In September 2024, The European Child Sexual Abuse Legislation Advocacy Group of which COFACE is member, organised a breakfast in Strasbourg to welcome newly elected MEPs and encourage them to use their position to fight the ongoing Child Sexual Abuse Crisis affecting millions of children across Europe.
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The role of local level prevention systems for implementing the European Child Guarantee
This expert meeting will use the integrated family policy framework created by the European Observatory on Family Policy to look more closely at the impact of services on children and their families, linking the implementation of the European Child Guarantee recommendation to the local level.
OPINION – Ethnic segregation of Roma children in Europe’s schools demands real action
Ethnic segregation is a widespread and systematic practice in many European countries. These practices are illegal yet continue to shape the lives of children and families across Europe. Our rights to education, housing, and health, ostensibly enjoyed by us all, remain divided along ethnic lines. For many Roma, their enjoyment of these rights is severely limited, often with the tacit support of the state.
State Of The European Union for Families: COFACE assessment of the European Union’s work from 2019-2024
In 2019, COFACE Families Europe mobilised voters locally through its member organisations (representing families of all types, without discrimination). These recommendations are addressed at EU-level policymakers in the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU, from whom we expect joint leadership to ensure tangible results for Europe’s citizens. It is on this basis that we have assessed the European Union’s work from 2019 to 2024, and how it contributes to achieving eight positive outcomes for families of today.
‘Historic’ EU Migration Pact agreement raises major concerns among civil society
On the 20th of December 2023, the European Commission and the European Council reached a long-sought political agreement on the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. While the Commission described the agreement as ‘historic’, ivil society has widely criticised the Pact for its transgressions on fundamental rights, including providing for the detainment of children.
Eurofound report on the European Child Guarantee workforce
The Council of the European Union approved the European Child Guarantee (ECG) to address and combat child poverty and exclusion (Council of the European Union, 2021). This report by Eurofound provides knowledge and information about the workforce relevant to ECG and to support Member States in implementing the ECG and reporting on the implementation of national action plans.
The fight against child sexual abuse receives new impetus with updated criminal law rules
In early February, the Commission adopted a proposal to update the criminal law rules on child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime which has evolved significantly over the past years.
OPINION – Europe, listen to survivors and stop abuse online
Content warning: this article includes material about child sexual abuse that some people might find confronting.
In the 17 seconds you have taken to read this far, footage or images of at least 34 children being abused have been uploaded onto the world wide web. 2 per second. This is the rate of appearance of the kind of material Apple is wilfully failing to detect.
EU policy webinar – European Child Guarantee
This online expert meeting will bring together speakers from the EU institutions, and ministries working on the Child Guarantee and COFACE member organisations, in order to discuss tools for monitoring and evaluation of Child Guarantee implementation.
School Bullying Management – Effective Skills for Educators
This breakfast byte webinar is being organised in the run-up to the 2023 UNESCO international day against bullying, as a contribution to awareness-raising and capacity-building around the topic of bullying.
Study session on Deinstitutionalisation practices
This public study session organised by the European Expert Group on the transition from institutional to community-based care. It aims to bring together professionals, persons concerned by deinstitutionalisation, their families and representative organisations to discuss the shift toward meaningful inclusion in the community.
Open letter to urge support for the EU Regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse
With a recent open letter addressed to Members of the European Parliament and Representatives of Member States in the Council of the EU, leading experts from around the world, among which COFACE Director Elizabeth Gosme, urge support for the Commission’s proposal.
Eurobarometer survey on the protection of children against online sexual abuse
In July 2023, the European Commission released results of the latest Flash Eurobarometer survey on the protection of children against online sexual abuse.
COFACE online exchange on the EU Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) regulation
The CSA regulation was proposed in May 2022 aiming to better regulate risk assessments and detection of CSA online, imposing different obligations on tech industries, and also setting up an EU centre responsible for the monitoring and implementation of the regulation.
Online exchange on Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care
The online exchange for COFACE and COFACE Disability members will especially focus on child-staff ratio in ECEC as a primary driver for child well-being and family engagement.
Key Findings: Study session on parent-child relationships in the digital era
The parent-child relationship has changed significantly in the last two decades with the advent of the digital age, even more since the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, and the general perception is that technology has caused a...
Digital Services Act: a mixed bag
On the 15th of December 2020, the European Commission published an initial proposal for a Regulation entitled the “Digital Services Act”. COFACE Families Europe has been following the development of this piece of legislation from the start.
OPINION: Primary School and all-day care – from a place of learning to a place of living?
All-day care at that age can positively impact parents and children. However, it is not only the existence of (all-day) childcare and schooling that is crucial, but also its content and quality.
OPINION: As our online and offline worlds intertwine, should digital policy be a stand-alone field?
it might be useful to stop treating digital policy as a stand-alone field. Digital issues encompass educational policy, (mental)health policy, social policy, cultural policy, judicial policy, youth policy, and much more.
OPINION: This crisis has highlighted the communication barriers of deaf people
Communication with deaf people who are ill or in poor health is also one of our priorities during this health emergency.
OPINION: Extraordinary COVID-19 parental leave for all European parents during confinement?
Families around Europe live the same difficulties. They should unite in a same demand: parental leave for working parents during the confinement.
OPINION: Getting through the COVID-19 storm – how to communicate with our children?
Never before, have I experienced a situation where human behaviour is so greatly affected that it results in feelings of anxiety isolation and uncertainty everywhere.