The Strategy on the Rights of the Child and the European Child Guarantee were published by the European Union on 24 March 2021. These two comprehensive policy initiatives mark the Commission’s commitment to ‘better protect all children, to help them fulfill their rights and to place them right at the centre of EU policy making’ (European Commission, 2021). The first thematic area of the Strategy is ‘Child participation in political and democratic life’. Accordingly, the content of the Strategy itself was informed by the consultation of over 10,000 children, as well as citizens and stakeholders.

Thanks to COPE advocacy, explicit recognition of children with imprisoned parents is made in the EU Strategy: the EU calls on member states to implement the Council of Europe Recommendation concerning children with imprisoned parents CM/Rec(2018)5. The Strategy was adopted unanimously by EU Justice Ministers in June 2022, after a full year of high-stakes advocacy by a number of international child-rights organisations, including COPE.

The six thematic areas of the Strategy on the Rights of the Child are as follows:

  1. Child participation in political and democratic life
  2. Socio-economic inclusion, health and education
  3. Combating violence against children and ensuring child protection
  4. Child-friendly justice
  5. Digital and Information Society
  6. The Global dimension

For the full Strategy, please see here.
For a child-friendly version of the Strategy, please see here.