Resolution 2533 (2024)1Provisional version

Child abuse in institutions in Europe

Parliamentary Assembly

1. In Europe, we must never again turn a blind eye to the abuse of children, whether they have been victims of sexual predators, gratuitous violence or ill-treatment in public, private or religious institutions that are supposed to be safe havens. Too many children’s futures have been shattered beyond repair. The exposure of such human rights violations throughout Europe has also highlighted serious errors of judgement and professional or ethical misconduct committed by third parties. The accounts of these crimes are always harrowing, whether they took place in orphanages in Ireland and Romania, schools in Sweden and Norway, church-run institutions in Germany, Belgium, Spain, France and Switzerland, as well as farms in Switzerland or in summer camps in France.

2. A reality passed over in silence, the amount of suffering, abuse and violence, be it sexual or otherwise, that children have suffered in institutions in Europe is as intolerable as the impunity that surrounds it and still continues today. Ignoring such malicious acts, refusing to acknowledge the acts and the torment of victims play a part in perpetuating the conditions that enable such totally impermissible criminal behaviour to continue to this day.

3. The Council of Europe, including the Parliamentary Assembly, strongly supports children’s rights and their protection from abuse. It has developed pioneering, binding standards and norms, monitored their implementation, issued guidance, and provided support and capacity building through, in particular, the multidisciplinary work of the Committee of the Parties to the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Committee), in which the Assembly participates. The Council of Europe has established itself at the forefront of efforts to consolidate children’s rights and, above all, as a driving force for positive change.

4. “Freedom from violence for all children” and “Child-friendly justice for all children”, two of the six strategic objectives of the fourth Strategy for the Rights of the Child (2022-2027), remain priority areas for the Organisation, requiring “continuous implementation”. These objectives and the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.2 to “end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children” must remain a priority for all Council of Europe member States.

5. In order to reaffirm that combating violence against children is a European priority and to ensure that national structures are set up to prevent such violence effectively, the Assembly reiterates the recommendations set out in Resolution 2330 (2020) “Addressing sexual violence against children: stepping action and co-operation in Europe” and in Resolution 2294 (2019) “Ending violence against children: a Council of Europe contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals” which echoed Resolution 2056 (2015) “The inclusion of children’s rights in national constitutions as an essential component of effective national child policies”.

1. Assembly debate on 26 January 2024 (7th sitting) (see Doc. 15889, report of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Mr Pierre-Alain Fridez; and oral opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mr Constantinos Efstathiou). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 January 2024 (7th sitting).

See also Recommendation 2269 (2024).

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