2012 saw the 3rd annual European Prisoners’ Children Campaign. The campaign, focused around European Prisoners’ Children Week ran from 1 June through 30 June.
This year, the campaign centred around the theme “Not my Crime, Still my Sentence”.
Eurochips members took the month of June to host a variety of events and awareness raising activities at the national level in order to help the Eurochips team raise awareness on a pan-European level.
During the month of June, members were encouraged to help raise awareness of the campaign by taking e-buttons and imagery to link back to a microsite set up by the Eurochips team. The site included statistics and information regarding this group of children and the stigma to which they are vulnerable.
The site also featured a link to an online petition, with the target aim of gathering 8,000 signatures on a letter addressed to Ms. Roberta Angelilli, MEP.
The letter asked Ms. Angelilli to take the cause for prisoners’ children forward in European Parliament within her role as Vice-President of the Parliament as well as Founder of the Alliance for Children – an informal group of MEPs focused on protecting child’s rights.
Italian partners Bambinisenzasbarre heavily promoted the online petition in Italian and set up several awareness-raising events to encourage individuals in Italy to sign the petition.
In total, 3,439 signatures were collected for the cause. Individuals signed from across the globe, with the majority coming from Italy and the UK.
Also of note were the number of organisations outside the Eurochips network who supported the campaign by taking e-buttons, writing blogs and spreading through their own social media channels to raise awareness on the cause for children with imprisoned parents.