Ref. Ares(2013)3769525 - 19/12/2013
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS AND THE ENLARGEMENT PROCESS
CONTRIBUTION OF DG ENLARGEMENT
GROUP OF COMMISSIONERS ON FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, ANTI-DISCRIMINATION AND
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
BRUSSELS, APRIL 2005
Introduction
Membership in the European Union requires among other criteria that the candidate
country has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law,
human rights and respect for and protection of minorities. These so-called political
criteria have been developed by the European Council in Copenhagen in 1993. The
European Commission and in particular DG Enlargement have throughout the accession
process closely monitored the progress of all the candidate countries in that respect and
published the results in the Opinions and annual reports. Monitoring continues also with
regard to the potential candidate countries in South-East Europe.
Children’s rights form part of the human right issues which have to be respected by
candidate countries as integral element of the common European values referred to in
Article 6 of the EU Treaty. There are various human rights instruments on European and
UN level which either include protection of children or address specific children’s rights
under economic, social or cultural aspects and in the context of protection of minorities,
such as the European Charter of Fundamental Rights signed in December 2000 and
meanwhile integrated into the future Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, the
European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
signed in Rome on 4 November 1950 and also the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child adopted on 20 November 1989. These instruments are considered
inseparable of the realisation of the objectives of the Union and, therefore, they are
crucial references and benchmarks for the Commission to assess the progress made by
candidate countries.
Furthermore, as regards financial assistance, the Commission has always given high
importance to projects that aim at improving the situation and rights of children in
candidate countries, particularly in the area of childcare, education or specific assistance
to disadvantaged groups such as Roma.
Monitoring children’s rights
The Commission’s “Regular Reports on Candidate countries progress towards
accession”, drawing on all available sources of information including reports by UN and
other international organisations as well as NGOs, have, over the years, underlined
concern on the situation in one or more candidate countries about the following issues:
Roma children
The Roma population is significantly younger than the majority populations in their
home countries. Currently between 25 and 30 percent of Roma are under 15 years of age,
in contrast with 10 percent for the majority population.
This matches with the momentous fact that children and adolescents in Roma
communities are particularly exposed to poverty, exclusion, social stigma and
discrimination. In many countries in EU25, acceding States as well as current and
potential candidate countries, they are often excluded from mainstream educational
institutions and frequently placed in “special schools” or in segregated classes where
they receive substandard education on the ground that they are considered as socially and
culturally handicapped.
The Commission has consistently emphasised the need to combat discrimination of
Roma children and urged governments to address the problem of their excessive presence
in special schools through appropriate policies and adequate resources. During the last
few years more than one third of a total amount of almost € 100 million PHARE funds
for Roma communities were targeted at improvement of education. Although the
situation has started to improve, there remains still a lot to be done at all relevant levels.
Other international organisations, international financing institutions and the civil society
consider the education of Roma children as one of several key priorities. In the
framework of the recently launched “Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015”, the World
Bank together with other actors has established the “Roma Education Fund” which aims
at systemic policy change in the area of education, by improving access to and quality of
appropriate education and implementing integration and desegregation. A Donors’
conference in December 2004 in Paris collected almost € 50 million for that purpose.
Apart from those efforts, the European Union remains the largest donor for Roma, taking
into account not only continuous PHARE support but also the even more substantial
structural funds for EU25, as from 2007 including Bulgaria and Romania, which despite
mainstreaming of programmes and actions will provide considerable support for Roma in
the field of education.
Children in childcare institutions (residential care)
Children who cannot live with their parents, whether due to abandonment, orphaned,
neglect or simple poverty, are an especially vulnerable group. Whereas most Western
European states were replacing institutional care by substitute care, such as foster care,
day care and other forms of assistance to families in the first half of the 20th century, in
Eastern European states there was until 1989 a strong focus on institutional care.
Demographic policies led to a high number of children in large residential institutions.
Efforts to change this situation started immediately after 1989, although with different
speed and success. DG Enlargement has played a key role in encouraging reform and
funding the childcare sector in Romania and also supported the reform of childcare in
Bulgaria.
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For example, in Romania, since the end of 2000, a multi-annual Phare programme, with a
total value of € 59.5 million has started to support the efforts of the Romanian
government to reform child protection and finance the closure of large old-style childcare
institutions by replacing them with alternative child protection services. Significant
progress has been made: some 90 large institutions were closed and replaced by over
300 alternative child protection services. This programme was accompanied by a large
public awareness campaign to inform the public at large of existing alternatives to
institutionalisation.
Trafficking of children
Several candidate countries are faced with a dramatic situation of child prostitution,
sexual abuse and trafficking of children, which is closely linked with the opening of the
borders. The EU and candidate countries have started addressing these problems. It is,
however, increasingly important to stop the demand and to attack the problem at the
roots.
Abuse of international adoption system
Concerning intercountry adoptions the Commission’s policy is univocally in the interest
of the child.
In Romania, for example, in the end of 90s, the abuse of the adoption system, which had
become close to a market for children, became apparent. After criticism of the European
Parliament and the European Commission in 2000–2001, the Romanian government
temporarily suspended intercountry adoptions. Serious efforts were undertaken to
modernise the Romanian child protection, also with EU financial assistance. An
Independent Panel of EU Experts on Family Law was set up by the Commission in
December 2002 in order to examine if the new Romanian draft legislation on children’s
rights and adoption was in compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child and the European Convention on Human Rights, and with practices in the EU
Member States. Currently, the new laws no longer foresee intercountry adoption as a
general child protection measure.
The fact that Romania halted intercountry adoptions has led to increased pressure on the
other countries for adoptable children. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a consistent
approach of the Commission among the different countries of the region in line with
international instruments such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Child labour
Among the candidate countries, Turkey still needs to address the problem of child labour,
although the number of working children in the 12–17 age bracket has declined
significantly from about 1 million in mid-2002 to 770 000 in mid-2003. Although the age
limit for child labour has increased from 12 to 15 years since 1971, a significant number
of children under 15 are still employed, in particular in small enterprises and in
agriculture. They are thus denied the right to education.
The Government of Turkey has ratified the ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms
of Child Labour which calls for immediate and effective measures to secure the
prohibition and elimination of these forms of labour for all children under the age of 18
as a matter of urgency. In 2002, the Turkish government initiated the development of an
explicit policy on child labour with the aim of eradicating the worst forms of child labour
within a defined period of time. Moreover, in ratifying the European Convention on the
Exercise of Children’s Rights in June 2002, Turkey demonstrated its commitment
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towards the protection of children. However, legislation concerning child labour should
be fully aligned with the
acquis and also include provisions to protect children working
in sectors currently not covered, such as agriculture.
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Annex
EC FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AND CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
Minorities
Access to education is an important right of the child. The Commission’s regular reports
on Candidate Countries’ progress towards accession have underlined the need to ensure
equal access of minority children to educational opportunities. In Central and Eastern
European countries, school attendance by especially Roma children is much lower than
for other children and they are all too often segregated in ‘Roma schools’ or sent to
special schools for mentally handicapped children. Financial support has therefore been
provided under the Phare programme to ensure effective access to education for Roma
children, for example:
• In
Bulgaria, Phare provided € 500,000 in 1999 for a Roma project, including a
component to increase Roma children’s access to education.
Furthermore, financial support was provided to improve school attendance by
Roma children by removing economic and cultural barriers at pre-school and
primary level, increase the number of skilled teachers working in a multi-cultural
environment, and introduce a nationwide multi-cultural content revised
curriculum (part of a € 1,65 million project under Phare 2001). Measures
(institution building and investment) aiming at fostering access of Roma children
to education are being continued under the multi-annual Phare 2004–2006
programme.
• In
Romania, Phare provided € 7 million in 2001 and € 9 million in 2003 for a
project to improve access to education for disadvantaged groups, with a special
focus on Roma. The programme will be continued under the multi-annual Phare
2004–2006 programme.
Turkey
In
Turkey, € 5.3 million EC assistance is foreseen for eradicating the worst forms of
child labour. The project will enhance the national and regional capacity for actively
removing children from the worst forms of child labour and preventing “at risk” children
from beginning such work. The project will provide capacity building support to the
Child Labour Unit of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, in particular
reinforcing its policy development and implementation skills, field capacity and project
management skills. Provincial Programme Coordination Offices (PPCOs) will be
established in the seven provinces selected for programme implementation. The PPCOs
will be established with sufficient infrastructure and human resources to provide
educational, withdrawal, preventative, monitoring and counselling services to working
children and their families. Comprehensive child labour monitoring systems will be
established to refer child labour cases. Education and counselling services will also be
provided to a number of targeted children.
