ENOC Bureau releases a Statement on Children’s rights in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak

While we all try to adjust to an unprecedented situation affecting countries worldwide, Ombudspersons and Commissioners for Children across Europe face a new challenge: how to continue upholding children’s rights in the current context of restrictions to address the COVID-19 outbreak.

The ENOC Bureau releases today a statement urging States’ governments, the European Commission and the Council of Europe to undertake all appropriate actions to ensure that the rights of all children, as guaranteed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the General Comments of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, are respected during the COVID-19 healthcare crisis, especially in the areas of:

• Information and Participation (Arts 12 and 13 UNCRC)
• Protection from violence and abuse (Arts 19 and 34 UNCRC)
• Rights to health and development, to benefit from social security, and an adequate standard of living (Arts 24, 26, and 27 UNCRC)
• Education (Arts 28 and 29 UNCRC)

The rapidly evolving situation will continue to massively affect children in general and aggravate the conditions of the most vulnerable groups. ENOC and its members will continue to closely monitor the situation of all children, as well as the responses from local, national and European authorities during and after the end of isolation measures. We will continue to share critical information, good practices and experiences to keep children and their families safe and guarantee children’s rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and other relevant European and International Human Rights instruments.

Read the Statement in English, in French, in Dutch, in Greek and in Italian.