Position Papers

NEW! Children on the move: children first!-September 2013

Despite the increasing efforts of national, European and international authorities to address adequately the situation of 'children on the move' (unaccompanied/separated asylum seeking, refugee, migrant, trafficked, Roma children etc), the ground reality shows the opposite: their basic needs are very often not met and their rights, as children first, hardly ever respected.

The present position statement is based on the collective work, ground evidences and experiences of ENOC members and has been unanimously adopted at the ENOC 17th Annual General Assembly in September 2013 in Brussels.

Read the full statement in English here

The statement is also available in Greek, in Serbian (Cyrillic and Latin), and in French 

Urgent help for Syrian children in refugee camps-September 2013

On the occasion of the 17th ENOC Annual Conference held in Brussels in late September 2013, ENOC members adopted a joint statement on an urgent help required for Syrian children in refugee camps to avoid humanitarian catastrophe.

The statement is available in English and French here

Respect of the right of children in conflict with the law-October 2012

'Children in conflict with the law are children first and do not lose their human rights, including rights to speal treatment and protection, to education and to health services.' Calling on States to review laws and practices in the juvenile justice system area, ENOC members came to the conclusion that there are serious gaps and deficiences in States' policies to protect the needs, the interests and the rights of children in conflict with the law. 

The present position statement has been adopted on the occasion of the ENOC 16th Annual meeting in October 2012 in Cyprus.

Read the full statement in English here

Read the full statement in Hungarian here

Children and armed conflicts-January 2010

Following the alarming statistics of children being direct victims of armed conflicts of various nature and of children being forced to fight, ENOC urges all stakeholders to ensure respect of children's fundamental rights while wars breach all the rights of the child.

Click here to read the full statement

Statement on the 20th Anniversary of the CRC - November 2009

The year of 2009 is a highly symbolic but also a very challenging year for the rights of the child. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. What has changed since? What is the state of play of the rights of the child in Europe and abroad? There is a considerable progress achieved and the multiplication of ICRIs is only one of them however huge concerns remain unsolved. During the 13th Annual meeting held in September 2009 in Paris, ENOC adopted a statement in light of the upcoming 20th anniversary of the CRC on November 20th 2009.

Read the full statement in html or  Word format

Lire en Français

Statement on EU Return Directive - August 2008

"The European Network of Ombudspersons for Children is deeply concerned about the recent agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council of E.U. on the ‘Return’ Directive (18.6.2008) and calls on national governments to transpose it by respecting fully and without any exceptions the rights of children and the safeguards for their full enjoyment by foreign minors, especially those unaccompanied."

Read the full statement in html and Word 

Children with disabilities - November 2007

Statement prepared by ENOC during its Annual Meeting 2007 in Barcelona in light of the adoption of the new UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The statement calls on States to ratify the new Convention.

Read the full statement in html or Word

Violence against children - August 2007

Statement adopted in light of the upcoming presentation of the follow up report to the UN Study on Violence Against Children. This statement is calling on strong follow up to the UN Study, including the appointment of the Special Representative on Violence Against Children.

Read the full statement in html or word formats.

Unaccompanied Children - 2006

Statement adopted at the 2006 Annual Meeting that took place in Athens.
This statement is addressed in particular to the governments of all member-states. We also support and commend to our governments the General Comment N.6 (2005) of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on “Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside their Country of Origin”.

Read the Statement in html and Word format.

Corporal punishment - October 2006

The European Network of Ombudsmen for Children (ENOC) seeks an end to all corporal punishment of children in Europe

The European Network of Ombudsmen for Children (ENOC) urges the governments of all European countries, the European Union, the Council of Europe and other European institutions and non-governmental organisations concerned with children to work collectively and individually towards ending all corporal punishment of children.

To read the statement, click here.

See also ENOC's submission to the CRC General Day of Discussion in 2001.

Violence in a children's rights context - May 2005

ENOC Submission to the Europe and Central Asia Regional Consultation for the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence against children, Ljubljana 5 – 7 July 2005. ENOC is committed to working closely with the Council of Europe, whose strong human rights mechanisms have already done much to assert children’s human rights – including their rights to protection from all forms of violence.

Read the full statement.

Communication with children - November 2003

The right of the child to express his or her views, as expressed in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), is absolute.[1] Every child who is able to form his or her own opinions has the right to express those opinions in all matters that affect him or her. This right cannot be conditioned by considerations as to whether the expressing of those views is in accordance with the best interest of the child, as this right stems from the recognition of the child as an active subject of rights.

Read the full statement.

Juvenile Justice: Europe's Children's Champions challenge governments to respect young offenders’ rights - October 2003

Children in conflict with the law are still children first and do not lose their human rights, including rights to special treatment and protection, to education and to health.

We believe that current trends to reduce the age of criminal responsibility and to lock up more children at younger ages must be reversed. The treatment of young people placed in penal institutions in many of our countries is a scandal – breaching their fundamental human rights.

Read the full statement.

Childhood and Commercial pressure: statement on EU-proposal for a "Directive on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices"

Unfair business practices are recognised as a problem in all EU countries and harm consumers as well as respected companies with established business practices. Through the proposed new Directive, consumers' rights will be clearer and cross-border trade made simpler. The Directive establishes a single, common, general prohibition of unfair commercial practices distorting consumers' economic behaviour (Article 5).

Read the full statement.