As delivered

Chers invités,

Mesdames et Messieurs,

J’ai grand plaisir à vous accueillir ici aujourd’hui et tiens tout d’abord à saluer chaleureusement tous les participants.

Sont présents à nos côtés dans cette salle, des ministres et autres représentants de haut niveau de plusieurs de nos États membres ;

Mais aussi des spécialistes du monde universitaire, d’ONG, d’institutions nationales de défense des droits de l’homme et d’organisations internationales.

Et, bien entendu, des participants de haut rang du Conseil de l’Europe, parmi lesquels la Présidente de l’Assemblée parlementaire, le Président de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme ainsi que la Commissaire aux droits de l’homme.

Mais nos délibérations seraient incomplètes sans la présence du groupe de 13 enfants qui participent aujourd’hui à cette conférence.

Nous sommes en effet réunis ici pour préparer l’Europe de demain et réfléchir à la manière de renforcer les droits de l’enfant.

Et nous avons besoin pour cela de la participation des meilleurs professionnels dans ce domaine et des principaux intéressés que nous voulons tous aider.

Aussi, votre présence ici aujourd’hui n’est pas seulement positive, elle est aussi essentielle et je félicite à cet égard la présidence française de notre Comité des Ministres qui a pris la décision opportune d’organiser cette manifestation.

D’emblée, il importe de préciser que les initiatives que nous prenons au Conseil de l’Europe et les partenariats que nous développons ont vocation à aider les États membres à mettre en œuvre la Convention des Nations Unies relative aux droits de l’enfant.

Ce traité, qui fête son 30ème anniversaire, a permis d’opérer un changement de paradigme dans la réflexion :

Grâce à lui, il est désormais communément admis que les enfants ne sont pas les bénéficiaires passifs de protection et d’œuvres de bienfaisance mais sont des sujets de droits et des acteurs du changement.

Et lorsque notre Organisation publie des normes, des lignes directrices inspirées par le suivi de nos conventions relatives aux droits de l’enfant et des outils de formation, d’éducation et de sensibilisation, c’est dans le but de s’appuyer sur cette plateforme, d’améliorer la situation dans nos États membres et de faire bouger les lignes à plus vaste échelle dans le monde.

Prenez par exemple notre Convention de Lanzarote sur la protection des enfants contre l'exploitation et les abus sexuels.

Elle a induit de nombreuses évolutions dans la législation, la politique et la pratique dans 44 de nos États membres.

De leur côté, nos Lignes directrices sur une justice adaptée aux enfants sont adoptées et adaptées dans diverses régions du monde.

Nos Lignes directrices relatives au respect, à la protection et à la réalisation des droits de l’enfant dans l’environnement numérique ont fait des émules parmi nos partenaires au niveau national et international.

Et nos Lignes directrices sur les stratégies nationales intégrées de protection des enfants contre la violence s’inscrivent dans le droit fil de l’Etude des Nations Unies sur la violence contre les enfants et sont à leur tour utilisées au sein de cette Organisation.

Le rapport sur la mise en œuvre de ces Lignes directrices, qui sera présenté à l’occasion de cette Conférence, révèle que deux tiers de nos États membres se sont désormais dotés de stratégies nationales.

Ces avancées sont à saluer.

But while our transversal, mainstreamed approach –  complete with monitoring –  has succeeded in bringing about change, it is equally evident that more must be done.

When it comes to the rights of the child – to ensuring that human rights obligations are recognised and met – there continue to be blind spots:

Areas in which action is insufficient, often because the matters at stake are controversial and those in power are uncomfortable dealing with them.

For example, some of the social norms, stereotypes and traditions that exist in our societies have led to discrimination and violence against children being condoned, tolerated and perpetuated.

Our Organisation has taken steps to address some of these problems, including corporal punishment, gender-based violence such as Female Genital Mutilation, and sexual violence including within victims’ circle of trust.

But it is clear that there are further issues to address.

More must also be done to defend the rights of children who are perceived as a danger to society.

These include minors who are in conflict with the law, who are growing up in radicalised families, or who are undocumented.

Cases of children who have sexually harmed other children are particularly difficult, but equally pressing.

After all, these account for at least one in five cases of child sexual assault.

How then should we treat and protect both the aggressor and the victim?

What role should the education system play in preventing and responding to such incidents?

And in the information age, what should be the responsibilities of information and communication technology companies, including the issue of easy access to pornography online?

Similarly, where protection systems fail, this must be acknowledged.

A number of high-profile scandals have shed light on institutional violence.

In places where children should feel safe to live, learn and pursue their interests, hobbies and sports, they have instead been abused.

It is very difficult for children to speak up about incidents of this kind:

A point made in our Start to Talk campaign, which aims to end the sexual abuse of children in sport.

Instead, adults must be ready to prevent violence, to protect victims, and to end impunity for the perpetrators.

These are difficult subjects.

Action in these areas requires courage – often from politicians.

But the heated debate that can be stirred up in some countries must not distract us from our responsibility to put children’s rights first, and to take appropriate steps within our remit.

And not just in these acute areas, but in tackling chronic, ongoing problems and in rising to new opportunities too.

For example, both helping and empowering children to experience their human rights requires us to confront the reality of social exclusion and poverty.

These were made worse by the financial crash of ten years ago, and sometimes by the impact of the austerity policies that followed it.

One in four children are now at risk, and solutions must be found.

Meanwhile, the evolution of technology, including the rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence, suggest that new solutions are possible when it comes to protecting children from harmful images, information and communications.

And we should certainly be looking at the ways in which business and private enterprise can act to uphold children’s rights and well-being.

The Council of Europe is ready to take further action in these areas and more in order to make a real difference and to inspire national authorities and other international organisations, including the UN, to act more widely too.

So, it is right that all of these challenging issues are on the agenda at this Conference for you to consider – and right that children themselves are at the heart of these considerations.

Their views must be heard in all matters that affect them, whether within the justice system, the school environment, local and national decision-making, and so on.

The Council of Europe is playing its part here, with the promotion and practice of child participation within our own work.

This is true of both the formulation and evaluation of our current Children’s Rights Strategy and the second monitoring round of our Lanzarote Committee.

It is the motivation behind our assessment tool that national authorities can use to measure progress in child participation, and which has been piloted successfully in nine of our member states.

And of course, it is the reason that children are here at this Conference today.

I want you to know that your concerns, thoughts and opinions are central to the way that we will move forward together.

The challenges that we face are significant: they are structural, dynamic and increasingly global.

But by pulling together, we can find solutions and we can make progress.

We must – and I trust that this Conference will add to the momentum required for doing so.

Thank you.