The Gallup Organization Flash EB N o 187 2006 Innobarometer on Clusters Flash Eurobarometer European Commission The Rights of the Child Analytical report Fieldwork: February 2008 Report: April 2008 Flash Eurobarometer 235 The Gallup Organization This survey was requested by Directorate - General for Justice, Freedom and Security and coordinated by Directorate-General Communication. This document does not represent the point of view of the European Commission. The interpretations and opinions contained in it are solely those of the authors. Analytical Report, page 1
Flash EB Series #235 The Rights of the Child Survey conducted by The Gallup Organization, Hungary upon the request of Directorate- General for Justice, Freedom and Security Coordinated by Directorate-General Communication This document does not represent the point of view of the European Commission. The interpretations and opinions contained in it are solely those of the authors. THE GALLUP ORGANIZATION
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child Table of contents Introduction...4 Main findings...5 1. Awareness about the Rights of the Child...6 2. Perceived levels of protection of the Rights of the Child across the EU...8 3. Looking for help when the rights of a child had been violated...10 4. Problems likely to be encountered when help is needed to defend the rights of a child...13 5. Policy areas thought to be of particular interest regarding the Rights of the Child...18 6. Knowledge about the Rights of the Child...25 7. Problems that should receive priority at a national level...28 8. Priority of actions to promote and protect the Rights of the Child to be taken at a European level...36 9. Information channels that seem to offer the easiest way of learning more out about the Rights of the Child...41 I. Annex Tables...44 II. Survey details...70 III. Questionnaire...73 page 3
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report Introduction This survey (Flash Eurobarometer 235: The Rights of the Child) was conducted to determine how much young people (15-18 years old) knew about the Rights of the Child 1, the extent to which these rights were protected and which actions should be taken as a priority to improve them at national and European levels. In detail, the survey examined respondents : knowledge about their specific rights opinions to how those rights were protected experiences in asking for help opinions about the main areas of legislation that affected them ideas about national and Europe-wide actions to be taken opinions about the easiest ways of finding out more information about their rights The charts in the report present the results from all 27 EU Member States, broken down by the following socio-demographic characteristics of respondents: Sex (male; female) Age (15-16; 17-18) Full-time student (yes or no) Subjective urbanisation Occupation of main contributor to household budget (self-employed; employee; manual worker; not working). The survey s fieldwork was carried out between the 16 th and 25 th February 2008. Over 10,000 randomly selected young people (15-18 years old) were interviewed across the EU. The survey was carried out by telephone, with WebCATI (web-based computer assisted telephone interviewing). To correct for sampling disparities, a post-stratification weighting of the results was implemented, based on socio-demographic variables. 1 According to the UN New York Convention on the Rights of the Child and to Article 24 of the EU Charter of fundamental rights, "a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years". page 4
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child Main findings Awareness and information about the Rights of the Child The majority of young people (15-18 years old) from the 27 EU Member States (67%) were aware that people under 18 enjoyed specific rights compared to adults. Nevertheless, when asked which problems they thought might be encountered by others in their age group trying to defend their rights, the most commonly mentioned problems were that children would not know how to go about it and whom to contact (79%) and that they were simply not aware of their rights (76%). Similarly, when asked which actions to promote and protect the Rights of the Child should be taken as a priority at the European level, 88% of respondents mentioned more information to children about their rights and where to enquire about them (e.g. through information campaigns, or via the creation of a website) Finally, over two thirds (70%) of young people (15-18 years old) considered the Internet to be the easiest information channel to be used in order to find out information about their rights. Protection of the Rights of the Child Overall, approximately three-quarters of respondents (74%) considered the Rights of the Child very well or fairly well protected in their country. Nineteen percent of interviewees across the EU stated that these rights were incompletely protected in their country, and 3% believed they were not protected at all. Nevertheless, the vast majority of respondents (82%) said that neither they, nor anyone they knew (under 18) had ever tried to seek help when they thought their rights had been violated. Only 7% said that they personally looked for help in such a case and 10% stated that they did know someone who tried to look for help when they thought that a child s rights had been violated. Policy areas of interest regarding the Rights of the Child The survey asked for opinions about the areas that governments or public administrations should particularly take the interests of children into account, when adopting legislation or making decisions. Education was mentioned most frequently, by three-quarters of respondents (74%). The second most frequently mentioned topic (43%) was security (e.g. protection against violence), followed by (40%) health and social affairs (e.g. access to hospital care or public transport). Respondents were asked which one of a number of problems should be addressed as a top priority in their country. Violence against children was considered the most important problem to be tackled by almost a quarter of young people (15-18 years old) in all Member States (23%). One out of five respondents (20%) indicated that sexual exploitation of children should be addressed as a priority at a national level, and almost the same percentage mentioned the problem of drugs (18%). page 5
