By Martina Prpic with Melissa Eichhorn

Children are human beings with rights and dignity. Children's rights are human rights. Owing to their fragility and vulnerability, children also require specific protection, however, which involves providing them with an environment where they are safe from any situation that could potentially expose them to abuse. Violence against children, as defined in Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, can take many forms (physical, sexual or emotional abuse or neglect) and can take place in different settings, such as at home, at school, in institutions, online, etc. Most child abusers are familiar to their victims. The short- and long-term consequences of abuse in terms of human, economic and social costs can be severe and extremely harmful. The extent of violence against children in the EU is difficult to assess, but current estimates give cause for great concern. The nature of the problem depends on various factors, including the personality profiles of victims and perpetrators as well as their surroundings. Certain categories of children, such as those with disabilities, those living in special institutions or those who are unaccompanied migrants, are particularly vulnerable. However, violence is avoidable and preventable. Effective policies to address this problem require a multi-sectoral approach involving different stakeholders at various levels. At international level, the United Nations and the Council of Europe have taken a number of measures to safeguard the rights of children, and more specifically to protect them from violence. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is crucial in this effort. According to its Article 19, children are entitled to protection from all forms of violence, and Member States are required to take all appropriate measures to ensure this protection. In recent years, the EU has been stepping up its measures to protect children. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, child protection has been recognised as a specific EU goal. While Member States are primarily responsible for child protection systems, the EU also plays an important role, since it is required to promote initiatives to protect children's rights. Its actions directly influence the relevant laws and policies implemented by the Member States in this area. Various parties are involved in raising awareness about violence against children, the importance of effective EU support for national child protection initiatives and the mainstreaming of child protection. Through its numerous initiatives, such as the continuously renewed EU strategy on the rights of the child and the 2024 Commission recommendation on integrated child protection systems, the EU continues to emphasise its commitment to protecting children and supporting Member States' actions and the exchange of best practice.

Brussels: EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2024. 31p.

By Victoria Pedjasaar

In the EU, a third of women over the age of 15 have experienced physical or sexual violence and over half have been sexually harassed. According to a study by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), just 13% of women reported their most serious incident of non-partner violence to the authorities. Gender-based violence can occur in various situations and circumstances. According to an EU-wide survey report, 32% of perpetrators of sexual harassment in the EU come from the employment context. Although often overlooked, the majority of (workplace) violence takes place in the healthcare sector as healthcare professionals are 16 times more at risk of violence in comparison to other occupations. Violence does not only manifest in abusive behaviour toward workers on duty but can also be perpetrated on women as receivers of healthcare. High rates of violence in healthcare, brought on and exacerbated by gender stereotypes and inequality, point to dysfunctional health systems. This Paper is divided into the following chapters and provides policy recommendations on the way forward for the EU member states: 1. Gender-based violence against healthcare workers. 2. Obstetric and gynaecological violence against women. 3. Gender-based violence is a story of gender inequality. 4. Legislation and policies that protect women.

Brussels, Belgium: European Policy Centre, 2023. 12p.

By Saskia Ozinga and Janet Meissner Pritchard

This report explores how trade in agricultural commodities undermines important EU timber trade reforms. It recommends a course of action that extends Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade-like mechanisms to agricultural commodities, including clearly incorporating conversion timber in new Voluntary Partnership Agreements and developing a broader EU Action Plan on Deforestation and Forest Degadation.

Brussels: FERN, 2015. 20p.

By Chantal Marijnissen, Saskia Ozinga, Beatrix Richards and Sebastien Risso

By mid-2004, the European Commission is due to report back to the Council of the European Union with its proposals for implementing the EU Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) that it released in May 2003. FERN, Greenpeace and WWF welcome the Plan and aim, with this report, to provide further recommendations to EU policy makers that will assist their efforts to ensure its successful implementation. Given the stage of development of the FLEGT Action Plan, this report will focus primarily on criminal aspects of the timber industry. However, it is important to remember that much legal logging is also highly destructive – and that ultimately it is the issue of forest sustainability that needs to be addressed. As the environmental NGO community has repeatedly shown, the impacts of illegal logging on wildlife and human welfare are devastating. Illegal logging contributes to deforestation and loss of biodiversity; fuels civil wars and threatens international security through bribery, organised crime and human rights abuses; cuts tax revenue of producer countries; destabilises international markets and undermines both legitimate business and responsible forest management.

Brussels: FERN; Greenpeace European Unit; World Wildlife Fund, 2004. 38p.

By FERN

At a time when the space for civil society is shrinking, the need for people to be able to influence the powers that control their lives, and have the freedom to work together to tackle the challenges they face, is more critical than ever. These reports from the frontline of the struggle against deforestation and illegal logging show how it can be done. Written by local journalists from tropical forested countries which have signed (or are negotiating) Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) timber trade deals with the European Union (EU), these stories offer snapshots of the lives of people dependent on forests for their survival, and underline how putting local people in the driving seat of the policies that affect them is key to keeping forests standing.

Brussels; London: FERN, 2002. 40p.

