The European Union Agency for Fundamental Human Rights (FRA), the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights have published the second edition of the ‘Handbook on European law relating to the rights of the child’.
This publication focuses on covering different topics such as equality; economic, social, cultural and civic rights and freedoms; personal identity; family life; alternative care and adoption; migration and asylum; protection against violence and exploitation; personal data and consumer protection; children’s rights within criminal justice and alternative procedures. The handbook will prove useful for lawyers, judges, prosecutors, social workers, non-governmental organisations and other entities that face legal issues in this area. Although it is currently only available in English, it will be published in more languages later this year.
The primary objective of this handbook is to generate awareness and better the knowledge of the relevant norms established by the European Union and the Council of Europe, in particular through the case law of the EU’s Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. Where relevant, it also refers to the European Social Charter, other EU and Council of Europe instruments and international UN treaties related to child rights.
Finally, it is worth highlighting that since the 2015 edition notable legal developments have been made in the field of the rights of the child such as, for example, procedural guarantees in criminal proceedings and judicial sentences on the detention of migrant children and violence against children.