21/11/2005: Universal Children’s Day : let us protect our children from the dangers of the new information technologies – Written Declaration tabled by the Intergroup Family and Protection of Childhood in the EP.
The Universal Children’s Day, considered as a day of activities devoted to the promotion of the welfare of the children of the world, is organised every year on the 20th of November to mark the day of the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly 16 years ago. This day gives the opportunity to sensitise public opinions to the cause, as mentioned in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, of the protection of children, respected in their individuality as human beings, by their families and society as a whole.
The Intergroup on "Family and Protection of Childhood" in the European Parliament, chaired by MEP Mrs Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (EPP/ED), wishing to contribute to the celebrations of the Universal Children’s Day, tabled a written Declaration on "the new information technologies and their impact on children".
This Declaration aims, on the one hand, at alerting the Members of the European Parliament-representatives of European citizens-, the Member States of the EU, the European Commission and the Council on the dangers children are confronted with when using the media and more particularly the internet and to remind that " internet governance" as debated in the World Summit on Information Society in Tunis, implies a fight against cybercrimes, in which the violations of the rights of children should specifically be included.
On the other hand, the written Declaration suggests the adoption of security, surveillance, reporting and information measures enabling children to fully benefit from the educational, entertainment, socialization and other aspects of new technologies whilst avoiding their falling victims of abuses of any kind on the web. Indeed, no matter how comfortable and autonomous new generations are with the use of the media and mainly the internet, they can, because of a frequent lack of parental control, involuntarily be confronted with illegal images or content which can provoke deep and eventually irreversible trauma.
Considering this problem, the members of the Intergroup stress the fact that public authorities, media professionals, educators and parents, must have a shared responsibility in the field of media content and consumption.
Mrs Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou and the other signatory Members also demand that national and EU actors be encouraged to coordinate the establishment of specific media training programmes for parents, educators and children and to launch information campaigns on the dangers of new technologies. As for internet access providers, they should deliver free parental control software and internet site suppliers should proceed with the automatic filtering of their internet sites.
Finally, the European Commission is invited to adopt measures, among others through the SAFER INTERNET plus programme, aiming at stimulating the exchange of best practices among Member States on new technologies and the protection of children and to promote the creation of means for reporting and lodging complaints.
With this Written Declaration, the Intergroup on "Family and the Protection of Childhood" wishes to remind that children represent our future and that all should work in favour of a healthy information environment, allowing children to develop their aptitudes and competences without dangers in order to be prepared to address the challenges of tomorrow's society, and invites all the Members of the European Parliament to support the Declaration.
The Universal Children’s Day, considered as a day of activities devoted to the promotion of the welfare of the children of the world, is organised every year on the 20th of November to mark the day of the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the UN General Assembly 16 years ago. This day gives the opportunity to sensitise public opinions to the cause, as mentioned in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, of the protection of children, respected in their individuality as human beings, by their families and society as a whole.
The Intergroup on "Family and Protection of Childhood" in the European Parliament, chaired by MEP Mrs Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou (EPP/ED), wishing to contribute to the celebrations of the Universal Children’s Day, tabled a written Declaration on "the new information technologies and their impact on children".
This Declaration aims, on the one hand, at alerting the Members of the European Parliament-representatives of European citizens-, the Member States of the EU, the European Commission and the Council on the dangers children are confronted with when using the media and more particularly the internet and to remind that " internet governance" as debated in the World Summit on Information Society in Tunis, implies a fight against cybercrimes, in which the violations of the rights of children should specifically be included.
On the other hand, the written Declaration suggests the adoption of security, surveillance, reporting and information measures enabling children to fully benefit from the educational, entertainment, socialization and other aspects of new technologies whilst avoiding their falling victims of abuses of any kind on the web. Indeed, no matter how comfortable and autonomous new generations are with the use of the media and mainly the internet, they can, because of a frequent lack of parental control, involuntarily be confronted with illegal images or content which can provoke deep and eventually irreversible trauma.
Considering this problem, the members of the Intergroup stress the fact that public authorities, media professionals, educators and parents, must have a shared responsibility in the field of media content and consumption.
Mrs Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou and the other signatory Members also demand that national and EU actors be encouraged to coordinate the establishment of specific media training programmes for parents, educators and children and to launch information campaigns on the dangers of new technologies. As for internet access providers, they should deliver free parental control software and internet site suppliers should proceed with the automatic filtering of their internet sites.
Finally, the European Commission is invited to adopt measures, among others through the SAFER INTERNET plus programme, aiming at stimulating the exchange of best practices among Member States on new technologies and the protection of children and to promote the creation of means for reporting and lodging complaints.
With this Written Declaration, the Intergroup on "Family and the Protection of Childhood" wishes to remind that children represent our future and that all should work in favour of a healthy information environment, allowing children to develop their aptitudes and competences without dangers in order to be prepared to address the challenges of tomorrow's society, and invites all the Members of the European Parliament to support the Declaration.
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