 Children of Prisoners Europe logo | |
| Founded | 2000 |
|---|---|
| Type | NGO |
| Location | |
| Method | Advocacy, research, support interventions by member organisations |
| Website | www |
Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE) (formerly European Action Research Committee for Children of Imprisoned Parents or EUROCHIPS) is a pan-European network acting to support children with imprisoned parents.
Within the European Union, some 1 million children are separated from their parents each year due to parental incarceration. The organisation began in 1993 under the name European Action Research Committee on Children of Imprisoned Parents (EUROCHIPS) thanks to the combined efforts of Alain Bouregba of Relais Enfants-Parents and the Bernard van Leer Foundation. EUROCHIPS was set up as an exploratory body to develop a consensus on integrated good practice schemes, promote quality good practice norms, foster the exchange of ideas and information, enhance the competence of professionals working in the field of parental incarceration and raise awareness among decision-makers and the general public in Europe. Its work is firmly grounded in a child's rights perspective based on the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, in particular children's rights to maintain direct contact with a parent in prison when in their best interest.
EUROCHIPS was formalised as an association in 2000 by Relais Enfants-Parents, Save the Children and Relais Enfants-Parents Belgium under the name European Committee for Children of Imprisoned Parents. With continued funding from the Bernard van Leer Foundation, EUROCHIPS organised awareness-raising events and participated in research projects to promote the spread of knowledge relating to children with imprisoned parents.
In 2013, EUROCHIPS received an Operating Grant from the European Commission and its name changed to Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE). With the ongoing support of the European Commission and the Bernard van Leer Foundation, the organisation continues to work under its new name to protect the rights and needs of children with imprisoned parents in Europe and beyond, in tandem with its members and affiliates. [1] [2]
Children of Prisoners Europe’s mission is to safeguard the social, political and judicial inclusion of children with an imprisoned parent, while fostering the pursuit and exchange of knowledge which enhances good practices, and contributes to a better understanding of the psychological, emotional and social development of these children. It aims to put children at the heart of policy making.
COPE’s vision is that every child be guaranteed fair, unbiased treatment, protection of his or her rights, and equal opportunities regardless of social, economic or cultural heritage. This organisation is the only pan-European network working exclusively on behalf of these children. [2]
Children of Prisoners Europe headquarters are in Montrouge, France. The executive director of Children of Prisoners Europe is Liz Ayre. COPE is a membership-based organisation with members and affiliates from 23 countries worldwide. Policy developments in 2015 included initiating a Written Question for the European Commission on children of prisoners (JHA/2008/909) with MEP Jean Lambert—which received a Written Answer from the Commission—and ensuring that children of prisoners were included as part of the group of vulnerable children in the Council of Europe’s child rights strategy 2016-2021. [3] [4] [5] [6]
Children of Prisoners Europe and its network of organisations work to influence policies related to children’s rights and to foster the exchange of good practice by identifying problems; highlighting children’s rights and needs; articulating positive solutions and strategies; and spearheading further collective action across Europe and beyond. To achieve its mission, Children of Prisoners Europe partakes in the following activities: [7]
Based on the research collected and work done, Children of Prisoners Europe promotes various initiatives that benefit the lives of these children, such as: child-friendly prison visits and visiting areas, increased communication access between children and their parents, special training for professionals and volunteers who work with children, parent support initiatives, and measures that better allow parents to exercise their parental responsibilities. [9] [10] [11]
Children of Prisoners Europe works with a network of organisations and persons that have similar missions to be the most productive in providing help for children with imprisoned parents. [3]
| Member Organisations | Individual Members | Applicants | Affiliates |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASBL Relais Enfants Parents Belgique | Marylène Delhaxhe | SAVN | Maggie Ross |
