Her
speech from yesterday, part 1:
Speech by H.R.H. Princess Caroline of Hanover, President of AMADE,
the World Association of Children’s Friends
Tuesday 23 January
Ladies and Gentlemen, when I received your invitation, as President of Amade, to attend this session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe with its focus on children, I was pleased to accept this opportunity to share in the work your Assembly is doing to improve children’s lives and defend their rights.
I thank you, Mr President, for your kind words. Amade was founded by my mother, Princess Grace, in 1963, to promote and protect children’s rights internationally. Princess Grace’s aim was to bring together well-meaning people on every continent to address this problem. But she knew that the contribution and support of the international institutions were indispensable.
This association I have presided over since 1993 develops and supports long- and short-term humanitarian programmes in the fields of education, health and nutrition in favour of those children in the world who suffer from poverty, exploitation, violence or war. Financing surgical operations in Asia or South Africa, bringing medical treatment to children suffering from genetic disorders in Niger, rebuilding schools after the tsunami disaster, the “Ecole à tous vents” literacy education programme for street children in Congo or Asia, support for HIV/AIDS orphans: these are some examples of the work we do. Convinced that speed and efficacy require the existence of sound partnerships, Amade relies on a network of local partners in Africa, South America, Asia and Europe, driven by the same purpose: to help children. It is these local contacts that constantly alert us to human rights violations, which unfortunately happen every day.
In spite of the immense task already accomplished by institutions and associations, it is up to us, the citizens of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, to make our contribution and propose new courses of action.
In Monaco, my father, Prince Rainier III, and today my brother, have always wanted to invest in this cause and alert the international community. In 2004, my brother addressed the UN General Assembly in his capacity as crown prince and invited the international community to strengthen co-operation to ensure that cruelty to children does not go unpunished.
As soon as it joined the Council of Europe the Principality of Monaco wanted to take part in the Organisation’s work to protect our children. I personally had the honour and the pleasure in September 2005 in Monaco to attend a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which had a debate on violence and all forms of exploitation and abuse of children on its agenda.
It was on that occasion that it was decided to organise in Monaco in spring 2006 the conference to launch the Council of Europe’s three-year programme: Building a Europe for and with children. At this launch event your Deputy Secretary General, Ms Maud De Boer Buquicchio, developed the two proposed aims: to promote children’s rights and to eradicate violence against children. The work would hinge on four principles: protecting children; preventing violence; prosecuting those who perpetrated it; and involving children.
In spring 2006 we therefore parted company determined to pursue the aims we had set ourselves, and to drum up the technical and moral support needed to take effective action based on undeniable universal legal values.
Where has it led us?
We have each continued to work in our own way. The Council of Europe, in the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly, has continued its work in this field. On 22 May 2006 the Committee of Experts on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse started its work on drafting a convention on the protection of children against sexual exploitation and abuse, to be presented in 2007.
There is also the important role played by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Thomas Hammarberg, who has made combating violence against children one of his priorities. Finally, the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has produced a report on child victims: stamping out all forms of violence, exploitation and abuse, together with a draft resolution and recommendation which were presented to us by its rapporteur, Mr Jean Charles Gardetto, whom I should like to thank.
Today a draft joint declaration on strengthening co-operation between the Council of Europe and Unicef has been signed.
Other institutions, such as the United Nations, focus on aid to children, including the prevention of violence. A special session on 11, 12 and 13 October 2006 revolved around the presentation of the remarkable report by Professor Pinero on violence against children. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, WHO, Unesco, Interpol, the European Commission, as well as Unicef and governments at the national level are all pursuing similar aims.
Unfortunately violence is still a problem today, all over the world: it is the opposite of peace, the ideal to which I hope we all aspire. Henceforth the fight against violence is something that concerns us all, at every level. Whatever a country’s standard of living or its internal situation, improvements are always possible. We must try out new paths.
By way of an example, let me tell you about a positive experiment the Government of the Principality of Monaco has been conducting since 1998: the development of a mediation body in the Directorate of Health and Welfare. The experiment will probably be institutionalised. In fact the Commissioner for Human Rights encourages its generalisation in all the Council of Europe’s member states.
Furthermore, in its eagerness to invest in the Council of Europe’s programme, the Government has made a voluntary contribution, with the request that the funds concerned be allocated first and foremost to activities to protect children, by alerting them to the dangers of the Internet and the new information and communication technologies.
The aim of the “Crimes against children, crimes against humanity” project Amade initiated in 2002 was to have the most heinous crimes against children classified as crimes against humanity. Supported by my brother before the United Nations in 2002 and in 2004, this programme is guided by two principles: no statutory limitation on crimes against children and the universal prosecution of offenders. For a number of years now Amade has been trying to rally the international community around this theme.
However, the difficulties encountered in the development and implementation of a new legal instrument have led our association to continue its action at the regional level of the Council of Europe, and also at the national level, in collaboration with the Government of Monaco and the National Council. This has helped to pinpoint the different current trends in child protection, as guidance in strengthening children’s legal status.
Instead of speculations where she would spent her birthday, Psse Caroline chose to reverse the spotlight to the little ones. A little "sacrifice" on her birthday in order to raise public awareness on most important issues: children rights, their protection, development, growth. She's definately extraordinary role model!
