The European Union’s Plan for Children’s Rights

Contents
The European Union’s Plan for Children’s Rights
Here are some examples of children's rights
How will the EU put children’s rights in practice?
What are the top 6 things in the plan?
About
Where can I get more information?

The European Union’s Plan for Children’s Rights

Image of stars in a circle representing the European Union emblem. The European Union (EU for short) is a group of 27 countries that work together.

Image of a handshake. Children’s rights are promises that the EU and governments made so children can have a good life.

Image of European Union stars surrounding the world and children.

Here are some examples of children's rights

Image about examples of children’s rights: To be safe, illustrated by adult hands holding a child. To play, illustrated by a playground. To learn, illustrated by a child reading a book. Having a say, illustrated by a child talking to an adult.

to be safe

to play

to learn

to have a say

Image of one adult teaching other adults. The EU will collect information and teach people about children’s rights.

Image of people in governments talking to each other. Governments and others will learn from each other how best to put children’s rights into practice.

Image of the euro currency symbol. The EU will spend money on things that are needed so that children enjoy their rights.

The biggest set of children’s rights promises is called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

The top 6 things that the EU plans to do to put Children’s Rights into practice

Image of a clipboard with the EU to do list. Ended by a tick mark.

Children will have a say in decisions about them.

Children will get good education and healthcare and families will have enough money.

Children will be kept safe and get help if they have been harmed.

All children will be able to use the internet and enjoy it safely.

Police, judges and lawyers will treat children fairly and listen to them.

Children all over the world will be helped to enjoy their rights.

When making the plan the EU talked to lots of people, including 10,000 children.

This child-friendly version of the EU Strategy on Children’s Rights (The Plan) has been produced in partnership with children themselves. Two groups of children and young people from two schools in Dublin, Ireland, were brought together by the Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They worked together to decide how the key messages of ‘The Plan’ should be explained to children in this booklet.

The European Commision would like to give special thanks to: Bremore Educate Together Secondary School, teachers Kathy and Janice, and students Hamilton, Alex, Stuart, Katie, Joseph, Molly and Niamh; and St Joseph’s Secondary School (Rush), teachers Darren, Judy, Kevin and Louise, and students Ellie, Cohen, Mollie, Joshua, Christopher, Evan, Jake, Kelsie, Monika, Cordelia, Stephen and Oisin.

The accessibility of the document was ensured by the Publications Office of the European Union.

Print	ISBN 978–92–76–30993–2	doi:10.2838/633009	DS–03–21–111–EN–C
PDF	ISBN 978–92–76–30991–8	doi:10.2838/944959	DS–03–21–111–EN–N
HTML	ISBN 978-92-76-30992-5	doi:10.2838/781579	DS-03-21-111-EN-Q

Manuscript completed in March 2021.

The European Commission is not liable for any consequence stemming from the reuse of this publication.

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2021

The reuse policy of European Commission documents is implemented by Commission Decision 2011/833/EU of 12 December 2011 on the reuse of Commission documents (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39).

Except otherwise noted, the reuse of this document is authorised under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This means that reuse is allowed provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated.

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Cover page, Globe, Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Where can I get more information?

There are hundreds of Europe Direct information centres all over the European Union. You can find the address of the one nearest you at: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact/meet-us_en

You can contact Europe Direct:

— by freephone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators may charge for these calls),

— at the following standard number: +32 22999696, or

— by email via: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en

Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available on the Europa website at: https://europa.eu.

You can download or order free and priced EU publications from: https://op.europa.eu/en/publications

For help and advice for EU citizens and businesses, visit Your Europe: https://europa.eu/youreurope/index.htm

For educational material, games and quizzes, visit Learning Corner: https://europa.eu/learning-corner/home_en

Discover the Youth Portal at: https://europa.eu/youth/EU_en

The European Commission in your country: https://ec.europa.eu/info/about-european-commission/contact/representations-member-states_en

The European Parliament in your country: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/en/stay-informed/liaison-offices-in-your-country

The European Consumer Centres Network: https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/consumer-rightsand-complaints/resolve-your-consumer-complaint/europeanconsumer-centres-network-ecc-net_en