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report 1. Awareness about the Rights of the Child Two-thirds (67%) of young people (15-18 years old) were aware that people under 18 enjoy specific rights compared to adults, while one-third (33%) were not aware of this. Awareness about the Rights of the Child DK/NA; 1 % No, not aware; 32% Looking at the individual country results, we saw that a majority of EU Member States followed a similar distribution in their awareness of children s rights compared to the EU overall (i.e. twothirds of respondents were aware of the issue versus one-third who were not). We also noticed that the level of awareness of the Rights of the Child was the highest in Romania (85%; 18 percentage points above the EU27 average). Respondents from Slovenia and Bulgaria (both 78%) and Luxembourg (77%) were also among those that were the most aware that people under 18 enjoy specific rights. Ye s, awa re; 67 % Q1. Are you aware that people under 18 enjoy specif ic rights compared to adults? % EU27 At the other end of the distribution where respondents were less likely to be aware of these rights we found that Hungarian respondents were the least informed (38%). Hungary was also the only country where a majority of respondents were unaware of the specific rights of people under 18 (61%). Denmark and Austria joined Hungary at the lower end of the distribution, with 47% and 46%, respectively, who were not aware that under 18 year-olds enjoyed specific rights. Awareness about the Rights of the Child 100 Yes, aware No, not aware 75 50 25 85 78 78 77 74 74 72 69 69 68 68 68 68 68 67 67 67 66 66 64 63 63 63 62 59 54 52 38 0-25 12 18 22 23 25 26 27 30 31 31 30 30 29 31 31 32 32 34 34 36 35 36 36 36 41 46 47 61-50 -7 5 RO SI BG LU IE LT LV UK PT FR ES CY IT PL FI EE EU27 MT BE EL CZ DE SE SK NL AT DK HU Q1. Are you aware that people under 18 enjoy specific rights compared to adults? - % by country page 6
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child Socio-demographic considerations Looking at the differences in the awareness of the Rights of the Child by socio-demographic groups, we only saw small differences. It appears that the awareness levels of the Rights of the Child were slightly higher for 17-18 yearolds 2, respondents who were not full-time students, metropolitan city dwellers and respondents living in a household where the main contributor to the household income was a manual worker or was self-employed. For example, while 71% of respondents living in metropolitan areas said they were aware that individuals under 18 had specific rights compared to adults, only two-thirds of respondents living in rural areas said the same. Awareness about the Rights of the Child Total Gender Male Female Age 15-16 17-18 Full-time student Yes No Subjective urbanisation Metropolitan zone Other town/urban centre Rural zone Occupation of main contributor to the household income Self-employed Employees Manual workers Not working Yes, aware DK/NA No, not aware 67 67 67 65 68 66 70 71 66 66 68 66 69 66 32 32 32 34 30 32 29 28 33 33 31 33 29 32 Q1. Are you aware that people under 18 enjoy specific rights compared to adults? % by socio-demographics 2 The questionnaire asked the exact age of the respondents; they were 15, 16, 17 or 18 years-of-age. For the sociodemographic analysis, we decided to divide the respondents into two groups: 15-16 year-olds and 17-18 year-olds. page 7
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report 2. Perceived levels of protection of the Rights of the Child across the EU When asking respondents opinion about the level of protection of children s rights in their country, the dominant opinion was that those specific rights were fairly well protected (58%). Overall, approximately three out of four respondents (74%) considered the Rights of the Child to be very well or fairly well protected in their country. Nevertheless, one in five interviewees across the EU (18%) thought that the specific rights of the under-18s were incompletely protected in their country and 3% believed that these were not protected at all. Perceived levels of protection of the Rights of the Child across the EU DK/NA; 4% Not protect ed; 3% Incompletely protected; 19% Very well protected; 16% The highest percentages of respondents who believed that the Rights of the Child were very well or fairly well protected in their country was found in Finland (94%), followed by the Netherlands (93%) and the UK (92%). On the Fairly well protect ed; 58% Q2. Do you think that the specific rights of children are in [YOUR COUNTRY]...? % EU27 other hand, the lowest proportions of respondents who thought that the children s rights were well protected in their country were found in Portugal (39%; 55 percentage points less than in Finland) and Romania (42%). Looking only at the percentages of interviewees who said that the Rights of the Child were very well protected in their country, we found a different sequence of the Member States. Denmark had the highest proportion of respondents who stated that the rights of the under-18s were very well protected (40%; 24 percentage points above the EU27 average). Denmark was followed by Estonia and the Netherlands, with 30% and 29%, respectively, who answered in this way. At the other end of the distribution with the lowest percentages of respondents saying that the children s rights were very well protected we found Lithuanian respondents (3%; 13 percentage points below the EU27 average) followed by Polish, Italian and Latvian interviewees (6% in each country). Portugal and Romania were also the only EU Member States where a majority of respondents had a negative opinion on this issue. Almost six out of 10 respondents in Portugal (59%) and Romania (57%) said that the Rights of the Child were not at all or incompletely protected in their country. Although the overall negative feeling in Portugal and Romania was similar, the Romanian respondents were more likely to say that the Rights of the Child were not at all protected in their country (14% versus 4% for Portugal). Taking into account the findings from the previous chapter, we can conclude that the Romanian young people (15-18 years old) were not only the most aware of the Rights of the Child, but they were also the most sceptical about the protection of these rights in their country. page 8
