Supplementary memorandum by the National
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
1. The NSPCC welcomes the opportunity to
respond to the Justice Committee's inquiry into "Justice
Issues in Europe—the Stockholm Programme". The NSPCC
will aim in its submission to make comments of a general and of
a specific nature on the provisions of the Stockholm programme
on issues related to the protection of children and the implementation
of children's rights.
2. The NSPCC considers that some aspects of child
sexual abuse and exploitation have European or international dimensions,
and can no longer only be effectively tackled by individual governments
acting alone. We have been campaigning on the need for improved
EU cooperation to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation
to complement and add value to national actions. In particular,
this work has focused on the risks to children resulting from
greater movement of people across borders, as well as in the rapidly
changing online world and the threats that that poses to children.
3. In this regard, the NSPCC welcomes the
draft Stockholm programme that was published by the Swedish Presidency
on 16 October 2009. The programme contains a number of significant
and positive proposals in relation to child protection and we
will closely monitor the Commission's legislative Work Programme
of 2010 to ensure that the proposals are followed up.
GENERAL COMMENTS
4. The NSPCC notes and endorses the Council's
recommendation that the European Commission ("the Commission")
submits an action plan in 2010 on the implementation of the Stockholm
Programme. In this regard, we will be working with the Commission
to ensure the proposed action plan has a clear timetable and implementation
procedure for the children's rights element of the programme.
As stated in the draft programme, we expect the Commission to
consult with children's rights NGOs on the relevant aspects of
the programme.
SPECIFIC PROVISIONS
IN RELATION
TO CHILD
PROTECTION
5. Of particular significance for the NSPCC
is the call for the European Council to adopt the Commission's
proposal on combating sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children
and child pornography. The NSPCC considers this proposal to be
a necessary move in order to enhance the protection from abuse
provided to children in the UK and beyond. Achieving agreement
on this Framework Decision (Framework Directive when Lisbon is
adopted) which has as its primary focus the implementation of
children's right to protection from abuse, must be prioritised
in 2010. The NSPCC calls on the UK government to work with the
Commission and other member states to ensure that a Framework
Decision is agreed by 2010, with its new legal basis.
6. The NSPCC has highlighted over a number of
years the need to ensure that information on convicted child sex
offenders can be exchanged between EU Member States, including
for use in recruitment of persons to positions working with children.
This question is considered in detail in our report "Protecting
children from sexual abuse in Europe: safer recruitment of workers
in a border-free Europe" (NSPCC, 2007)[87]
as well as a number of briefings over recent years.[88]
We therefore welcome the Council's recommendation that the European
Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) is evaluated with
particular reference to introducing vetting measures for those
who work for children.
7. The NSPCC also welcomes the reference
to some harmonisation of criminal sanctions for cross-border crimes
of sexual exploitation of children. We hope to work with the Commission,
drawing on good practice from the UK to establish common definitions
and penalties in this area.
8. It is disappointing that the draft strategy
does not explicitly call for the EU to adopt a strategy on children's
rights. Many areas of EU policy-making affect children, as noted
in the Commission's 2006 Communication "Towards a European
strategy on the rights of the child".[89]
It is essential that the EU ensure that its activities are in
line with children's rights, as set out in the UN Convention on
the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), as well as in the EU's Charter
of Fundamental Rights, Article 24 of which concerns children's
rights. All 27 EU Member States have ratified the UNCRC.[90]
The NSPCC considers that the adoption and implementation of the
children rights strategy must be a priority for the new European
Commission.
9. Finally, the NSPCC is encouraged to see
a number of positive measures in relation to child trafficking.
Trafficked children are amongst the most vulnerable in our societies
and in this regard we welcome the proposal to establish an EU
Anti-Trafficking Coordinator (ATC). We would like to see the ATC
have a clear mandate on protecting trafficked children. Furthermore,
in relation to the safe return of trafficked children, we wish
to highlight that particular attention should be paid to the process
in which a decision is made to return an unaccompanied minor whose
asylum application has failed. The making of such a decision should
seek to balance the immigration considerations (failed asylum
claim) and the best interests of the individual child. This includes
consideration of child specific forms of persecution in the country
of origin.
Naureen Khan
European Advisor, on behalf of the NSPCC
2 November 2009
87 http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/Findings/protectingchildrenfromsexualabuseineurope_wda51227.html Back
88
Please see www.nspcc.org.uk/europe to download relevant briefings. Back
89
COM (2006) 367 final. Back
90
In addition, the as yet unratified Lisbon Treaty includes children's
rights as one of the EU's objectives. Back
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