WRITTEN QUESTION No. 248/98 by Allan MACARTNEY to the Commission. Child welfare in the European Union
C 304/60 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 2. 10. 98 (98/C 304/83) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0248/98 by Allan Macartney (ARE) to the Commission (13 February 1998) Subject: Child welfare in the European Union What progress has the Commission made in promoting and monitoring the implementation of policies on child welfare in Member States consistent with those set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child? What additional resources have been allocated at European level to assist Member States to meet their obligations under that Convention? Answer given by Mr Flynn on behalf of the Commission (3 April 1998) Through budget line B3-4108, measures in favour of families and children, the Commission has co-funded limited activities since 1989 in the area of child welfare and the rights of the child. In recent years the allocation to projects of that nature has been increasing. Among these are seminars on the new instruments for child protection such as the ombudsmen for children, on how to have children formulate their voice, an interdisciplinary course on childrensí rights for people working with children or in governments or about how to create a more children friendly society. The allocation for budget line B3-4108 is 4 MECU this year. Apart from social and demographic studies which account for around 10% of the budget, this amount is equally shared between actions for families and actions for children. Some of the latter are directly connected to measures linked to the rights of the child and the United Nations (UN) convention. In the education sector, and further to the Council conclusions of 22 September 1997 on safety at school (1), the Commission launched in 1997 an initiative ailed at reinforcing co-operation at the European level on issues related to violence in schools and safety at school. Within this context, an amount of 558 300 ECU within budget line B3-1000 (general measures of co-operation in education) was committed to support projects implementing prevention shemes using multidimensional approach whereby different parties (teachers, pupils, parents, local authorities, police, justice) are associated in the search for concrete solutions. This initiative is co-ordinated by a group of experts designated by the Member States and chaired by the Commission. Furthermore, one of the questions to be examined is the role of school in preventing child abuse, within schools and outside. (1) OJ C 303, 4. 10. 1997. (98/C 304/84) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0250/98 by Richard Howitt (PSE) to the Commission (13 February 1998) Subject: The absence of a common European Noise Directive Given the Communityís concern for the health and well-being of the citizens of Europe, and given the clear aims of the Environmental Directives, why have these aims not been ástreamlinedí into a Directive on Noise Pollution? Will the Commission acknowledge that this is long overdue and that it should be undertaken as a matter of some urgency? Answer given by Mrs Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission (18 March 1998) The Commission is already working to produce effective measures on noise, as announced in its 1996 green paper on future noise policy (1)