Child rights come first. Measures to ensure child protection and participation apply to all children in the EU. This brochure guides you to relevant FRA reports and tools that can support you when promoting and protecting the rights of all children in the EU.
The right to access justice and all other relevant procedural rights are not just rights in themselves; they also protect against violations of every other right. Respect for children’s rights in the area of justice is therefore essential. International treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, European Union (EU) secondary law, and national legislation provide a number of relevant rights.
FRA helps EU institutions and countries in the European Union (EU), so-called EU Member States, to ensure that the rights of all people including children are respected. It collects information about rights across the EU and gives advice on how to improve the conditions of vulnerable people such as migrants, asylum seekers, victims of violence, racism and hate crime.
Each year, an estimated 2.5 million children go through legal procedures. Two-thirds of children do not receive adequate information during proceedings. Their understanding of their rights and procedures is rarely checked. The behaviour of legal professionals affects to what degree children feel safe and comfortable. These videos provide practical guidelines about how to ensure justice is child-friendly.
European non-discrimination law, as constituted in particular by the EU non-discrimination directives, and Article 14 of and Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights, prohibits discrimination across a range of contexts and grounds. This handbook examines European non-discrimination law stemming from these two sources as complementary systems, drawing on them interchangeably to the extent that they overlap, while highlighting differences where these exist.
Children deprived of parental care found in another EU Member State other than their own aims to strengthen the response of all relevant actors for child protection. The protection of those girls and boys is paramount and an obligation for EU Member States, derived from the international and European legal framework. The guide includes a focus on child victims of trafficking and children at risk, implementing an action set forth in the 2017 Communication stepping up EU action against trafficking in human beings, and takes into account identified patterns, including with respect to the gender specificity of the crime.
The Coronavirus pandemic continues to interrupt everyday life in the EU in unprecedented ways. But the way it affects our societies is shifting. As governments gradually lift some of the measures put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19, new fundamental rights concerns arise: how to ensure that the rights to life and health are upheld as daily life transitions to a ‘new normal’. This Bulletin looks at declarations of states of emergency, or equivalent, and how they came under scrutiny. It considers the impact on fundamental rights in important areas of daily life, and includes a thematic focus on the pandemic's impact on older people
Michael O'Flaherty outlines fundamental rights considerations when developing technological responses to public health, as he introduces the focus of FRA's next COVID-19 bulletin.
Based on the lessons learned from relocation experiences and on existing international and EU legal standards, FRA has developed a number of practical suggestions for the adjustment of relocation efforts to the protection needs of unaccompanied children. This guidance aims to be a practical tool for Member States that wish to engage in the relocation of unaccompanied children and in any future responsibility-sharing mechanisms, and to gain knowledge on how this can be done while respecting the child’s best interests.
In recent years, thousands of girls and boys have reached Europe without their parents, and sought international protection. Many of them experienced violence, abuse and neglect in their home countries, and while in transit. They have the right to be protected in line with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights, and European Union law. This report explores the challenges and good practices gathered in the implementation of such relocation programmes. Based on information FRA collected in 10 EU Member States, it aims to help national authorities to support the relocation of unaccompanied children by taking measures that are fully rights compliant and practically feasible.
Child rights come first. Measures to ensure child protection and participation apply to all children in the EU. This brochure guides you to relevant FRA reports and tools that can support you when promoting and protecting the rights of all children in the EU.
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) urges Member States to agree on a simple and practical workflow as soon as possible, to avoid lack of clarity and delays in the relocation process. This paper provides practical suggestions on relocation of unaccompanied children from Greece, building on lessons learned from previous mandatory and voluntary relocation schemes. The paper provides FRA input on the initiative of the European Commission and a group of Member States to relocate unaccompanied children.
European societies are not getting any younger! It is a simple truth we must face both about ourselves and Europe as a whole. In two generations, by 2080, those aged 65 or above will account for almost 30% of the European Union’s population.
Over 2.5 million people applied for international protection in the 28 EU Member States in 2015 and 2016. Many of those who were granted some form of protection are young people, who are likely to stay and settle in the EU. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights interviewed some of them, as well as professionals working with them in 15 locations across six EU Member States: Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Sweden. This report presents the result of FRA’s fieldwork research, focusing on young people between the ages of 16 and 24.
In this edition Michael O'Flaherty reports back from his visit to the asylum seeker facility in Lesbos and calls for the support of all EU Member States to improve in particular the situation of unaccompanied children.
Individuals who are not entitled to stay in the European Union are typically subject to being returned to their home countries. This includes children who are not accompanied by their parents or by another primary caregiver. But returning such children, or finding another durable solution, is a delicate matter, and doing so in full compliance with fundamental rights protections can be difficult. This focus paper therefore aims to help national authorities involved in return-related tasks, including child-protection services, to ensure full rights compliance.
Based on FRA’s second large-scale survey on experiences and perceptions of antisemitism, this report focuses on the perspectives of young Jewish Europeans (aged 16-34) living in twelve EU Member States. It first describes this particular group and takes a look at defining antisemitism and understanding the place of Israel in it.
Fundamental Rights Report 2019: Not all children benefit equally from efforts to guarantee child rights. Some groups face particular difficulties.
How much progress can we expect in a decade? Various rights-related instruments had been in place for 10 years in 2018, prompting both sobering and encouraging reflection on this question.
The year 2018 brought both progress and setbacks in terms of fundamental rights protection. FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2019 reviews major developments in the field, identifying both achievements and remaining areas of concern. This publication presents FRA’s opinions on the main developments in the thematic areas covered, and a synopsis of the evidence supporting these opinions.
In the latest edition of his video blog, FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty talks about discrimination on the basis of age in the EU and calls for more respect for Human- and Fundamental Rights of older people.
This set of variables maps the various patterns concerning age requirements for children to acquire rights across the EU.
Almost 25 million children under 18 are at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU. Poverty deprives children of educational opportunities, childcare, access to health care, adequate food and housing, family support and even protection from violence. This report outlines data and survey findings that highlight the magnitude of child poverty in the EU, but also presents tools available to counter this phenomenon and keep track of progress made.
This video blog by FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty is released periodically and will address burning fundamental rights themes.