Search

As part of broader efforts to combat all forms of violence against women and girls, the European Union (EU) is committed to working collectively to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM) and to supporting its Member States' efforts in this field. The European Commission assesses EU measures to combat FGM every year, on or around 6 February – the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. This publication is a further update of an 'at a glance' note originally published ...

Every year, on 20 November, the world celebrates World Children's Day; this year marked the 35th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Adopted in 1989, the convention was the first international instrument to explicitly recognise children as human beings with innate rights. Ratified by 196 countries, including all EU Member States, it has become the landmark treaty on children's rights, outlining universal standards for the care, treatment, survival, development ...

Violence against children takes various forms and occurs in different contexts. It can have serious, harmful consequences in both the short and long term, and estimates of the scale of the problem are alarming. Resulting from a complex interaction of various risk factors, this violence can nevertheless be avoided through effective prevention policies. A number of international instruments have been adopted to safeguard and promote children's rights. The cornerstone in this framework of instruments ...

Eurodac is a biometric database in which Member States are required to enter the fingerprint data of asylum-seekers in order to identify where they entered the European Union (EU). Established in 2000 and reviewed in 2013, its main purpose is to facilitate the application of the Dublin Regulation. The 2013 revision of the regulation broadened its scope to provide law enforcement authorities with access to the Eurodac database. As part of the reform of the common European asylum system in 2016, the ...

On 13 November 2023, a workshop was organised on behalf of the Human Rights Subcommittee focusing on the forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children by Russia, which has taken place since 2014 and vastly intensified since the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. Ukrainian, EU and third country diplomatic and political efforts to stop the deportations and repatriate children were looked at, along with initiatives by the civil society. The workshop examined the investigations and cases ...

The International Labour Organization (ILO) introduced the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002. The day is observed annually on 12 June; in 2023 the theme is 'Social Justice For All – How to End Child Labour'. This is a further update of a 2021 'At a glance' note originally drafted by Kristina Grosek.

The Commission demonstrates that child sexual abuse online is a serious problem that needs to be tackled. It frames the problem for the purpose of this IA in a narrow way, focusing on the legal fragmentation of the internal market for service providers. The root causes of the serious societal problem of offenders sexually abusing children – which leads to the production of CSAM – are not further examined. The IA considered five cumulative options; however, the formulation of the general objective ...

Adopted in 1989, the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was the first international instrument to explicitly recognise children as human beings with innate rights. Ratified by 197 countries, including all EU Member States, it has become the landmark treaty on children's rights, outlining universal standards for the care, treatment, survival, development, protection and participation of all children. The promotion and protection of children's rights is one of the key objectives ...

This study analyses the measures supporting refugees from Ukraine and elsewhere set out in the Child Guarantee national actions plans. It also supports the monitoring and evaluation of the Guarantee by looking at trends and disparities among Member States in the areas of child poverty, early childhood education and care, housing, food and energy poverty. This document was provided by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies at the request of the Committee on Employment ...

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee, provides an overview of the legislative frameworks for victims (including children) of gender-based violence in the 27 Member States. It provides analysis of measures in place at both Member State and EU level, and recommendations to prevent and combat gender-based violence.