The EU has a vital role in advancing children’s rights across member states, writes Aoife Byrne in the December 2016 Gazette.
Rights of the Child
A system to maintain children’s rights through the principle of the child’s best interests needs to be developed and maintained, writes Aoife Byrne, a solicitor with the Legal Aid Board. The UN, EU, and Council of Europe have all set guidelines in relation to the treatment of children that merit careful examination.
Each EU member state is a party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This sets out that a child’s best interests must be a determining element in relevant cases, without providing common factors. The Convention also deals with the right of the child to be heard in any decision concerning him or her.
Case Law
Case law in relation to children – particularly the ‘best interests’ principle – is instructive, writes Byrne. In Sahin v Germany and M&M v Croatia, the European Court of Human Rights found that domestic courts had violated the rights of the child, and/or failed to hear the voice of the child.
Byrne outlines the current legislative position on children’s rights, and the circumstances of the cases cited above, for the December 2016 Gazette. She also suggests ways in which the EU can advance children’s rights, such as coordinated training and common methodologies for interviewing children.
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