The European and International Policy Agendas on Children, Youth and Children's Rights - A Belgian EU Presidency Youth Note

This Presidency document describes the state of play of the European and international policy agendas on children, youth and children’s rights. The object of this overview is demarcated in four ways. First, the focus is on those agendas where a policy towards children, youth and/or children’s rights is a primary rather than a subsidiary objective. Secondly, the analysis is restricted to agendas which aim to influence government policies. Thirdly, the document concerns those policies to be taken into consideration by the European Union Member States internally, thus excluding EU external policy from its ambit. Finally, the policy agendas scrutinized are those of the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. The focus of this Presidency document is to portray the main policy document, i.e. the document that sets out the bases for relevant organisation’s current and future policy on children (children’s rights) or youth. Common to the different policy agendas analyzed - and inherent to the concept of “policy” - is their non-binding character. At European Union level, the main policy documents are a Communication from the European Commission (on children’s rights) and a Resolution of the Council of Youth Ministers (on youth). The resolutions and decisions of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and the resolutions of the United Nations general Assembly are equally non-binding towards Member States.