Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-05-16-Speech-2-266"
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"en.20060516.36.2-266"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child declares that the state should provide alternative care for children temporarily or permanently deprived of their family environment or for children who cannot, in their own interests, be allowed to remain in that environment. The Declaration also supports the use of options other than placing the child in an institution, wherever such options arise.
There are many reasons why children remain in institutions away from their families. It may be because their parents are unable to look after them due to illness, death or imprisonment, because the children need protecting from abuse or neglect, or because the institutions are able to provide appropriate care for disabled or sick children. Children may also be placed in institutions due to delinquency or anti-social behaviour or because they have committed a crime. These groups share the common characteristic of a very high threat of social exclusion, and great effort is required to prevent them from slipping into persistent exclusion and poverty. It is also necessary to provide the support essential to their proper development and integration into society.
At present we face difficulties in obtaining an accurate picture of institutional care in Europe, as there is a lack of comparable data. The Commission has noted, however, that many of the large traditional institutions are gradually beginning to be replaced by more short-term care, and that there is a general preference for reuniting families or securing foster care in a new family.
Ever more attention is being paid to the living conditions of children and young people in the European Union. The European Council, meeting in March 2006, challenged the Member States to take measures towards a rapid and substantial reduction in child poverty and to provide all children with equal opportunities, regardless of their social background. In the action plans for social inclusion that the Member States submitted to the Commission, children who faced the threat of poverty and social exclusion were identified as a priority group. Some Member States have set out concrete goals at a domestic level for reducing child poverty. The Commission is aware of the fact that in some EU Member States the facilities that care for mentally or physically disabled children and adults make excessive use of methods of restraint, whether pharmacological or physical, and the Commission regards this as unacceptable.
The communication recently issued by the Commission on the position of physically disabled persons in the enlarged EU places great emphasis on de-institutionalising the care for physically disabled persons. The Community has only limited powers in this area, of course, and the Commission therefore supports the use of a whole range of instruments, including an anti-discrimination programme, national action plans for social inclusion and the European Social Fund. The Commission would also like to state that it will soon be publishing a communication on EU activities in defence and support of children’s rights."@en1
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