POSITION PAPERS 2021
- September 2021
COVID-19: learning for the future; Children on the move and Pushbacks
In 2021, ENOC focused on assessing the impact of states’ responses to COVID-19 on children’s rights in Europe. Building up on what has been completed in 2020 in the area of Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) , ENOC through its membership has mapped how COVID-19 emergency legislation and practices have affected children’s human rights and wellbeing and what are the lessons learnt to ensure a better preparedness and capability to respond effectively to a similar challenge in the future. This work was led by the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Children in Greece supported by a specially created thematic Working Group. A second Working Group adressing an ad hoc issue related to children's rights in the context of pushbacks prepared an ENOC statement on this additional theme. The two statements have been unanimously adopted at the ENOC General Assembly held on 29th September 2021 both in Athens, Greece and online.
ENOC Statement on COVID-19: learning for the future: English, Spanish, Greek
ENOC Statement on children on the move and pushbacks: English, French.
ENYA Young People's recommendations on COVID-19: learning for the future: English, Spanish.
ENOC Synthesis Report on COVID-19 and children's rights: English.
POSITION PAPERS 2020
- November 2020
Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA)
In 2020, ENOC extensively worked on Child Rights Impact Assessment by exploring how and to what extent CRIAs have been developed and conducted in the different ENOC member countries and regions. The work on CRIA was led by the Office of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland supported by a specially created thematic Working Group. This working group worked out the terms of the ENOC Statement and designed a Common Framework of Reference to help ENOC members undertake CRIAs. The ENOC 2020 position statement and Common Framework of Reference on Child Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) have been unanimously adopted by the ENOC Annual General Assembly held digitally on 18 November 2020.
ENOC Statement on Child Rights Impact Assessment: English, French, Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Norwegian, and Greek.
ENOC Common Framework of Reference on Child Rights Impact Assessment: English, Spanish, Basque and Catalan, Portuguese, and Norwegian.
ENYA Young People's recommendations on Child Rights Impact Assessment: English.
POSITION PAPERS 2019
- September 2019
Children's rights in the digital environment; Ending child immigration detention.
The ENOC 2019 activities mainly focused on children's rights in the digital environment. A special Working Group, led by the office of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, was set up to look extensively into the theme and to support the drafting of an ENOC statement on the priority theme. A second Working Group adressing an ad hoc issue related to ending child immigration detention has also been operating throughout the year to prepare the terms of the ENOC statement on this additional theme. The two statements have been unanimously adopted at the ordinary annual meeting of the ENOC General Assembly held on 27th September 2019 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
ENOC Statement on Children's Rights in the digital environment: English, French, Serbian (cyrilic), Serbian (latin), Norwegian
ENYA Young People's recommendations on Children's Rights in the digital environment: English, Serbian (cyrilic), Serbian (latin)
ENOC Statement on Ending Child Immigration Detention: English, Serbian (cyrilic), Serbian (latin)
POSITION PAPERS 2018
- September 2018
Child Mental Health; Intercountry Adoption; the Right to Education of Children on the Move...
The ENOC 2018 activities mainly focused on the theme of children’s mental health. A special Working Group, led by the French Children’s Defender’s Office, was set up to look extensively into the theme and to work out the terms of the ENOC statement on Child Mental Health. Two additional Working Groups on two ad-hoc themes, intercountry adoption and the right to education of children on the move, have also been operating during the year to prepare the terms of the ENOC statements on those two themes. All the three statements have been submitted to comments by ENOC members, discussed at a preliminary session and unanimously adopted at the ordinary annual meeting of the ENOC General Assembly held on 21st September 2018 in Paris, France.
ENOC Statement on Child Mental Health: English, French
ENYA Young People's recommendations on Child Mental Health: English.
ENOC Statement on Intercountry Adoption: English
ENOC Statement on the Right to Education of Children on the Move: English, French, Serbian (cyrilic), Serbian (latin)
POSITION PAPERS 2017
- October 2017
Comprehensive Relationship and Sexuality Education: the right of children to be informed
The ENOC 21st General Assembly, held on 21 September 2017 in Helsinki, Finland, adopted a common position statement on Comprehensive Relationship and Sexuality Education. Despite the large variety of practices and standards in the different ENOC member countries and regions, ENOC members, inspired by their national experiences, agreed on 5 key recommendations.
The statement is available in English, French and Serbian.
The 2017 recommendations of the European Network of Young Advisors (ENYA) on Sexuality and Relationship Education adopted in Paris in June 2017 during the ENYA Forum are also availables in English, French, Serbian and Greek.
POSITION PAPERS 2016
- September 2016
Equal Opportunities for All Children in Education
The ENOC 20th General Assembly, held on 22 September 2016 in Vilnius, Lithuania, adopted a common position statement on Equality in Education. Based on the ground experience of ENOC members and despite the large variety of practices and standards in the different ENOC member countries and regions, ENOC members agreed on 11 crucial recommendations and provided data and evidence for each of them. The impact of austerity and budget cuts on the right/access to education of the most disadvantaged groups of children, the refugee crisis and the right/access to education of children and young people affected by being on the move, the benefits of early childhood education and care, the alarming numbers of early school leavers, the need to tackle inter and intra school segregation, the need to train teachers on equal opportunities in education, are among others the vital recommendations of the statement.The statement is available in English, French, Greek, Spanish and Catalan.
POSITION PAPERS 2015
- September 2015
Violence against Children
On the occasion of ENOC 19th Annual Conference and General Assembly meeting held in Amsterdam/The Hague in September 2015, ENOC members adopted a statement on Violence against Children. The statement lists 10 critical recommendations to tackle violence against children and urges national governments and European institutions to take appropriate actions to implement the recommended measures.The statement is available in English.
POSITION PAPERS 2014
- Octobre 2014
Children and Austerity
On the occasion of ENOC 18th Annual Conference held in Edinburgh in late October 2014, ENOC members produced a joint Statement to express their deep concern regarding the impact of austerity and poverty on the realisation of children and young people’s rights.The recent financial and economic crises and state responses to them have had significant detrimental effects on children’s enjoyment of a wide range of their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).The statement is available in English, Greek, French, Catalan, and in Spanish.
The Greek Ombudsman's Office also produced a child friendly version of the statement in Greek.
POSITION PAPERS 2013
Children on the move: children first !
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.
The statement is available in English, Greek, Serbian Cyrillic, Serbian Latin and French.
Urgent help for syrian children in refugee camps
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.
POSITION PAPERS 2012
Respect of the right of children in conflict with the law
“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 deficiencies 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.
POSITION PAPERS 2010
Children And Armed Conflicts
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.
The statement is available in English.
POSITION PAPERS 2009
the 20th Anniversary of the CRC
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.
POSITION PAPERS 2008
EU return directive
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.
The statement is available in English.
POSITION PAPERS 2007
Children with disabilities
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.
The statement is available in English.
Violence Against Children
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.
The statement is available in English.
POSITION PAPERS 2006
Unaccompanied children
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”.
The statement is available in English.
POSITION PAPERS 2005
Violence in a children's rights context
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.
The statement is available in English.
POSITION PAPERS 2003
Communication with children
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. 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.
The statement is available in English.
Juvenile justice: europe's children's champions challenge governments to respect young offenders’ rights
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
The statement is available in English.
Childhood and commercial pressure: 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).
The statement is available in English.
POSITION PAPERS 2001
Corporal punishment
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.
The statement is available in English.
See also ENOC's submission to the CRC General Day of Discussion in 2001.
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