Huddersfield. The three day event included presentations, workshops, and … Read More