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Western Balkans
Under the CARDS Regional programme 2003 on Democratic Stabilisation / Support to
Civil Society Organisation, the Commission funds a project “Juvenile Commitment to
Democracy – Schools of Democracy and Youth Parliaments” in
Bosnia and
Herzegovina (€ 138 383). The project has the purpose to put an end to passiveness, non-
involvement and isolation of young people in school settings, as well as in the local
communities especially in the countries of South Eastern Europe; to intensify the co-
operation among pupils from elementary and secondary schools, and generally young
people with non-governmental organizations, municipal authorities and corresponding
bodies; ensure involvement of youth in the activities of the community; and their
influence in the decision making process.
Moreover, a “Youth Voice Project” in
Serbia and
Kosovo funded under the EU CARDS
Regional programme 2003 (€ 146 801) and starting shortly has the objective to provide
means for youth to become active in civil society. Through education, participation in
local government and expression of ideas, 15–19 year old young people from Serbia,
Kosovo/Albanian and Kosovo/Serbian will get support to begin to be active members of
society, improve their ability to critically analyse their local situations and their role in
the society, be more tolerant of persons of other ethnicities, and, therefore, promote
tolerance and democracy.
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SUPPORT TO REFORM OF CHILD PROTECTION POLICY IN ROMANIA AND BULGARIA
Romania
The European Union has played a key role in encouraging reform and funding the
childcare sector in Romania. The progress achieved has been widely acknowledged and
Romania’s child protection is considered nowadays a model for the region.
Some € 100 million were spent initially on improving conditions in institutions and
subsequently on preparing and funding reform policy and projects. In 2001, the EU
started a multi-annual support for the reform of the sector, through grants under the
PHARE programme. A budget of € 59.5 million has been allocated to the Government to
fund local projects creating childcare services leading to closure of large residential
institutions and a nationwide public awareness campaign with the message “A Children’s
Home Is not a Real Home” to inform people of alternatives to institutionalisation.
Implementation has begun in 2001 and will continue until 2006. Special attention is
given to closure of large institutions for very young children and for children with special
needs, by replacing them by alternative child care.
The 2004 Regular Report on Romania’s progress towards Accession acknowledges that
Romania made significant progress with the reform of child protection through the
closure of large old-style institutions and the creation of alternative care. The total
number of children in residential care is 37 000. Some 85 large institutions remain, most
of which are providers of residential special education. In general living conditions are
appropriate. Due attention should be given to the exercise of parental rights and to
facilitating contact between children in public care and their parents where this is in the
interest of the child.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria is confronted with the same issue of over-institutionalisation of children. The
Commission has provided financial aid to alleviate the humanitarian situation of children
in institutions during the economic crisis in 1997 and 1998.
In 2000 the National Assembly adopted the Child Protection Act, which creates a
National Agency for Child Protection responsible for organising and co-ordinating the
implementation of child protection state policies, including the preparation and
implementation of national and regional programmes to ensure child protection. Under
the law, children may be placed in the care of special institutions only when all
possibilities of remaining in a family environment are exhausted. Various strategies and
action plans aiming at ensuring conditions conducive for the observance of children’s
rights are in place.
The European Commission has supported Bulgaria’s efforts to reform the childcare
system so as to systematically reduce the number of children in institutional care in
particular through developing alternative social services aimed at children and families.
Assistance has been provided to improve policies and the provision of care for socially
marginalised children – including a significant number of Roma children. Support and
training has been provided to the national State Agency for Child Protection, the
Bulgarian body charged with overseeing child welfare reform, and local Child Protection
Departments. The Commission also aimed to support the Bulgarian Government in the
design of alternative forms of child care and in the reform of the management and care of
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children in a number of selected homes. Other projects are being implemented to
improve social services for disabled, to increase school attendance by Roma children and
social integration of vulnerable groups.
The 2004 Regular Report on Bulgaria’s progress towards Accession registered
significant progress in adoption of the legislative framework related to child welfare.
However, despite a number of efforts, the living conditions of children placed in
institutions in some cases continue to be inadequate. There is no comprehensive
approach to the closure of institutions on the basis of agreed criteria and to develop and
promote alternative forms of care.
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