More children’s rights – ‘Too many children are still victims of violence’

“Kron”:What is the Commission’s position on children’s rights?
Marie-Cécile Rouillon: Children’s rights are human rights. The question is how we can enforce these rights together with the EU member states. For this purpose, the European Commission has developed the Children’s Rights Strategy, which covers several points: child participation, digital security, social economy, protection against violence, etc. It is terrible to see that children are regularly victims of bullying and violence. The situation is really difficult, children have to suffer the consequences of crises and war. The Commission has already done a lot to protect children from sexual abuse and cybercrime. Now the emphasis is on children’s rights, which are in different areas.

What can be understood by that?
Children’s rights include a wide range of rights, all of which are interrelated: the right to education, the right to protection, the right to be heard, the right to health, and so on. The current situation varies greatly from country to country and is highly decentralized. That is why we must work with all partners: some competences are at national level, some above, some below. We need to look at the legal, educational and healthcare systems. With our recommendations we have tried to take a holistic perspective: we must start with the needs of the children. What do you want? What do you wish for? Because far too often children have to adapt to the system, and not the system to the children. We strive for a holistic view of children’s rights.

How do you ensure that children’s wishes and needs are heard, considered and implemented? How does the exchange between the Commission and children take place?
Initially, we surveyed more than 1,000 children through the specially created “EU Children’s Participation Platform”: What do you need to feel safe? Where do you feel safe: at home, on the internet, at school, in clubs, while practicing hobbies? What can the EU do for you? How can we continue to prevent violence? It is clear that protection against violence starts with prevention work – and discrimination is often the start of violence. That’s why it was important for us to hear the wishes of many different children: children with disabilities, with a migration background, children from minorities – to members of the LGBTQ movement or Roma.

Is the platform still active? How can children and young people participate?
Yes of course – this is actually a hub that connects platforms, organizations and institutions that enable children’s participation, for example youth councils. Anyone between the ages of 8 and 18 who wants to participate must be active on one of these platforms or in an organization, also for the safety of children. More than 50 platforms from 24 countries are now represented. It is really impressive how young people are involved in this. They say, “No decision that affects us should be made without us.” And that is their right!

How difficult is it to integrate children’s wants and needs?
Today’s children will still be around in 80 years, when we are all gone. But we must not forget: children are not only the future, but also the present. We adults must work to create safe spaces for children where they are not discriminated against but can develop. It is wonderful to see what knowledge the children have, how direct they are and how they stand up for their rights. We learn from them – we can learn so much from them! Building this platform was very difficult because we explain our plans to children between 8 and 18 years old in an age-appropriate way so that they can understand them. They want to respond, they want to participate.

Is the EU getting involved in the issue of children’s rights? Isn’t this something that is decided or implemented at local and regional level?
This is a very important point. We wonder: where does the EU’s competence lie? Child sexual abuse, kidnappings across national borders, human trafficking and more: these are areas that fall within the EU’s competence. And then there are many areas that lie with the Member States, but where we can help. We know how different Member States are – and they can benefit from better coordination, education and training, better supervision and better exchange. We want to support the Member States in this and they can count on this support from the EU at all levels, including financially. Of course, there is no ‘one fits all’ solution, but individual states can ‘pick up’ ideas from other states and learn from each other through this exchange. Our prepared document is a framework of recommendations!

Carinthian Governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ) has drawn up the child protection recommendations for the Committee of the Regions. How was the collaboration?
Very good! It is important that the Committee of the Regions has prioritized this issue and that Kaiser’s opinion was adopted unanimously – that is a great sign! The title says it all: local and regional actors must be strengthened to protect children – because that concerns everyone. Although there are different systems, there are common challenges. For us it is always a kind of reality check when we work with regional politicians; we can learn a lot from that. In this case it worked very well from the start.

According to the CoR, children’s rights affect all areas of life and should therefore be implemented and financed through different sectors – for example in agriculture or through the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). How should this work?
This is actually complicated. Regardless of the area in which new projects are financed or supported, human rights and therefore children’s rights must always be taken into account. Very special attention should be paid to children, but the decisions ultimately rest with the respective administrative authorities. We can recommend it, but the decision lies with the administrative authorities.

The European Commission has already announced the topic in its 2024 working document. How important was it to release these recommendations before the EU elections in June?
Very important! This was one of our objectives for this year and the publication of the recommendation had to be postponed several times. I am very happy that we have succeeded.

However, elections will take place soon and there is no guarantee that these recommendations will be implemented after the elections. Your wishes for the new Commission?
The next steps should be to make children’s rights even more of a global and international priority. These recommendations are the legacy of the current European Commission. I would like the new Commission to build on the good work done so far.