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child Perceived levels of protection of the Rights of the Child across the EU 100 75 50 Very well protected Fairly well protected Incompletely protected Not protected DK/NA 5 1 30 4 23 31 21 6 4 5 7 2 40 9 3 3 2 01 2 9 1 5 3 1 4 3 4 1 6 4 4 11 15 2 3 1 6 2 1 0 5 6 5 3 3 2 4 7 1 13 2 2 13 17 18 19 21 4 14 4 20 25 29 27 33 31 31 31 30 38 28 50 64 43 55 67 70 65 60 63 66 63 63 51 70 53 59 55 60 47 25 60 55 57 58 54 54 52 54 49 35 29 0 27 29 22 27 30 40 23 20 21 13 20 27 24 16 19 12 21 6 9 7 6 9 7 8 3 6 7 10 FI NL UK IE EE DK SE AT BE FR DE MT LU EU27 CY CZ ES LV SK SI PL EL HU BG LT IT RO PT Q2. Do you think that the specific rights of children are in [YOUR COUNTRY]...? % by country Socio-demographic considerations The socio-demographic analysis did not reveal any great differences in the various groupings opinions about the level of protection of the Rights of the Child. It could, however, be noticed that young men were slightly more likely to answer that under-18s rights were very well protected in their country (17% vs. 14%), while young women were slightly more likely to say that the Rights of the Child were incompletely protected in their country (21% vs. 17%). Furthermore, the largest differences were found when comparing the opinions based on the main household contributor s occupational status: while 77% of respondents from a household where the main contributor was an employee believed that the specific rights of the under-18s were very well or fairly well protected in their country, this proportion was 10 Perceived levels of protection of the Rights of the Child across the EU Very well protected Fairly well protect ed Incompletely protected Not protected DK/NA Total Gender Male Female Age 15-16 17-18 Full-time student Yes No Subjective urbanisation Metropolitan zone Other town/urban centre Rural zone Occupation main contributor to the household income Self-employed Employees Manual workers Not working percentage points lower for respondents in households were the main contributor was not working (67%) in these households almost three out of 10 respondents (29%) thought that the Rights of the Child were not at all or incompletely protected in their country. 16 17 14 17 15 15 17 15 16 16 17 15 14 18 59 59 59 59 59 59 59 60 58 60 55 62 58 49 19 17 21 18 20 19 18 20 20 18 21 17 21 24 34 34 34 34 34 34 43 3 34 34 34 24 43 54 Q2. Do you think that the specific rights of children are in [YOUR COUNTRY]...? % by socio-demographics page 9
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report 3. Looking for help when the rights of a child had been violated A large majority of respondents (82%) said that neither they, nor anyone else in their age group that they knew, had ever tried to seek help when they thought that their rights had been violated. Only 7% of respondents said that they personally looked for help in such a case; 5% sought help themselves and 2% said that both they and others looked for help. Finally, one in 10 respondents (10%) stated that they knew someone who tried to look for help when they thought that their rights had been violated. Likelihood of seeking for help when the rights of a child had been violated No; 82% DK/NA ; 1 % Yes, yourself; 5% Yes, someone you know; 1 0% Bot h you and oth er(s) ; 2% Summing all the Yes answers ( Yes yourself, Yes, someone you know and Both you and others ) Q3. Did you, yourself ever try to seek help in a matter when you thought your rights were violated, or did someone else below 18 years-of-age you know try that? Base: all re spondents % EU27 and examining the resulting country breakdown, we found that Greek respondents were the most likely to say that they, or someone else that they knew of a similar age, had tried to seek help when they thought that their rights had been violated (32%; 15 percentage points above the EU27 average). Luxembourg and Cyprus joined Greece at the higher end of the distribution, with 29% and 25%, respectively, of interviewees responding in the same way. On the other hand, only 12% of Italian, Finnish and Czech respondents said that they, or someone else they knew, had tried to seek help in such circumstances. Looking only at the proportion of respondents who had tried to seek help themselves when they thought their rights had been violated (sum of categories Yes, yourself and Both you and others ), it was noted that young Greek respondents were also the most likely to have sought help themselves (18%; 11 percentage points above the EU27 average), followed again by young Luxembourgish (14%) and Cypriot (13%) interviewees. Respondents in France and Finland (both 2%), and Portugal and Lithuania (both 3%), on the other hand, were the least likely to say they had sought help themselves when they thought their rights had been violated. page 10
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child Likelihood of seeking for help when the rights of a child had been violated 100 Yes, yourself Both you and other(s) Yes, someone you know No DK/NA 0 1 2 1 1 3 1 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 75 68 70 74 78 86 83 77 82 84 85 82 83 82 87 85 81 81 84 86 81 85 87 81 88 85 86 88 85 50 25 0 14 15 12 10 10 5 6 3 4 7 10 8 8 1 4 2 1 6 10 9 10 10 7 9 9 3 0 6 8 13 12 10 8 13 9 6 7 8 6 7 2 2 2 8 14 5 5 5 3 2 4 5 5 1 5 1 7 12 11 8 4 2 4 1 4 2 4 1 41 9 32 31 31 13 20 20 1 EL LU CY DE BG EE AT RO BE MT UK SE EU27 CZ SI HU ES IE SK PL LV NL DK IT LT PT FI FR Yes No Yes = Yes, yourself and Yes, someone you know and Both you and other(s) 50 25 0 32 29 25 22 20 19 19 18 18 17 17 17 17 16 16 16 15 15 15 14 14 14 14 13 13 12 12 12-25 -50 68 70 74 78 77 81 81 81 81 82 82 82 83 84 84 83 85 85 85 85 86 86 85 86 87 87 88 88-7 5-100 EL LU CY DE AT DK PL HU ES RO EU27 UK EE BE IE SE FR LT SI LV BG PT MT SK NL CZ FI IT 25 20 'Yes, yourself' and 'Both you and other(s)' 15 10 5 18 14 13 12 10 10 10 9 8 8 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 4 0 3 3 2 2 EL LU CY DE BG EE AT RO BE MT UK SE EU27 CZ SI ES HU IE SK PL LV NL DK IT LT PT FI FR Q3. Did you, yourself ever try to seek help in a matter when you thought your rights were violated, or did someone else below 18 years-of-age you know try that? % by country page 11
