The seminar was organised under the title “Improving the well-being of young children in Europe: the role of early years services”. It was hosted by MEP Catherine Stihler and organised in cooperation with the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (IRC), who will soon be issuing a Report Card N°8 on “The transition to Childcare - early childhood education and care”. Seminar report The event was attended by around 70 participants. Speakers included Eva Jespersen from the IRC, John Bennett who was a consultant for the drafting of the report card and co-author of the OECD report “Starting Strong II”, and Peter Moss, Editor of Children in Europe Magazine. The following discussant panel on “Early years in the EU policy context” consisted of the MEPs Catherine Stihler (PSE) and Edit Bauer (EPP-ED), Marie-Anne Paraskevas from the Inclusion Unit of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Tomasz Czajkowski, member of the European Economic and Social Committee, and Maria Herczog, member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. On this occasion Eurochild also launched a background paper on “Improving the well-being of young children in Europe: the role of early years services”, prepared in conjunction with John Bennet. Seminar presentations:  Bronwen Cohen
Eva Jespersen John Bennett Peter Moss Mainstreaming Children’s Rights in EU Policy
9 October 2007 The conference “Mainstreaming Children’s Rights in EU Policy”, a joint event between Euronet - the European Children’s Network and Eurochild, hosted by Inger Segelström, MEP from Sweden, took place in the European Parliament in Brussels. It was attended by around 80 participants and was followed by a drinks reception. Please find here the Agenda and Final Report of the event. Here you can view all the documents which were presented or distributed during the event in the EP: Joint Eurochild-Euronet Discussion Paper on "Mainstreaming children's rights in EU policy" Eurochild Discussion Paper on a Child Rights approach to child poverty Presentation by Rebecca O'Donnel, Save the Children (PowerPoint Presentation & Text in PDF format) Presentation by Elda Moreno, Council of Europe Intervention by Jaap E. Doek EP draft report on an EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child Amendments to the EP draft report Why involve us? Children’s participation in the policy-making process
7 June 2006 In advance of the publication of the Communication on the Rights of the Child, to be released by the EC in July, Eurochild organised a reception in the European Parliament. On this occasion, a group of 16 children and young people at risk of social exclusion from 6 European countries (Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Latvia, Portugal and the UK) presented their experiences of participating in political decision-making at a local or national level, as well as their demands and arguments as to their involvement in all processes concerning them - as stated in Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The children were coming from several different projects and organisations: the National Children & Youth Board in the UK the Youth Migration Service in Lübben, Germany a youth out-reach project in Göppingen, Germany the Children’s Parliament in Cyprus the Children and Young People’s Assembly in Wales “Funky Dragon” Latvian Save the Children CEBI Foundation, Portugal a centre for unaccompanied minors (Minor Ndako vzw), Belgium This event represented a unique opportunity for them to present their views and concerns at the European level. The children and young people also drafted a “Manifesto”, explaining the reasons why they should be involved, the advantages for society, as well as the conditions needed for them to participate.
Their presentation was followed by a panel discussion with Lissy Gröner, Member of the European Parliament (PES, DE) and host of the event, Catriona Williams, President of Eurochild, and Adam Tyson, Head of the Social Inclusion Unit of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities of the European Commission.
The event was attended by some 100 participants from the European Institutions, national representations in Brussels, NGOs and others. In order to fiew the full report from the event with pictures taken, please click here. In order to view the "Manifesto" developed by the children and young people on this occasion, please click here. Can you hear me?
2 March 2005 In its first Reception in the European Parliament socially disadvantaged children and young people presented their views to the invited MEPs. To view a short video from the reception, please click here. To view the "Manifesto" the children and young people developed on this occasion, please click here. |
