What about us? Children’s rights in the European Union: next steps

The European Children’s Network (EURONET), a coalition of networks and organisations campaigning at EU level for the interests and rights of children, launched this report on 7 March 2006 at the European Parliament in Brussels.

The report reveals that while the EU’s open borders have many advantages for European citizens, they also pose risks for children. Child sex offenders are not adequately tracked when they travel between Member States and children are being trafficked into and across the EU with more ease. In Member States children also continue to suffer abuse and neglect. Every week two children die from abuse and neglect in the UK and Germany and three in France (2003 UNICEF report).