On 18-20 May 2021, the Steering Committee for the Rights of the Child (CDENF) will hold its 3rd plenarymeeting in an online format. The Committee will primarily focus on examining the first draft of the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2022-2027) prepared in transversal and open consultation with other Council of Europe bodies and their secretariats represented on the Task Force for the Rights of the Child. Yet awaiting the input from children through the ongoing child consultation process in 10 member states, the draft Strategy is foreseen to be approved at the next CDENF plenary session in October 2021 for subsequent submission to the Committee of Ministers by the end of the year.
Mr Ásmundur Einar Daðason, Minister of Social Affairs and Children of Iceland, will deliver a keynote speech and have an exchange of views with the Committee on two new legal and policy tools respectively adopted and launched in Iceland: the Act on Integration of Services in the Interest of Children’s Prosperity and on the Dashboard on Children’s well-being.
Other important items on the CDENF agenda include: i) review of the progress made under the CDENF working plan, including the work carried out by its two subordinate bodies: the Committee of Experts on the Rights and the Best Interests of the Child in Parental Separation and in Care Proceedings (CJ/ENF-ISE) and the Working Group on responses to violence against children (CDENF-GT-VAE) in the preparation of draft Recommendations aimed at enhancing the protection of children’s rights; ii) discussion of future priorities for 2022-2025 in light of priority areas and actions defined under the new Strategy; iii) update on recent and upcoming implementation and co-operation activities and partnerships; and iv) recent and upcoming COVID-19 related responses and actions.