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report Socio-demographic considerations Looking at the socio-demographic groups, we again noticed hardly any differences in the responses on this topic in the various groups. Nevertheless, it could be seen that full-time students were slightly less likely than their counterparts to have sought help themselves (sum of categories Yes, yourself and Both, you and others ). While 7% of full-time students said they had tried to seek help when they thought that their rights had been violated, 12% of respondents who were not full-time students said the same. A similarly minor difference could be observed when comparing respondents from a household in which the main financial contributor was a manual worker compared to one where it was a selfemployed person: while 5% of respondents in the former households had tried to seek help, 9% of respondents in the Likelihood of seeking for help when the rights of a child had been violated Yes, yourself Both you and other(s) Yes, someone you know No DK/NA Total 52 10 Gender Male Female 52 9 52 11 Age 15-16 17-18 62 11 42 10 Full-time student Yes 52 11 No 8 4 8 Subjective urbanisation Metropolitan zone Other town/urban centre 52 12 52 11 52 10 Rural zone Occupation of main contributor to the household income Self-employed 6 3 11 Employees 52 10 Manual workers 41 10 Not working 61 11 latter households had done the same. No difference was observed in the proportion of respondents who said that someone else they knew had tried to seek help. 82 84 81 82 83 83 80 81 83 83 79 82 84 82 Q3. Did you, yourself ever try to seek help in a matter when you thought your rights were violated, or did someone else below 18 years-of-age you know try that? % by socio-demographics 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 page 12
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child 4. Problems likely to be encountered when help is needed to defend the rights of a child When young people (15-18 years old) were asked about the problems that their age group might encounter when they needed to defend their rights, we saw that respondents were most likely to think that they would not know how to go about (defending their rights) and whom to contact (79%) or simply that they would not be aware of their rights (76%). The respondents were slightly less likely to expect problems relating to the procedures to follow to defend one s rights: two-thirds (67%) of respondents thought that people under 18 years-of-age might encounter problems because the procedures were too lengthy, and 65% thought that the procedures were too complicated. Finally, only half of respondents (49%) thought that the problem would be that the authorities (e.g., the city council or an ombudsman) did not respond when people under 18 years-of-age needed help to defend their rights. Problems likely to be encountered when people under 18 years-of-age need help to defend their rights They do not know how to go about it and whom to contact They are not aware of their rights 79 76 The procedures are too lengthy The procedures are too complicated 67 65 The authorities do not respond 49 Other 8 Q4. What are the problems you think people under 18 years-of-age might encounter when they need help to defend their rights? % of mentions, EU27 In almost all EU Member States, each problem listed in the survey that people under 18 years-of-age might encounter when they needed help to defend their rights was considered to be a potential problem by a plurality of respondents. Furthermore, in almost all Member States (the most notable exception being Slovenia see further in this chapter), not knowing how to go about (defending one s rights) and whom to contact and a lack of awareness about one s rights were considered to be the most likely problems to be met. The proportion of respondents who selected the former problem ranged from 61% in Finland and 62% in the Netherlands to 89% in Italy, while the proportion of respondents who selected the latter ranged from 53% in the Netherlands and 55% in Finland to 91% in Italy. page 13
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report 100 Problems likely to be encountered when people under 18 years-of-age need help to defend their rights They do not know how to go about it and whom to contact 75 50 89 86 86 84 83 81 81 81 81 80 79 79 79 76 76 76 75 74 72 72 71 70 68 67 64 64 62 61 25 0 IT FR EL IE UK HU PL PT DK RO BG SK EU27 CY EE LV SI LT SE DE CZ ES BE MT LU AT NL FI 100 They are not aware of their rights 75 50 91 87 82 82 80 79 78 76 75 75 74 74 71 71 70 69 69 69 69 69 69 68 65 64 62 57 55 53 25 0 IT UK EL DK FR HU CY EU27 IE PT CZ PL DE LU EE ES LV MT BG SK SE SI RO AT BE LT FI NL Q4. What are the problems you think people under 18 years-of-age might encounter when they need help to defend their rights? % of mentions, by country Looking at the individual country results for problems related to the procedures to defend one s rights, we noted once again that Italian respondents scored the highest. Eighty-eight percent of Italian respondents thought that people under 18 needing help to defend their rights would face procedures that were too lengthy and 87% expected the procedures to be too complicated (respectively, 21 and 22 percentage points above the EU27 average). Slovenia joined Italy at the higher end of the distribution, with 85% and 80% of respondents finding the procedures, respectively, too lengthy or too complicated. We already mentioned that Slovenia was one of the few countries where the proportion of respondents who expected that children needing help to defend their rights would more likely be constrained by too lengthy and too complicated procedures than by not knowing how to go about (defending one s rights) and whom to contact and a lack of awareness about one s rights. Finland and the Netherlands were again characterised by the lowest proportion of respondents who thought that people under 18 years-of-age needing help to defend their rights would be confronted with procedures that were too lengthy (37% and 38%, respectively) or procedures that were too complicated (42% and 43%, respectively). page 14
