Eurochild Secretary General, Sabine Saliba, joined the 2023 ENOC Conference in September and expressed concern over the growing attacks on children’s rights in Europe.
The European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) Annual Conference concluded the organisation’s annual activities on advancing children’s rights and involved collaborative work from experts, ENOC members, and young people participating in the European Network of Young Advisors (ENYA). This year’s Conference ‘The Strength of Independent Children’s Rights Institutions: Upholding Children’s Rights in Europe’ focused on how Independent Children’s Rights Institutions (ICRIs) in Europe can protect and promote children’s rights to the fullest extent.
Our Secretary General also took part in one of the panel debates on the critical position of ICRIs in protecting and promoting children’s rights together with other experts. In this context, she raised Eurochild’s concern about the growing number of anti-child movements in Europe and presented concrete examples of how these attacks have been undermining the freedom, safety and actions of those defending children’s rights. She also highlighted the role that ICRIs can play in supporting and enabling the protection of children’s rights and those working to promote these rights.
During the conference, ENYA put forward a large number of recommendations on the role of ICRIs in enabling children to access their rights. These recommendations specifically focused on:
- accessibility and the need to create safer spaces for direct communication with children;
- visibility and the importance of incorporating human rights education in school curricula;
- engagement, with a focus on understanding children’s realities in order to propose solutions that duly take into account economic, social and territorial diversities;
- powers, as ICRIs must be completely impartial, apolitical, non-partisan and independent institutions.
Read our report:
Countering Anti-Child Rights Movements in Europe: The Need for a European Mechanism
