The Council of Europe’s Policy to Promote Children’s Rights – Achievements and Challenges

Abstract

The Council of Europe has worked extensively for several decades on the issue of promoting children’s rights and banning corporal punishment. The organisation’s work sheds light on the relationship between international conventions and national and local policies. While the landmark judgements of the Court of Human Rights are well-known, other important aspects of the organisation’s work have reached academic society only to a limited degree. The article not only highlights the Council of Europe’s efforts to operationalise children’s rights and put them into practice in everyday life, but also reveals some dilemmas in the three-way relationship between the child, the state and the family that accompany the implementation of children’s rights.