Developing indicators for the protection, respect and promotion of the rights of the child in the European Union

This guide helps independent national monitoring frameworks to fulfil their monitoring responsibility set out in Article 33 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It focuses on the use of indicators. It does not deal with aspects such as compliance with the Paris Principles or the efficiency of complaints mechanisms. Its objective is to support national monitoring frameworks in designing or improving indicators for assessing progress of CRPD implementation at national level.

Children are full-fledged holders of rights. They are beneficiaries of all human and fundamental rights and subjects of special regulations, given their specific characteristics. This handbook aims to illustrate how European law and case law accommodate the specific interests and needs of children. It also considers the importance of parents and guardians or other legal representatives and makes reference, where appropriate, to situations in which rights and responsibilities are most prominently vested in children’s carers. It is a point of reference on both European Union (EU) and Council of Europe (CoE) law related to these subjects, explaining how each issue is regulated under EU law, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as under the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Social Charter and other CoE instruments.

The development of indicators for the protection, respect and promotion of the rights of the child in the European Union by the FRA aims at assessing the impact of Union law and policies that have been adopted so far, identifying their achievements and revealing their gaps on EU provisions for children.