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child 100 Problems likely to be encountered when people under 18 years-of-age need help to defend their rights The procedures are too lengthy 75 50 88 85 77 76 75 75 74 74 73 71 69 67 66 66 64 61 60 59 58 55 54 53 52 48 25 42 41 38 37 0 IT SI UK FR PL IE PT DK BG CZ EL EU27 SK MT CY RO EE HU DE LV SE AT LT LU BE ES NL FI 100 The procedures are too complicated 75 50 87 80 77 75 73 71 71 70 69 68 67 67 65 63 61 60 56 54 54 52 51 51 47 47 44 43 43 42 25 0 IT SI FR BG IE PL CZ UK PT SK EL DK EU27 RO EE HU CY SE DE LU MT LV LT BE ES AT NL FI Q4. What are the problems you think people under 18 years-of-age might encounter when they need help to defend their rights? % of mentions, by country Finally, in all Member States, the problem of the authorities (i.e. the public administration, for example, city councils or ombudsman) not responding was perceived as the least likely to occur when people under 18 needed help to defend their rights. Italy stood out from the pack again, with 84% of respondents who thought that this was a problem that was very likely to occur, while in most other countries around just half of the respondents expected this outcome. This means that young people in Italy were the most likely to think that someone in their age group might encounter each of the problems listed in the survey when needing help to defend their rights. The Netherlands and Finland could again be found at the lower end of the distribution with less respondents who expected this problem to occur when they were looking for help with only two out of 10 Finnish respondents (21%; 28 percentage points below EU average) and three out of 10 Dutch respondents thinking that the authorities would not respond. In summary, young Dutch and Finnish people (15-18 years old) were the least likely to think that someone in their age group would encounter each of the problems listed in the survey. page 15
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report Problems likely to be encountered when people under 18 years-of-age need help to defend their rights The authorities (public administrations, e.g. city councils, ombudsman) do not respond 100 75 50 25 84 62 61 59 59 57 57 56 56 54 52 49 49 47 47 45 45 42 41 40 39 39 39 37 35 35 30 21 0 IT EL BG DK UK CY PT IE RO SI CZ EU27 PL LV SE SK MT LT AT HU EE FR DE LU ES BE NL FI Q4. What are the problems you think people under 18 years-of-age might encounter when they need help to defend their rights? % of mentions, by country Socio-demographic considerations The socio-demographic analysis showed that the different groups agreed about the order of importance of the problems that people under 18 might encounter when needing help to defend their rights, e.g., not knowing how to go about (defending their rights) was each time selected by the largest proportion of respondents, while the problem of non-responsive authorities was each time selected by the lowest proportion of respondents. Furthermore, we noted some small differences in the perceived likelihood that some of the problems mentioned in the survey might be encountered. For example, young women expected problems relating to the procedures, to defend one s rights, slightly more often than young men (69% vs. 64% for too lengthy procedures, and 68% vs. 62% for too complex procedures). We also noted that those aged between 17 and 18 generally tended to expect that young people would encounter more problems than respondents aged 15 and 16. Finally, respondents who were not full-time students were more likely to mention that the authorities would not respond when people under 18 years-of-age looked for help (54% vs. 49% of full-time students). page 16
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child Problems likely to be encountered when people under 18 years-of-age need help to defend their rights They do not They are not The The The Other know how to aware of their procedures procedures authorities do go about it and whom to contact rights are too lengthy are too complicated not respond Total 79 76 67 65 49 8 Gender Male 78 76 64 62 49 9 Female 79 75 69 68 50 8 Age 15-16 77 74 63 61 48 8 17-18 80 77 69 68 50 9 Full-time student Yes 79 75 66 65 49 8 No 76 77 70 65 54 8 Subjective urbanisation Metropolitan zone 81 77 64 63 49 8 Other town/urban centre 77 75 67 66 51 9 Rural zone 79 75 67 65 48 8 Occupation main contributor to the household income Self-employed 79 77 68 65 50 9 Employee 78 76 66 65 48 8 Manual worker 80 73 67 64 51 8 Not working 78 76 68 68 52 11 Q4. What are the problems you think people under 18 years-of-age might encounter when they need help to defend their rights? % of mentions, by socio-demographics page 17
