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 between the Council of Europe and COPE and inspired in part by the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding between the Italian Ministry of Justice, National Ombudsman for Childhood and Adolescence and COPE partner Bambinisenzabarre, is a landmark document that builds upon the rights enshrined in the UNCRC and proposes recommendations for improving practices towards improving the situation of Europe’s children with imprisoned parents.
The result of collaboration with children and COPE’s partners throughout Europe, It’s Time to Act has been translated, validated and illustrated by children involved with COPE network projects or who have a parent in prison. Thirteen organisations in the following ten countries participated: Croatia; Czech Republic; England and Wales (x 3); Ireland; Italy (x 2); Northern Ireland; Norway; Poland; Scotland (x 2); Switzerland. The groups were My Time; Probacja; Children Heard and Seen; Families and Friends of Prisoners/For Fanger Pårorende (FFP); Pact; Telefono Azzuro; NIACRO; REPR; Rijeka Regional Office of the Ombudsman for Children, Croatia; Children Heard and Seen Oxford; POPS; Families Outside; Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland.
The publication can be seen as a way of introducing children of imprisoned parents and potentially their peers to important recommendations that concern them. It was conceived to be a useful resource for children, parents and professionals working in the field, and as well as an advocacy tool, with the intention of encouraging others to spread awareness surrounding the issue of children of imprisoned parents.
It’s Time to Act also responds to Article 51 of Recommendation CM/Rec(2018)5, which emphasises the fact that children have different experiences of parental imprisonment; ‘it is therefore important that the voices of these children are heard (collected through sensitive, child‐friendly NGOs or through children’s ombudspersons’ expert groups, among others)’. Furthermore, It’s Time to Act is a response to the child’s right to freedom of expression and freedom of information, following Article 13 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which states the following:
‘The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice.’
It’s Time to Act can be accessed here.