Provisional edition

Children who witness domestic violence

Recommendation 1905 (2010)¹

1.       Referring to its Resolution 1714 (2010) on Children who witness domestic violence, the Parliamentary Assembly reiterates that the situations of children witnessing violence and the particular dangers they are exposed to, are too often neglected when it comes to the issue of domestic violence and related policies. It therefore considers that the reinforcement of specific action for such children is needed at all political levels and under different aspects and must take into account the specific impact of domestic violence on girls and boys.

2.       The Assembly therefore calls on the Committee of Ministers to instruct the Ad hoc Committee on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (CAHVIO) to:

2.1.       consider the aspect of children who witness domestic violence in a future Council of Europe convention which focuses on violence against women including domestic violence as already recommended by the Assembly in its Recommendation 1847 (2008) on Combating violence against women: towards a Council of Europe convention;

2.2.       provide children concerned, in the respective articles, with a veritable status of ‘secondary victims’ in order to appropriately consider, having regard to the gender dimension, the impact that situations of domestic violence can have on them;

2.3.       include into the future convention provisions regarding the development of comprehensive and transversal social services the access to which is guaranteed for all children and which make sure that the interest of children will not be neglected next to the problems predominantly concerning the adults;

2.4.       insist, in appropriate articles of the future convention, on the importance of education of children, from the earliest age, towards behaviour based on mutual respect and non-violence, i.e. on the prevention of an intergenerational transfer of domestic violence.

3.       It also invites the Committee of Ministers to:

3.1.       instruct the Committees represented in the Group of Specialists on Child-Friendly Justice (CJ-S-CH) to include into the future Council of Europe guidelines on child-friendly justice presently elaborated, adequate procedural measures in respect of the taking of evidence from children having witnessed domestic violence, both during the investigation phase and during court proceedings, in order to avoid the repetition of humiliating testimony and to lessen the traumatising effects of proceedings;

3.2.       further mainstream children’s rights in all Council of Europe policy areas and better coordinate it’s action, notably via the Council of Europe Platform on Childrens’ Rights, also in order to contribute to a higher visibility and a more efficient implementation of European standards at national level.

¹ Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 12 March 2010 (see Doc. 12111, report of the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee, rapporteur: Mrs Ohlsson, and Doc. 12155, opinion of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, rapporteur: Mrs Rupprecht).