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report 5. Policy areas thought to be of particular interest regarding the Rights of the Child Young people (15-18 years old) were also asked in which areas they thought that the government or public administration should take the particular interest of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions. A list with different topics was presented and respondents were asked to make three choices. Education was by far the most selected policy area where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account; three-quarters of respondents (74%) selected this area. The second most frequently mentioned topic was security (e.g. protection against violence), followed by health and social affairs (e.g. access to hospital care or public transport) both areas were selected by roughly four out of 10 respondents (43% and 40%, respectively). Three out of 10 respondents considered that the government or public administration should take the interests of children into account when adopting legislation or making decisions in the field of justice (e.g., family affairs and youth justice sector), and a similar proportion (28%) selected sports and leisure. The environment (e.g. the environmental protection of young people s facilities), immigration (e.g. the conditions under which a family can be reunited) and the media were selected by the lowest proportions of respondents. One in five respondents (21%) selected the environment, 16% immigration and 12% the media, as areas they thought the government or public administration should take the particular interest of children into account. Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account Education 74 Security (for instance, being protected against violence) Health and social affairs (for instance, access to hospital care or public transport) Justice (for example, family affairs and the youth justice sector) Sport and leisure 30 28 43 40 The environment (e.g. the environmental protection of young people's facilities) Immigration (for example, the conditions under which a family can be reunited) The media 12 16 21 Other DK/NA 1 2 Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? % of mentions, EU27 page 18
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child Looking at the individual country results, we saw that in all countries, except Sweden, at least six out of 10 interviewees (between 65% and 90%) mentioned education as one of the areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account. In Sweden, only slightly more than half of the respondents (53%) mentioned this policy area. A large majority of Bulgarians and Portuguese respondents (90%; 16 percentage points above the EU27 average) selected this policy area, followed by the Greeks and Estonians, with slightly less than nine out of 10 respondents mentioning education (88% and 87%, respectively). France and Luxembourg, on the other hand, joined Sweden at the lower end of the distribution, with 65% and 66%, respectively, who selected this area as one where the government or public administration should take special attention of children s interests. Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account Education 100 75 50 90 90 88 87 83 82 81 81 80 80 80 79 78 77 75 74 74 74 73 71 71 70 69 68 68 66 65 25 53 0 BG PT EL EE LV RO MT UK CZ CY DK IE HU PL SK EU27 IT FI DE LT BE ES NL AT SI LU FR SE Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? - % of mentions, by country In almost all Member States, at least one-third of respondents mentioned the area of security, for example, protection against violence, as a field where the government or public administration should take children s interests into account. Portuguese respondents (53%; 10 percentage points above the EU27 average), followed by those from Lithuania (52%) and Poland (51%), were the most likely to select this policy area. Respondents from Sweden and Denmark, on the other hand, were the least likely to select it. Furthermore, Sweden and Denmark were the only countries where less than one in three respondents thought that the government or public administration should take particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions in the field of security (18% and 26%, respectively, of respondents selected security ). page 19
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account Security (for instance, being protected against violance) 75 50 25 53 52 51 50 49 49 48 47 46 44 44 43 43 42 42 41 41 41 40 39 38 37 36 36 35 34 26 18 0 PT LT PL ES CZ LV HU LU UK RO SK DE EU27 EE BG SI FI IT BE CY IE FR NL MT AT EL DK SE Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? % of mentions, by country The proportion of respondents who thought that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account in the area of health and social affairs (for example, access to hospital care or public transport) ranged from just 26% in Poland and 28% in Sweden to 73% in Portugal. Almost all NMSs scored above the EU27 average. For example, the percentage of respondents who thought that that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decision in the field of health and social affairs was 62% in Romania, 54% in Latvia and 53% in Lithuania, Slovakia and Bulgaria. The exception was Poland, with the lowest proportion of respondents selecting this policy area (26%) in all EU Member States. 100 Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account Health and social affairs (for instance, access to hospital care or public transport) 75 50 25 73 62 54 53 53 53 53 52 52 50 49 46 45 45 43 43 42 40 40 37 37 37 34 33 32 30 28 26 0 PT RO LV LT SK BG IE FI SI EL CZ HU UK MT FR CY EE DK EU27 LU DE AT BE NL IT ES SE PL Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? % of mentions, by country In all Member States, less than half of respondents said that the government or public administration should take particular interests of children into account in the area of justice (e.g. family affairs and the youth justice sector). The proportion of respondents who selected this policy area ranged from 7% in Sweden to 46% in Spain. page 20
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child Denmark joined Sweden again at the lower end of the distribution, with 9% of respondents selecting justice. However, for this policy area, we also found the third Nordic country Finland at the lower end of the distribution; 12% of Finnish respondents thought that the interests of children should be taken into account in the justice area. 75 Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account Justice (for example, family affairs and the youth justice sector) 50 25 46 38 37 36 34 32 32 32 30 30 30 29 28 26 26 25 23 23 23 22 20 17 14 13 13 12 9 7 0 ES FR IT LU CY BE PT IE PL HU EU27 UK SK MT DE EL BG LT RO SI CZ AT EE NL LV FI DK SE Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? % of mentions, by country In Slovenia and Estonia, twice as many respondents as the EU27 average mentioned sport and leisure as an area in which the interests of children should be given special attention by policy makers (56% in both countries selected this category, compared to the EU27 average of 28%). It was also noted that Swedish respondents were again among the least likely to select this area from the list proposed in the survey (22%). However, Portugal and Italy, on the other hand, were the only Member States where less than one in five respondents selected the policy area of sport and leisure (17% and 18%, respectively). 75 Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account Sport and leisure 50 25 56 56 45 43 41 38 38 37 36 36 35 35 34 33 33 32 31 29 28 28 27 25 25 24 23 22 18 17 0 SI EE BG SK LV CY MT LT FI CZ AT PL NL DE HU BE IE DK EU27 EL ES FR LU RO UK SE IT PT Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? % of mentions, by country The environment (for example, the environmental protection of children s facilities) was chosen by less than three respondents in each country as an area where the government or public administration should pay special attention to the interests of children. The highest percentages of those who mentioned the environment were recorded in the UK and Latvia (both 32%), followed by Greece and Estonia (both 30%). The lowest proportions of respondents selecting this policy area were found in Portugal (10%), and the Netherlands and Lithuania (both 12%). page 21
25 24 23 23 18 17 17 17 16 16 16 15 14 11 10 10 9 9 9 8 8 7 7 7 7 6 5 Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account The environment (for instance, the environmental protection of young people s facilities) 50 25 32 32 30 30 28 26 25 24 23 23 22 22 21 21 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 17 15 15 14 12 12 10 0 UK LV EL EE IE HU DK CY LU AT SI BE DE FI CZ EU27 SK MT BG FR IT PL ES SE RO LT NL PT Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? % of mentions, by country In all EU Member States, except Luxembourg, a quarter or less of the respondents chose immigration (for example, the conditions under which a family could be reunited) as an area where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or making decisions. In Luxembourg, a third of interviewees selected this policy area out of the ones listed in the survey (17 percentage points above the EU27 average). Other countries at the higher end of the distribution with more respondents selecting immigration as an area to be taken into account by policy makers were Denmark (25%) and Spain (24%), while Estonia (5%) and Cyprus (6%) were found at the lower end of the distribution. We also noticed that none of the NMSs had a proportion of respondents who selected immigration as a policy area of concern that was above the EU27 average. 50 Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account Immigration (for example, the conditions under which a family can be reunited) 25 33 0 LU DK ES FR IT UK IE AT BE EU27 SE DE FI LT SI NL EL SK LV MT RO PL CZ HU BG PT CY EE Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? % of mentions, by country Finally, the proportion of respondents who thought that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account in the area of the media ranged from 5% in Portugal and Finland to 23% in Malta. Furthermore, Malta was the only country where more than one in five respondents selected the media as an area of special interest. page 22
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child 50 Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account The media 25 0 23 19 18 18 17 17 16 15 15 14 12 12 11 11 10 10 9 9 9 8 7 7 7 6 6 6 5 5 MT UK CY DE RO BE EL IE SI LU EU27 PL AT HU DK EE IT CZ ES LT BG NL FR SK LV SE PT FI Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? % of mentions, by country Socio-demographic considerations The socio-demographic analysis showed that young men were more likely to select sports and leisure as an area where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account (35% vs. 21% of young women), while young women were more likely to select security, health and social affairs and justice. For example, while one in three young women selected justice (33%), only one in four young men (26%) selected this policy area. A rather similar difference in answering patterns could be observed when comparing 15-16 year-olds and 17-18 years-olds. While 31% of the former selected sports and leisure as an area where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account, only 26% of the latter selected this answering category. However, while 77% of the 17-18 year-olds selected security and 42% selected health and social affairs, the corresponding percentages for 15-16 year-olds were 71% and 38%. Looking at those interviewees who were full-time students, we found that they were more likely to want the government or public administration to take into account the particular interests of children when developing policies on sport and leisure (29% vs. 24% of respondents who were not students), and security (43% vs. 39% of respondents who were not students). However, they were less concerned about the environment, than interviewees who were not students, in that regard (20% vs. 28%). In terms of subjective urbanisation, we noticed that those living in a metropolitan area more often said that security, justice and immigration were areas where the government or public administration should take into account the particular interests of children when developing policies. For example, while 20% of large city dwellers selected immigration, only 15% of rural residents selected this answering category. The occupation of the main household income contributor seemed to have almost no impact on the interviewees views. page 23
