Combating violence against children and ensuring child protection

Children can be victims, witnesses, as well as perpetrators of violence, starting from their own homes, in school, in leisure and recreational activities, in the justice system, offline as well as online. Experiencing violence in childhood may have long-life consequences.

Promoting a culture of zero-tolerance for violence against children requires to close the gap between international standards, political commitments, and action and to mobilise all relevant actors across the society. This should concern any form of violence, meaning all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, physically, online, or in virtual worlds. Such violence includes for instance domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual abuse, gender-based violence, including female genital mutilation and child marriage, as well as all forms of bullying and corporal punishment.

National child protection systems are put in place to protect children from violence. 

The EU has now very strong legislation to protect children from violence, such as on victim’s rights, child sexual abuse, trafficking in human beings and violence against women and domestic violence (provisionally politically agreed), among other policy and funding actions.

Specific EU actions, such as the European strategy for a better internet for kids or the Digital Services Act, ensure that children can safely navigate the digital environment and harness its opportunities. 

Furthermore, the Commission has developed measures to improve mental health and well-being of children, notably with the Communication on a comprehensive approach to mental health. Meaningful child participation and consultation, including through the EU Children’s Participation Platform has been a hallmark of the EU Strategy, and it is becoming a recognised practice in the EU and beyond. 

On 23 April 2024 the European Commission has adopted a Recommendation on developing and strengthening integrated children protection systems in the best interests of the child. With this Recommendation, the EU aims to bring together all its actions to protect children from violence. 

The Commission Recommendation aims at supporting Member States to develop and strengthen their child protection systems according to children’s needs and in their best interests. It will especially encourage coordination among authorities at different levels, professionals across sectors, international and civil society organisations. All these child protection actors need to work together to protect children from any form of violence (physical, mental, including in the digital world) in a coherent and systemic way. Families, communities and children themselves have a key role to play too. 

The Recommendation is accompanied by a communication on “Putting Children’s First: A Communication accompanying the Commission Recommendation on Integrated Child Protection Systems”. An annex to the communication lists the Key Union Acquis, key policy documents and funding relevant to child protection systems.

The Recommendation echoes the views of more than 1,000 children collected through the new EU Children’s Participation Platform. The broad consultation in preparation of the initiative also includes an open public consultation and a mapping by the Fundamental Rights Agency on child protection systems across Member States, detailed in a Staff Working Document. 

This Recommendation is a commitment of the EU strategy on the rights. This initiative, together with many others throughout the Commission mandate, is turning the strategy into action, as highlighted in this factsheet. 

Under the new EU Strategy on the rights of the child, the Commission committed to:

• put forward a legislative proposal to combat gender-based violence against women and domestic violence, while supporting the finalisation of the EU’s accession to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence;
• table a recommendation on the prevention of harmful practices against women and girls, including female genital mutilation;
• present an initiative aimed at supporting the development and strengthening of integrated child protection systems, which will encourage all relevant authorities and services to better work together, in a system that puts the child at the centre;
• support the exchange of good practices on ending non-vital surgery and medical intervention on intersex infants and adolescents to make them fit the typical definition of male or female without their or their parents’ fully informed consent (intersex genital mutilation).

About the 116 000 missing children hotline

The 116 000 and 116 111 hotlines are a key part of the child protection systems.

The 116 000 hotline has been designed to report missing children and provide social support services for children and families when a child goes missing.

The 116 000 hotline is now operational in all 27 EU countries.

More information about 116 000 hotlines in Europe

• other 116 helplines
• Missing Children Europe –Annual review 2017 
• Current state of implementation of the 116 000 hotline 
• Website on 116 numbers by Directorate General Information Society
• Study: “Missing children in the European Union (EU 27) – Mapping, data collection and statistics” (2013)

Report: State of implementation of 116 000 hotline in EU countries

Child alert mechanisms

Child alert mechanisms aim to alert the public in cases of child abduction and where the life of a child is at risk. The child alert mechanism alerts the public by disseminating information in the hours after the disappearance of a child. Child alert systems are used in the event of worrying disappearances and criminal abduction. The system uses electronic means of communication such as e-mails, text messages, electronic signs on motorways, information on radio and television.

Currently, a child alert system is available in 16 EU countries: