At its 7th and the last meeting (22-23 September 2022), the Working Group on responses to violence against children (CDENF-GT-VAE) discussed the draft Recommendation and Guidelines on Strengthening reporting systems on violence against children, focusing on the role of and action to be taken by professionals working for and with children in different areas to prevent or end violence against children where it is suspected or clearly identified. The draft Recommendation and Guidelines will be submitted to the CDENF for approval at its 6th plenary meeting on 15-17 November 2022. Following the finalisation of this work by the CDENF-GT-VAE, a new Committee of Experts on the Prevention of Violence (ENF-VAE) will be set up in early 2023 to focus on exploring the matter of comprehensive and age-appropriate sexuality education as a means of preventing violence, with a view to preparing relevant guidance before the end of 2024.

The 3rd meeting of the BIO/ENF-CP Drafting Group on Developing a Guide to good practice concerning the participation of children in the decision-making process on matters regarding their health took place in Paris on 22-23 of September 2022. The group agreed on final changes to the Draft Guide, which will subsequently be shared with national authorities and experts for their consultation. A consultation with children is also foreseen. The final meeting of the drafting group is expected to take place in January 2023.

On 27 September 2022, in the framework of the European Union/Council of Europe joint project "CP4Europe - Strengthening National Child Participation Frameworks and Action in Europe", adults and children from its 5 country Partners (Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Slovenia, and Portugal) met with Council of Europe experts Gerison Lansdown, Roberta Ruggiero and Cath Larkins to identify new outcome indicators which would be associated to the Council of Europe Child Participation Assessment Tool (CPAT). It was agreed that these indicators are essential to be able to measure to what extent children feel empowered to participate in decisions that affect them and to test whether the changes governments have introduced to promote child participation are making a difference in children’s lives.

The experts will now continue to work on the development of the outcome indicators on the basis of the information collected during this very successful meeting.

The Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) on Migration and Refugees carried out visits to the Czech Republic, Poland, the Republic of Moldova and the Slovak Republic in May-July 2022 (see her country reports) to assess the situation and needs of the different countries concerned by the incoming flow of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine. The Lanzarote Committee Secretariat prepared inputs for the SRSG based on the monitoring work of the Lanzarote Committee and produced a Checklist on protection of children affected by refugee crises from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse available in Ukrainian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Czech, Romanian, English and French to be disseminated in the work with countries. The former Chairperson of the Lanzarote Committee, Mr George Nikolaidis, also participated in the visit to Poland. On 21 September 2022, the Office of the SRSG, in partnership with UNHCR, launched the first country Roundtable to follow up on her country visits. The event focused on the Slovak Republic. The Lanzarote Committee Secretariat delivered a presentation on the standards of the Convention and some of the recommendations identified for the Slovak Republic.

On 21 September 2022, a high-level side event on the Online sexual exploitation and abuse of children took place online in the context of the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations.

The conference, organised by the Republic of Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates in co-operation with the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Violence against Children and the Council of Europe discussed trends, challenges and responses to online sexual exploitation and abuse of children. It examined shortcomings to current frameworks, ways to address these, as well as new developments in efforts to combat these crimes. In particular, the conference looked into the development of legal and policy frameworks and protection strategies to effectively prevent and eradicate new and emerging forms of online sexual exploitation and abuse in a gender-responsive and child-friendly manner.

The Steering Committee will hold its 6th plenary meeting in Strasbourg on 15-17 November 2022 to initiate further activities under its Terms of Reference and the new Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2022-2027). It will consider several major texts, including a draft Recommendation on strengthening reporting systems on violence against children, with a view to its approval, and a draft Recommendation on the protection of the best interests of the child in parental separation and in care proceedings, for the provision of further guidance for the final drafting. The Committee will also receive an update concerning a study on the implementation of Barnahus structures in Europe and hold exchanges of views with various internal and external partners.

As every year, the Council of Europe invites its partners to  mobilise on the occasion of the European day and to organise activities to raise awareness on sexual violence against children.

The theme retained for the 2022 edition of the European Day is “Getting it right: ensuring child-friendly justice through Barnahus structures in Europe”. Barnahus (Children’s House) is the leading European child-friendly multidisciplinary and interagency (MDIA) response model for child sexual abuse. Its unique approach brings together all relevant services under one roof, to avoid re-victimisation of the child during investigation and court proceedings, provide every child with a coordinated and effective response, including medical evaluation and treatment, and to elicit the child’s disclosure. You are all invited to celebrate this year’s edition of the European Day, organise activities to raise awareness on child sexual violence and inform us by completing this online form so that we can promote them on our website.