The Council of Europe launched its three-year programme "Building a Europe for and with children" on the occasion of a ministerial conference in Monaco on 4 and 5 of April 2006. Norway was represented at the conference by secretary of state from the Ministery of Children and Equality, Mr. Kjell Erik Øie.
10/12/2007 :: The programme "A Europe for and with children" was set up following the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Warsaw 2005).
The focus of the programme is on the promotion and protection of children’s rights from a legal point of view. In addition it will address the issue of children and violence, with particular emphasis on specific forms of violence and where they take place – at home, at school, in the family, in resident institutions, in the community, the media or in cyber-space. Specific attention will be paid to more recent forms of violence, such as child pornography on the Internet or mobile phone harassment, which spring from the new technologies. Our objective is to help countries and local authorities develop comprehensive prevention strategies.
"Children are not mini human beings with mini rights"
The launching conference in Monaco brought together government representatives, parliamentarians, children, ombudsmen for children, representatives of NGOs and other experts from the 46 Council of Europe member states. Representatives of the European Union, UNICEF and officials from other INGOs sharing their expertise, along with judges and representatives of the largest international committees on child protection. The young people involved in the conference (14 to 18 years old) gathered in a special seminar in Monaco on 2 and 3 April to prepare their contributions to the conference.
The Conference focused on four different themes: