The Covid-19 pandemic has had a huge impact, in Wales, the UK, in Europe and globally. Nearly 1.5 million people in Europe have died due to the Covid-19 virus, although research confirms that deaths of children are rare.[1] While children may not have experienced such high rates of mortality due to the virus, they have had to endure many restrictions on their rights as governments across Europe have introduced laws and policies in response to the pandemic.
We carried out research on the impact of Covid-19 Emergency Measures on children’s rights for the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC)[2] and set out our findings in a report called: ‘Mapping the Impact of Emergency Measures introduced in Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic on Children’s Rights in ENOC Member States’. Emergency Measures are laws and policies introduced by governments to try to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Our report discusses evidence provided to us by ENOC members which highlights how Emergency Measures have had a negative impact on children’s rights. This was reinforced by the research conducted by children and young people for ENOC.[3]
Evidence from ENOC members across Europe demonstrates that many governments failed to take into account children’s rights when introducing Emergency Measures. Children’s rights were not used as a guide to decision-making: and children and/or child specialist advisers were largely excluded from decisions about Emergency Measures. Only a minority of governments carried out a Children’s Rights Impact Assessment’, which is a process recommended by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to ensure that laws and policies, respect protect and fulfil children’s rights. An extremely worrying finding from our research is that children already seen as ‘vulnerable’ were more likely to be severely affected or discriminated against by Emergency Measures: in particular, children with additional learning needs, disabled children, children with mental illness, children with mild to moderate mental health problems, children in care, asylum seekers and refugees, children of divorced or separated parents, and children in the child justice system
As children’s right to meet and get together in groups was restricted by Emergency Measures, this resulted in many children only being able to meet online. ENOC Members raised concerns about the lack of protection in some countries for children’s privacy or their online safety, and about the negative impact on some children’s mental health.
Of serious concern, was evidence provided to us by ENOC Members to suggest that children across Europe were seen as being at greater risk of abuse and neglect, and sexual exploitation, as a result of Emergency Measures. The reasons for this were said to be governments struggling to maintain services to identify and protect children experiencing abuse at home. With the majority of schools closed, children did not have a safe refuge to escape to, or have the same opportunities to seek help.
Our research also highlights how Emergency Measures failed to provide support for parents/carers and childcare services at the height of the pandemic, and how some children were unable to have contact with both their parents, if their parents were divorced or separated, or with parents/carers who were in prison, or in another country.
The evidence we looked at also raises serious concerns that Emergency Measures have had a negative impact on the health and welfare of some children, especially on children’s mental health; children’s physical health, their ability to access mental health services and general health services; and food security. Children’s mental health was highlighted as a significant concern due to restrictions on movements, confinement to the home, not being in school and reduced opportunities to play and meet up with friends. We also found that children’s right to education, play and leisure have been adversely affected by Emergency Measures, with reduced access to education at all levels. And while some children were able to access on-line learning, not all governments were properly prepared to support this at the beginning of the pandemic. A ‘digital divide’ became a problem as many children were unable to access online learning for various reasons.
Other issues raised in our report, concern the negative impact of Emergency Measures on services to help children recover from physical or psychological abuse or trauma; on the right to a fair trial because of delays in court proceedings in the juvenile justice system; and, on children in institutions who were denied their liberty without good reason.
Overall our research demonstrates that Emergency Measures were introduced by many European governments without proper respect for children or children’s rights. Governments across Europe primarily responded to the pandemic in ways which led to negative impacts on children’s rights.
If you want to read more about our research, then you can read a summary of our report, or the full report here.
You can also read ENOC’s ‘Position Statement 2021’ here.
The Position Statement explains the steps ENOC members believe should be taken to protect children’s rights if governments across Europe decide to take action in the future to deal with a pandemic or other public emergency.
[1] Reuteurs Covid-19 Global Tracker, https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/. Bhopal S, Bagaria J, Olabi B, Bhopal R., ‘Children and young people remain at low risk of COVID-19 mortality’, Lancet Child Adolescent Health 2021; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(21)00066-3.
[2] ENOC http://enoc.eu
[4] ENYA Recommendations: Let’s Talk Young, Let ‘s Talk about the impact of COVID-19 on Children’s Rights (September 2021)
Authors:
Dr Rhian Croke is an Independent Children’s Rights Adviser and an affiliate of the Observatory on the Human Rights of Children
Professor Simon Hoffman is an expert in human rights and a Joint Coordinator of the Observatory on the Human Rights of Children