Building a child-friendly Europe: turning a vision into reality
Conference on the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child 2012-2015
The Council of Europe brought together ministers, MPs, children’s rights defenders and civil society representatives to finalise its new strategy for children’s rights at a conference being held under the auspices of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover (picture: second from the right) on 20 and 21 November in Monaco at the Grimaldi Forum.The strategy is designed to enhance the capacity of the Council of Europe and its 47 member states to ensure respect for children’s rights, in particular by developing child-friendly services, by eliminating all forms of violence against children and by promoting a culture of respect for children’s rights, needs and opinions.
Workshops focused on the challenges of data protection in the new media environment, on democratic citizenship and human rights education as well as on policies in support of positive parenting.
EWC´s Executive Director was the reporteur of the workshop: “Empowering children through formal and
non-formal learning: democratic citizenship and human rights education”
The Council of Europe transversal programme “Building a Europe for and with children” was launched in 2006. The new draft strategy on the Rights of the Child 2012-15 is the result of extensive consultations and it proposes a vision for the Council of Europe’s role and action in the field of the righ
ts of the child, taking into account the needs and the challenges identified since 2006. The programme’s overarching goal will be to achieve effective implementation of existing children’s rights standards. Empowering children through education is a cross-cutting theme contained in the 4 strategic objectives of the draft programme. Thus, the theme of the workshop 2 was “Empowering children through formal and non-formal learning: democratic citizenship and human rights education”.
Developed in the framework of the Council of Europe (CoE) Programme on Citizenship and Human Rights Education, the CoE Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (EDC/HRE) emphasises the importance of “not just equipping learners with knowledge, understanding and skills, but also empowering them with the readiness to take action in society in the defence and promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law”. The Charter highlights the importance of empowerment and active participation of learners.
Given the approaches proposed in the new draft strategy on the Rights of the Child 2012-15 and the principles adopted in the CoE Charter, participants at the workshop welcomed the closer relationship between both programmes of the Council of Europe, and expressed their wish for a strengthened cooperation in the future.
Henrik Wergeland (1808 – 1845) was a romantic poet and an important historian. He was an advocate for
democracy, and an eager defender of freedom of faith and freedom of expression.
