The European Parliament expressed in the Resolution on the 25th anniversary of the UNCRC its will to create an intergroup on children’s rights and well-being, based on the Child Rights Manifesto authored by the Child Rights Action Group (CRAG).

Specifically, the European Parliament describes the intergroup on children’s rights as a “permanent body responsible for promoting children’s rights across all European Parliament policies and activities in the context of both internal and external affairs”. It supports as well the appointment of ‘focal points’ for children’s rights within each parliamentary committee “to ensure the mainstreaming of children’s rights in every policy and legislative text adopted”.

The Resolution further calls on the EU institutions, the Member States, local authorities, the social partners and civil society to join forces and cooperate at all levels to improve the situation of children in the EU and in the rest of the world. Furthermore, the Parliament welcomes and supports the Child Rights Manifesto and encourages more Members of the European Parliament, as well as national parliamentarians, to sign the Manifesto and become ‘child rights champions’.

At the roundtable discussion organised by CRAG on 25 September, MEP Antonio López-Istúriz, MEP Anna Maria Corazza-Bildt, MEP Julie Ward, MEP Gabriele Zimmer and MEP Jean Lambert, debated the way forward for mainstreaming children’s rights in the European Parliament. They showed their commitment to establish an intergroup on children’s rights and well-being, as there is yet no mechanism or body directly responsible for children’s rights in the European Parliament.

Final approval of European Parliament’s intergroups is scheduled for 11 December 2014.

Read here European Parliament’s resolution.