The European Union has adopted their new far-reaching Strategy on the Rights of the Child, developed with the participation of over 10,000 children, which calls on Member States to implement, inter alia, Council of Europe Recommendation 2018(5) on children with imprisoned parents. It’s a huge achievement and the first time that an EU policy document is published together with a child-friendly version.
This adoption of the EU Strategy adds significant leverage to Council of Europe Recommendations and represents a decisive move towards enhancing child participation, inclusion, child protection and child-friendly justice systems throughout EU Member States, as well as greater child awareness in prison services, legal systems and law enforcement.
Children impacted by parental incarceration receive several explicit mentions in the document, as part of “children in precarious family situations and exposed to various risk factors leading to social exclusion” (Definitions) — in references to COVID-19’s impact on the rights of families to prison visits; and to the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, that “when parents are imprisoned, policies and practices respecting the right of their children should also be fostered.” COPE celebrates the new Strategy and expresses its gratitude to Valeria Setti and the Commission’s child rights team for ensuring that this group of children are included in this milestone.
This forthright promotion of the Council of Europe Recommendation by the EU is also a vote of confidence for the importance of the work that COPE and its member organisations have been doing and continue to do. The Council of Europe Recommendation was inspired by our members’ work supporting this group of vulnerable children throughout Europe, and more specifically a direct outgrowth of the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding between the Italian Ministry of Justice, National Ombudsman for Childhood and Adolescence and COPE member organisation Bambinisenzasbarre. The entire package of the EU Strategy, including text, annexes, child-friendly versions, factsheet and data, is available here.