Abstract
The European Union (EU) has embraced the promotion of children’s rights, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), as a key objective of its external policy. This chapter critically examines the EU’s role as an international children’s rights actor by assessing the effectiveness of EU external actions aimed at upholding children’s rights. It is demonstrated that children’s rights have emerged as an entrenched EU accession condition, particularly due to the EU’s intervention in child protection in Romania before 2007. The EU has also endeavoured to address the violation of children’s rights via the employment of thematic programmes, such as the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) and Investing in People (IiP), which are part of EU development and democratisation policies. The EU’s external policy on children’s rights, however, has faced shortcomings, such as the promotion of a narrow interpretation (a ‘needs-based’ approach) of children’s rights, ineffective mainstreaming, lack of expertise, and the complexity of translating abstract principles into effective measures. Despite these shortcomings, the EU has emerged as a significant international children’s rights actor, and its actions to advance children’s rights have attached greater salience and political visibility to the plight of children across the world.
The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child and its two Optional Protocols form the core of the EU’s external action on the rights of the child. We will continue to translate our commitments into concrete actions… We will continue to systematically bring up children’s rights issues with our partner countries and within the United Nations, to seek to respond to children’s rights and needs in our development cooperation and to cooperate with civil society (Baroness Catherine Ashton 2010)
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Notes
- 1.
Article 24 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights reads:
‘Children shall have the right to such protection and care as is necessary for their well-being. They may express their views freely. Such views shall be taken into consideration on matters which concern them in accordance with their age and maturity. In all actions relating to children, whether taken by public authorities or private institutions, the child’s best interests must be a primary consideration. Every child shall have the right to maintain on a regular basis a personal relationship and direct contact with both his or her parents, unless that is contrary to his or her interests’ (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU 2000, p. 13).
- 2.
Author’s interview with Commission official in at DG Enlargement, Brussels, May 2010.
- 3.
Author’s interview with an international child rights expert Commission official at DG Enlargement, Brussels, May 2010.
- 4.
Regulation (EC) No 1905/2006: Establishing a Financing instrument for Development Cooperation.
- 5.
Author’s interview with UNICEF, Brussels. July 2011.
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Iusmen, I. (2013). The EU and the Global Promotion of Children’s Rights Norms. In: Boening, A., Kremer, JF., van Loon, A. (eds) Global Power Europe - Vol. 2. Global Power Shift. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32416-1_19
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