| Ombudsman for Children, Croatia | Maja Šupljika | Hoppenbank | George Busuttil |
| Czech Helsinki Committee | Henriette Heimgartner | Exodus NL | Georgia Parry |
| Relais Enfants Parents (REP) | Klaus Roggenthin | Alternative Sociale | Angus Mulready-Jones |
| La Féderation des Relais Enfants Parents (FREP) | Austin Treacy | RODA | Annetta Bennett |
| Treffpunkt e.V. | Paul Murphy | Partners of Prisoners (POPS) | BAG-S e.V. |
| Bedford Row | Marie-Jeanne Schmitt | Barnardos Northern Ireland | |
| St. Nicholas Trust | Ria Wolleswinkel | Bedřiška Kopoldova | |
| Bambinisenzasbarre | Barbara Malherbe | Bill Muth | |
| Service Treffpunkt | Una Convery | Children Heard and Seen | |
| For Fangers Pårørende (FFP) | Linda Moore | Christine Andrews | |
| Solrosen | Lucy Gampell | Bahiyyah Muhammad | |
| Bufff | Kate Philbrick | Freedom Gate | |
| Relais Enfants Parents Romands (REPR) | Oliver Robertson | Heather Ball | |
| Prison Advice & Care Trust (PACT) | Heilsarmee Gefängnisdienst | ||
| NIACRO | Helene Oldrup | ||
| Families Outside | Heves County Penitentiary Institute | ||
| Quakers United Nations Office (QUNO) | IFAN Brazil | ||
| Action for Prisoners' Families (APF) | Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) | ||
| Lucy Baldwin | |||
| Mandy Gusha | |||
| Marian Quinn | |||
| Mona Kassarp | |||
| Morning Tears Deutschland | |||
| Norm Reed | |||
| Person Shaped Support | |||
| Pillars | |||
| Probation Foundation (KRITS) | |||
| Rachel Brett | |||
| Relais Enfants Parents Haute-Normandie (REPHN) | |||
| Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs | |||
| Service Network for Children of Inmates | |||
| SEUM Child Welfare | |||
| Shona Minson | |||
| Sinead O'Malley | |||
| Storybook Dads | |||
| Syed Aoun Abbas Sharazy | |||
| The Croft (Visitors' Support and Advice Centre, HMP Barlinnie) | |||
| Timo Jattu | |||
| Vicky Saunders | |||
| Yvette Harris |
The United Kingdom has three distinct legal systems with a separate prison system in each: one for both England and Wales, one for Scotland, and one for Northern Ireland. As of June 2023, the United Kingdom has the highest per-capita incarceration rate in Western Europe, at 159 people per 100,000 in England and Wales; 162 people per 100,000 in Scotland; 97 people per 100,000 in Northern Ireland; and the largest prison population in Western Europe. The average cost per prison place was £46,696 in England and Wales (2021/22), £46,892 in Scotland (2021/22), and £47,927 in Northern Ireland (2022/23).
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to discipline or separate incarcerated individuals who are considered to be security risks to other incarcerated individuals or prison staff, as well as those who violate facility rules or are deemed disruptive. However, it can also be used as protective custody for incarcerated individuals whose safety is threatened by other prisoners. This is employed to separate them from the general prison population and prevent injury or death.
Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated in state or federal prisons and local jails. The United States has the largest known prison population in the world. It has 5% of the world’s population while having 20% of the world’s incarcerated persons. China, with four times more inhabitants, has fewer persons in prison. Prison populations grew dramatically beginning in the 1970s, but began a decline around 2009, dropping 25% by year-end 2021.
Croatia recognizes life partnerships for same-sex couples through the Life Partnership Act, making same-sex couples equal to married couples in almost all of its aspects. The Act also recognizes and defines unregistered same-sex relationships as informal life partners, thus making them equal to registered life partnerships after they have been cohabiting for a minimum of 3 years. Croatia first recognized same-sex couples in 2003 through a law on unregistered same-sex unions, which was later replaced by the Life Partnership Act. The Croatian Parliament passed the new law on 15 July 2014, taking effect in two stages. Following a 2013 referendum, the Constitution of Croatia has limited marriage to opposite-sex couples.
Emancipation of minors is a legal mechanism by which a minor before attaining the age of majority is freed from control by their parents or guardians, and the parents or guardians are freed from responsibility for their child. Minors are normally considered legally incompetent to enter into contracts and to handle their own affairs. Emancipation overrides that presumption and allows emancipated children to legally make certain decisions on their own behalf.