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report Areas where the government or public administration should take the particular interests of children into account Education Security (for instance, being protected against violence) Health and social affairs (e.g. access to hospital care or public transport) Justice (for example, family affairs and youth justice sector) Sport and leisure The environment (e.g. the environmental protection of children s facilities) Immigration (for example, the conditions under which a family can be reunited) The media Other DK/NA Total 74 43 40 30 28 21 16 12 1 2 Gender Male 74 40 37 26 35 21 15 13 1 3 Female 74 46 43 33 21 20 18 11 1 2 Age 15-16 71 43 38 28 31 20 17 12 1 3 17-18 77 43 42 31 26 21 16 13 1 2 Full-time student Yes 75 43 40 30 29 20 16 12 1 2 No 72 39 41 31 24 28 17 15 2 2 Subjective urbanisation Metropolitan zone 76 46 38 33 27 20 20 10 1 2 Other town/urban 76 43 42 28 28 20 16 13 2 2 Rural zone 72 42 40 30 29 22 15 13 1 3 Occupation of main contributor to the household income Self-employed 74 41 42 30 27 22 17 12 1 3 Employee 75 44 39 29 28 20 16 13 1 2 Manual worker 73 45 42 30 30 19 15 12 1 2 Not working 76 38 41 31 26 21 20 12 2 2 Q5. In which areas do you think that the government or public administration should particularly take the interest of children into account when adopting legislation or taking decisions? % of mentions, by socio-demographics page 24
Analytical Report Flash EB N o 235 The Rights of the Child 6. Knowledge about the Rights of the Child Two-thirds of interviewees thought, incorrectly, that the statement that if parents are divorced and one of the parents goes to another Member State, a new decision on a child s custody and access rights has to be taken was right. Only one in four respondents (26%) correctly assumed that this statement was wrong. Finally, 8% of respondents said they did not know if the statement was true or false, or said they had no opinion on this issue. Eight out of 10 respondents (81%) answered correctly that in all EU countries, video games (consoles or online) receive a label and a ranking showing the appropriate age group. Only 15% of respondents thought that this statement was wrong, and 4% did not know if the statement was true or not or had no opinion on this issue. Knowledge about specific Rights of the Child Right DK/NA Wrong If parents are divorced and one of the parents goes to another member state, a new decision on the children's custody and access rights has to be taken 66 8 26 In all EU countries, video games (consoles or online) receive a label and a ranking showing the appropriate age group 81 4 15 Q6. Are the following statements right or wrong? %EU27 In terms of knowing that the decision on children s custody and access rights would not change when parents were divorced and one of them went to another Member State, the EU country showing the greatest level of awareness was Cyprus (39%; 13 percentage points above the EU27 average), followed by Greece (38%) and Sweden (34%), while the lowest levels of knowledge were recorded in Belgium (16%; 10 percentage points below average), followed by Luxembourg and France (18% each). In Greece (58%), Cyprus (56%) and Sweden (55%), we also found lower percentages of incorrect answers compared to most other Member States. Respondents in Bulgaria were, however, the least likely to think that the statement that when parents are divorced and one of the parents goes to another Member State, a new decision on a child s custody and access rights has to be taken was correct (41%). Nevertheless, only three out of 10 Bulgarian respondents (29%) correctly stated that this statement was wrong, while the same proportion did not know if the statement was true or had no opinion on this issue. page 25
Flash EB No 235 The Rights of the Child Analytical Report If parents are divorced and one of the parents goes to another Member State, a new decision on the children's custody and access rights has to be taken (sorted in descending order by the correct answer: wrong ) 100 75 50 Wrong Right DK/NA 4 4 11 10 7 2 4 17 56 58 55 57 60 68 67 52 7 14 15 11 3 9 8 4 8 10 4 11 8 29 64 57 57 61 64 70 65 69 66 65 71 64 71 41 21 12 7 9 9 7 58 67 73 73 74 76 25 39 38 34 33 33 31 30 30 29 29 29 28 28 27 27 27 27 26 26 25 25 21 21 21 20 18 18 16 0 CY EL SE EE SI CZ NL IE BG DE SK ES LV RO PL FI UK EU27 PT LT AT IT HU MT DK FR LU BE Q6. Are the following statements right or wrong? % by country The percentage of respondents that correctly thought that the statement that in all EU countries, video games (consoles or online) receive a label and a ranking specifying the appropriate age group was correct ranged from 65% in the Czech Republic to 90% in Finland. Other Member States at the higher end of the distribution were Austria and Sweden, with respectively, 87% and 86% of respondents who were aware of the situation. Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria (70%, 72% and 72%, respectively) joined the Czech Republic at the lower end of the distribution. The breakdown showed that the proportion of respondents who knew that video games received a label and a ranking specifying the appropriate age group was generally higher in the EU15 than in the NMSs. In all EU countries, video games (consoles or online) receive a label and a ranking showing the appropriate age group (sorted in descending order by the correct answer: right ) Right Wrong DK/NA 100 75 1 3 5 1 1 3 3 2 4 4 1 4 3 4 4 7 4 3 8 9 5 10 10 6 11 12 7 10 10 11 10 14 14 12 13 15 13 14 17 14 15 15 16 13 16 18 15 14 19 15 20 15 16 21 20 24 50 90 87 86 85 84 84 84 83 82 82 82 82 81 81 81 80 80 79 77 77 76 76 74 74 72 72 70 65 25 0 FI AT SE NL UK PL DE EL CY PT SI BE IE EU27 FR HU LU IT MT DK LT ES EE SK BG RO LV CZ Socio-demographic considerations Q6. Are the following statements right or wrong? % by country Young men, full-time students, major city dwellers and respondents from households where the main income provider was self-employed, were slightly more likely to know about the decision on children s custody and access rights linked to divorced parents living in different Member States. For example, 28% of young men, and the same proportion of major city dwellers, said the statement about children s rights in such cases was wrong, compared to 24% and 25%, respectively, of young women and urban dwellers. page 26