The Commission presented the European Strategy to protect children’s rights to mark “International Missing Child Day” (25 May), an annual event founded in the USA in 1983 and celebrated in Europe since 2002 on the initiative of the NGO “Child Focus” in collaboration with the European Union. Apart from existing legislative and financial provisions some thirty legal documents; the articles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; the Daphne programme 2004-2008 the EU has enunciated as its political objective the formulation of a “Pact for Childhood”, motivating the member states and organizations in the sector to collaborate in the realization of a comprehensive policy for the protection of children’s rights. The Commission’s proposals should be submitted to governments and civil society no later than February 2006, pending the drafting and presentation of a report already commissioned by Brussels that will spell out the shortcomings in this field. For further information and for links with EU policies and programmes for childhood, consult the website of the European Commission: http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/05/171&format=HTML&aged=0&language=FR&guiLanguage=fr
