What is the role of children's rights in the fight against child poverty in the Council of Europe?
The report was presented at the International Conference on Children’s Rights on 13 November 2019. Its objectives are to raise awareness about child poverty across Europe, to draw attention to some of the dramatic situations of children living in extreme poverty on an overall wealthy continent, to discuss how the Council of Europe instruments can contribute to eradicating child poverty, including the European Social Charter and the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child. It also aimed to identify legislative and policy measures at national, regional and local level to combat child poverty effectively and illustrate how important early childhood intervention is to prevent and overcome intergenerational cycles of poverty.
Both, the 1961 European Social Charter and the Revised Charter of 1996 set out a wide range of rights with implications for state efforts to combat child poverty. These include Article 30 on the right to protection from poverty and social exclusion – the only provision under international human rights law that explicitly outlines a right to protection from poverty, but also other child poverty relevant provisions relating to the right to work, the right to protection of health, the right to social security, the right to social and medical assistance, the right to social, legal and economic protection of the family as well as of children and young persons, etc.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF BOXES AND TABLES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION 1.CHILD POVERTY IN EUROPE AND HUMAN RIGHTS: AN OVERVIEW
1.1. Background and Context
1.2. Exploring the Inter-relationship between Child Rights and Child Poverty in the Council of Europe
1.3. Conclusion
2. KEY COUNCIL OF EUROPE MONITORING MECHANISMS FROM A CHILD RIGHTS AND CHILD POVERTY PERSPECTIVE
2.1. Assessing COE Monitoring Mechanisms from a Child Rights and Child Poverty Perspective
2.2. Introducing the European Social Charter System
2.3. Addressing Child Poverty through the Reporting and Collective Complaints Procedures
2.4. Conclusion
3. CHILD POVERTY AND THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL CHARTER
3.1. Children as Right-holders under the Charter
3.2. Identifying Charter Obligations of States Parties to Address Child Poverty
3.3. Conclusion
4. ADDRESSING CHILD POVERTY IN A EUROPEAN SOCIAL CHARTERCOMPLIANT WAY
4.1. Approaching Child Poverty Work in a Child-rights Compliant Way: Guidance from Article 30
4.2. Using Bad Practice to Identify Best Practice
4.3. Using Good Practice as the Basis for Developing Best Practice
4.4. Conclusion
5. CONCLUSION: THE ROLE OF THE COE IN ADVANCING CHILD RIGHTSCOMPLIANT ANTI-POVERTY PRACTICE
