The European Commission has now adopted the eagerly awaited Communication “Towards an EU strategy on the rights of minors”, by which for the first time Brussels has pledged to intervene in a horizontal (trans-sectorial) manner in a sphere that is “far from a situation of general respect for the rights of minors and in which the needs of children and adolescents are not always met”. The specific objectives of the Communication are seven-fold: “learning from the past, tackling urgent needs and identifying future priorities; ensuring respect for the rights of minors in all internal and external policies of the Union; improving the activities of promotion, communication and awareness-raising; reinforcing the fight against child poverty; attributing throughout the EU a single six-digit telephone number beginning with 116, as well as a second number for a hotline dedicated to minors who have disappeared or are victims of sexual exploitation; nominating an EU Coordinator for the rights of minors; and reorganizing the policies and programmes (over 75) that have an impact on the rights of minors”.
