BIM Annual Report 2008 - Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für ...

Women’s Rights, Child Rights, Trafficking in Human Beings BIM Annual Report 2008
Development of EU Child Rights Indicators
Summary
The primary objective of this research project commissioned by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency
has been the development of child rights-based indicators for assessment of EU legislation and policy.
The “UN Convention on the Rights of the Child” provides for a general framework both in terms of child
rights standards, but also for its assessment, including the development of indicators. This framework
was complemented by expertise from modern childhood studies and a sociological perspective on
childhood, while at the same time respecting the boundaries of existing EU competence in legislation
and policy-making. Consequently, indicators have been developed in four key domains: family relations
(EU legislation on parental custody, family reunification and migration); child protection (protection from
child trafficking, sexual and economic exploitation of children, violence against children); adequate
standards of living/child poverty; and education (accessibility, citizenship and participation).
Among the key challenges encountered have been the general lack of child-centred data in many areas
as well as difficulties in terms of data comparability – partly due to the concept of child/human
rights indicators as not only measuring sociological outcomes (e.g. poverty distribution), but also structural
and process dimensions (e.g. existence of specific legislation, policies etc.) of children’s living
conditions.
The Centre for the Study of the Child, the Family and the Law of Liverpool University has been leading
the project, in partnership with the BIM, and in further cooperation with the European Centre for Social
Welfare Policy, Vienna, and the German Youth Institute, Munich.
Countries
Persons
involved
EU Member States
Project leader (University of
Liverpool)
Coordinator (BIM), researcher
Researchers
Internship
Helen Stalford
Helmut Sax
Iris Golden
Helmut Wintersberger
Renate Kränzl-Nagl (European Centre for Social
Welfare Policy)
Beatriz Barquero (German Youth Institute)
Martina Berger
Contact person
Helmut Sax, helmut.sax@univie.ac.at
Lead
organisation
Centre for the Study of the
Child, the Family and the
Law, Liverpool Law School /
University of Liverpool
Partner
organisations
European Centre for Social
Welfare Policy and
Research, Vienna
German Youth Institute,
Munich
Starting/
end date
Funded by
December 2007 to December 2008
EU Fundamental Rights Agency
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