Rehabilitation is the process of re-educating those who have committed a crime and preparing them to re-enter society. The goal is to address all of the underlying root causes of crime in order to decrease the rate of recidivism once inmates are released from prison. It generally involves psychological approaches which target the cognitive distortions associated with specific kinds of crime committed by individual offenders, but it may also entail more general education like reading skills and career training. The goal is to re-integrate offenders back into society.
A conjugal visit is a scheduled period in which an inmate of a prison or jail is permitted to spend several hours or days in private with a visitor. The visitor is usually their legal partner. The generally recognized basis for permitting such visits in modern times is to preserve family bonds and increase the chances of success for a prisoner's eventual return to ordinary life after release from prison. They also provide an incentive for inmates to comply with the various day-to-day rules and regulations of the prison.
Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. It involves identifying signs of potential harm. This includes responding to allegations or suspicions of abuse, providing support and services to protect children, and holding those who have harmed them accountable.
Human rights in the Middle East have been shaped by the legal and political development of international human rights law after the Second World War, and their application to the Middle East. The 2004 United Nations Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) claimed that although Arab-Islamic tradition does hold unique importance for ideas of human welfare, History has proven that "they were not sufficiently prevalent in society to foster a culture based on a political contract, and allow for the legitimacy of differences of opinion, dialogue and transfer of power." Issues of the validity of democracy in the region and human rights are at the very centre of the challenges facing Middle Eastern society today.
A prison nursery is a section of a prison that houses incarcerated mothers and their very young children. Prison nurseries are not common in correctional facilities in the United States, although prior to the 1950s many states had them and they are widespread throughout the rest of the world.
An unaccompanied minor is a child without the presence of a legal guardian.
The fathers' rights movement has simultaneously evolved in many countries, advocating for shared parenting after divorce or separation, and the right of children and fathers to have close and meaningful relationships. This article provides details about the fathers' rights movement in specific countries.
Ansar Burney is a Pakistani human and civil rights activist and former Federal Minister for human rights in Pakistan’s cabinet from 2007 to 2008. He graduated with a Masters in Law from Karachi University. He is widely credited as being one of the first people to introduce the concept of human rights in Pakistan since 1980.
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, remand center, hoosegow, or slammer is a facility where people are imprisoned against their will and denied their liberty under the authority of the state, generally as punishment for various crimes. Authorities most commonly use prisons within a criminal-justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial; those who have pled or been found guilty of crimes at trial may be sentenced to a specified period of imprisonment.
Approximately 741,000 women are incarcerated in correctional facilities, a 17% increase since 2010 and the female prison population has been increasing across all continents. The list of countries by incarceration rate includes a main table with a column for the historical and current percentage of prisoners who are female.
The alternatives to imprisonment are types of punishment or treatment other than time in prison that can be given to a person who is convicted of committing a crime. Some of these are also known as alternative sanctions. Alternatives can take the form of fines, restorative justice, transformative justice or no punishment at all. Capital punishment, corporal punishment and electronic monitoring are also alternatives to imprisonment, but are not promoted by modern prison reform movements for decarceration due to them being carceral in nature.
The incarceration of women in the United States refers to the imprisonment of women in both prisons and jails in the United States. There are approximately 219,000 incarcerated women in the US according to a November 2018 report by the Prison Policy Initiative, and the rate of incarceration of women in the United States is at a historic and global high, with 133 women in correctional facilities per every 100,000 female citizens. The United States is home to just 4% of the world's female population, yet the US is responsible for 33% of the entire world's incarcerated female population. The steep rise in the population of incarcerated women in the US is linked to the complex history of the war on drugs and the US's prison–industrial complex, which lead to mass incarceration among many demographics, but had particularly dramatic impacts on women and especially women of color. However, women made up only 10.4% of the US prison and jail population, as of 2015.
OII Europe is the umbrella organisation of European human rights-based intersex organisations. It is a non-governmental organization (NGO) which is working for the protection and full implementation of intersex people's human rights in Europe.
Relationships of incarcerated individuals are the familial and romantic relations of individuals in prisons or jails. Although the population of incarcerated men and women is considered quite high in many countries, there is relatively little research on the effects of incarceration on the inmates' social worlds. However, it has been demonstrated that inmate relationships play a seminal role in their well-being both during and after incarceration, making such research important in improving their overall health, and lowering rates of recidivism.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)