By Duncan Brack, Chantal Marijnissen, and Saskia Ozinga

Around the world, people are waking up to the fact that illegal forestry activities are widespread and have extremely negative consequences. Not only does illegal logging damage the environment, but tax evasion by forestry companies deprives governments of billions of euros in revenues, related corruption and impunity to prosecution undermine the rule of law, and in several countries the proceeds from illegal forestry activities have financed violent conflict. Clearly something must be done. In this paper several of Europe’s most knowledgeable experts about illegal forestry activities have put their heads together to examine what the European Commission and member states can do to address the problem. They focus particularly on trade, finance, and procurement issues, although they briefly discuss efforts to strengthen the capacity of national institutions in developing countries. One by one they go through each of the specific instruments that might be used and analyse their advantages and disadvantages and the practical aspects of their application. They conclude that steps can be taken by using existing legislation and mechanisms if the Commission and member states vigorously pursue those options, but additional legislation is needed.

Brussels; FERN: London: Royal Institute of International Affairs , 2002. 74p.

By Davin Nina 1 Péan Maxence

Money laundering is an activity that consists of legitimizing the proceeds of crime by integrating them into the economic system. The primary objective of this process is to conceal the origin of money from illegal activities (drug trafficking, insider trading, corruption, etc.). The proceeds of these crimes take different forms. It can be cash, financial assets or material objects (works of art, jewelry, etc.). Money laundering is most often carried out in three distinct stages: placement, layering and integration. The placement stage consists of placing the dirty money in the financial system. Most often, criminal organizations come through companies to increase the inflow of capital, which is then deposited in a banking institution. Afterwards, the stratification process takes place, which consists of a large series of conversions and movements of funds in order to mask the origin of these products. Finally, once the money is laundered, it is reused by criminals to finance their activities. Today, the emergence of new information and communication technologies (NICT) in particular is giving a new boost to money laundering activities. The advent of online payment systems, crypto-currencies and dematerialized cash transfers make it even more difficult to track down illegal money transfers. Moreover, the multiplication of online auctions or gambling sites greatly facilitates money laundering. Faced with the development of these new methods, the authorities of European countries are trying to set up a new system to fight against money laundering, in particular by strengthening their cooperation. In addition, following the numerous attacks that occurred in the decade 2010-2020, the fight against the financing of terrorism has become the focus of these institutions. Despite the strengthening of the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT), the latter "has weaknesses1". These weaknesses are based on "institutional fragmentation and insufficient coordination at the European Union level2" but also because the EU bodies have "limited tools". Furthermore, following the work of many researchers, it is estimated that today the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing is liberticide. Indeed, as early as 2003, a report by the CNIL pointed out the numerous liberticidal measures to fight against money laundering. In this paper, we will first present the framework of the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in the European Union (I), then we will describe the main flaws of this system (II), and finally we will demonstrate that this fight is today deeply liberticidal, notably because of the tools it uses (III)

Sciencespo.aix. ND. ca. 2021.p.12.

By European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

Crime harms individual victims, their loved ones, as well as society as a whole. Its effects are multi-faceted, causing physical, psychological and material injury. Fear of crime can be almost equally damaging, often changing how people live their daily lives. Crime undermines the individual rights of victims, including their core fundamental rights, such as the right to life and human dignity. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights obliges states to protect these rights. The Charter and the Victims’ Rights Directive also give victims a right to redress and to be treated without discrimination. In addition, victims’ property and consumer protection rights can be affected. This report presents results from FRA’s Fundamental Rights Survey – the first EU-wide survey to collect comparable data on people’s experiences with, concern about, and responses to select types of crime. It focuses on violence and harassment, as well as on certain property crimes. The survey reached out to 35,000 people in the EU, the United Kingdom and North Macedonia.

Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2021 117p.

By Horst Entorf and Hannes Spengler

According to the European Parliament, unemployment, social disintegration, the lack of an integrative policy, and the worsening of urban services and living conditions cause frustration and despair, especially among economically and socially disadvantaged groups, and constitute unfavourable conditions that might lead to delinquent behaviour. Furthermore increasing poverty and inequality are supposed to be crime-enhancing factors. Based on this view, the European Commission has put out to tender a research project titled "Development and validation of scientific indicators of the relationship between criminality, social cohesion and economic performance" which has been executed by ZEW during the period 1/12/1998 - 29/2/2000. The present publication provides the results obtained from this project. The study intends to contribute to a better understanding of the interactions between criminality, economic performance and social cohesion. We try to achieve this aim by evaluating the existing economic and criminological research (with a special focus on quantitative research) and by carrying out own empirical investigations on the basis of a panel consisting of national time series from the 15 EU member states, an international cross-section of nations and an unique set of regional panel data originating from eight EU member states. Our empirical results about causes of crime reveal the crime reducing potential of intact family values. A smaller number of divorces and earlier marriage significantly reduce delinquency. By the same token, less efficient child care as a consequence of lacking family cohesion might explain the crime enhancing effects found for increasing female labour force participation rates. Further evidence supporting the interdependence of crime and the labour market show up in significant parameter estimates for indicators of unemployment, fixed-term contracts and part-time working. Furthermore, we find that higher wealth is associated with higher property crime rates and more drug-related offences, and that in turn drug offences foster the incidence of property crime.

Mannheim: ZEW- Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, 2000. 213p.

Edited by Jörg-Martin Jehle / Stefan Harrendorf.

The study presented in this book is a direct response to the needs for defining and registering criminal and judicial data on the European level. Based upon work done by the European Sourcebook experts group in creating the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics (ESB), the project intended to improve and complement the standards developed so far for definitions and statistical registration in four fields, in order to contribute to the picture of criminal justice in Europe. It utilized questionnaires filled by an established European network.

Gottingen, GER: Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2010 302p.