https://www.juliewardmep.eu/about

BY JULIE WARD – UK MEP – Julie is a Labour and Co-operative Party Member of the European Parliament for the North West of England, covering Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester. As such she is a member of the European Parliamentary Labour Party and, in turn, part of the second largest group in the European Parliament, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. Julie Ward serves on the Parliament’s Culture & Education Committee, the Regional Development Committee and the Committee on Gender Equality and Women’s Rights. She is also a member of the the Labour Party’s Policy Commission on Education and Children.

United Nations Commission on the Status of Women – Session 60 – Panel

Missing Children: Disappearances, Abductions & Exploitation

Introduction:  The promotion and the protection of children’s rights are enshrined in the EU Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. While Member States have the primary responsibility on children’s rights, past EU action and legislation have clearly made a difference – from protecting children from violence, sexual abuse, trafficking to addressing discrimination and exclusion. Common action at EU level is still necessary to live up to the new challenges and ensure better protection for all children, especially the most vulnerable.

1. What does it mean to be a champion for children’s right in the European Parliament

Role and aim of the intergroup in the EP:

– to mainstream children’s rights across the work of the EP

– to promote children’s rights across EP’s policies and activities

– to raise awareness of children’s rights and how EU policy, legislation and funds affect the lives of children in Europe and globally

– to engage children in decision making, monitoring and evaluation through promoting their involvement within MEP’s constituency and in EU debates

Concrete actions from MEPs

– Legislative and parliamentary work

Concretely, Members of the intergroup make sure to promote the issue of children’s rights in their respective committees and coordinate among them to push the issues on the different agendas.

They do so through:

– tabling AM to relevant reports and opinions and being a link member in their respective committee

Particularly relevant committees: LIBE, CULT, DEVE, EMPL, AFET, FEMM

– submitting written questions to the Council and the Commission

– putting forward written declarations and encouraging their colleagues in the Parliament to support the initiatives in favour of the rights of the child

– using the budget control competence of the EP to monitor and track funding related to children’s rights

–  Their other activities

Members of the intergroup are also champion of the children rights and can promote the issues through other activities like organising events and exhibitions in the EP (example of CATS) to raise awareness around the issue, or taking part of campaigns in partnership with NGOs and other institutional partners such as Eurochild, UNICEF, Save the Children, World Vision, Children of Prisoners, etc.

MEPs come into public office with a range of experiences in their fields of interests. By maintaining links with local, regional, national and international actors and organisation’s they can have greater currency in respect of credibility, speaking about real world situations and providing a platform for the voices of marginalised people such as children. Visiting projects on the ground or problem areas in order to see for themselves the challenges and solutions is important especially when this adds to knowledge and informs parliamentary work.

2. What the EU and the EP do regarding Missing Children in particular

2.1 EU cooperation and civil society initiatives

116 000 – EU wide Hotline
In November 2010 the Commission adopted a Communication ‘Dial 116 000: The European hotline for missing children‘. Its objective is:

• to renew the call on the EU countries to implement the missing children hotline as a matter of priority;
• to ensure the same high quality of service throughout the EU.

When institutional cooperation is not enough, other initiatives are set up:

MISSING CHILDREN EUROPE
Missing Children Europe is the European federation for missing and sexually exploited children. We represent a network of 30 NGOs in 24 countries in Europe. Their mission is to protect children from any harmful situation that may lead to, or result from, them going missing. They do this by supporting the development of effective cross-border solutions, raising awareness of these issues, developing effective networks and cooperation channels and promoting the implementation of supportive legislation for the best interests of the child.

AMBER Alert Europe
AMBER Alert Europe is the European Child Rescue Alert & Police Network on Missing Children. It has 18 members (law enforcement, ministries & NGOs) in 14 countries. Its Police Network consists of over 35 experts representing law enforcement from 12 EU countries.
Cooperation with Frontex and UNHCR
In close cooperation with FRONTEX and UNHCR, AMBER Alert Europe is currently involved in projects to save children at risk at EU external air borders. Effective cooperation between national police and border guards protecting the outer borders of the EU is critical to protect children at serious risk of harm such as trafficking and abduction, including refugees and unaccompanied migrant children.

2.2 In the Parliament: Current Written Declaration* of Missing Children

There is currently an ongoing initiative to adopt a written declaration* on improving emergency cooperation in recovering endangered missing children and improving child alert mechanisms in the EU Member States

250 000 children are reported missing in the EU each year. When a child is abducted and killed, in 76 % of cases the child was murdered within three hours of the abduction. The search for an endangered missing child often stagnates at internal borders. 37.5 % of Europeans live in border areas.

When the public are asked to search for a missing child that is in imminent and serious danger, it is crucial that this is done as soon as possible.

The Council and the Commission are therefore called by the declaration to enhance better cross-border cooperation and improve the identification and protection of children at borders, as recommended by AMBER Alert Europe (the European Child Rescue Alert and Police Network on Missing Children).

The Commission is hence called upon to make every effort to encourage the practice whereby, when a child is at risk in a border area, or law enforcement agencies suspect that the child has crossed an internal border, law enforcement agencies, border authorities and the public in the other country are informed immediately.

* A written declaration is a text of a maximum of 200 words relating exclusively on a matter falling within the competence of the European Union. They do not, however, bind Parliament, that is, they cannot be considered as an act of the Parliament representing its position, but only those of its authors and signatories.

2.3 With the refugee crisis, Europe is facing a growing problem of missing unaccompanied Migrants

In spite of the statistics provided by Eurostat and EMN, the exact dimension of unaccompanied minors in the European Union remains uncertain. However, according to existing data, the problem is growing. Arriving in Europe for various reasons, these children represent a particularly vulnerable group. They are children and migrants at a time. Whether as countries of destination or transit, all Member States are concerned. Faced with this complex and transnational challenge, the EU has made a priority policy issue. The common European approach is structured around the principle of “best interests of the child” set out by the UN Convention on Children’s Rights (CRC).

In recent years, the protection of unaccompanied minors in EU law has been considerably strengthened. The European Parliament stressed in particular that the situation of migrant children deserves special attention because of their vulnerability and the risks they face. The protection of children must be the main driver of the Member States and the EU in the context of migration to the EU, stressed the Parliament.

Interested parties have reported a number of concerns. These include detention, legal representation, methods of age determination and the return and reintegration in the country. It also appears that non-minor asylum seekers do not receive the same level of protection as that enjoyed by children seeking international protection.

More info can be found in the House of Lords’ enquiry submissions from EPRS, Missing Children Europe, and the office of  Julie Ward.