Do EU Regulations Provide Sufficient Protection From Child Exploitation Within Member States - Essay Example

?Background, Context and Significance With over 90 million children aged between 0-18 years, EU requires to see as to how its long term plans and legislations are going to have an impact on the children as they grow and become old. Despite the fact that Children have their own rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the overall voice of children is relatively not heard due to different factors. Though EU has introduced certain regulations however, there is a still a lot to be done in this regard. (Rindfuss, David , Morgan, & Kravdal, 2010) Protection of the rights of the child is one of the main responsibilities of EU and all the policies and regulations therefore are made in a manner which can protect the interests of the child. Various directives including 94/33/EC deal with protecting young persons at work along with other directives which have been implemented by the member States. These directives clearly outline the conditions for member states to actually avoid exploitation of the children. EU has also partnered with various technology companies in order to ensure that internet is safer and better for the children. This proposed research dissertation is significant because it will evaluate and explore as to whether the existing EU regulations are sufficient to protect the children from exploitation within member States. More specifically, this research is significant in the sense it will evaluate how members are doing in order to implement these regulations and whether these regulations have been successful in achieving the desired objectives. This research will therefore add in more value in evaluating as to whether the existing regulations can actually provide necessary infrastructure and environment to the member States to deal with the issue of Child exploitation. Literature Review The overall rights of Children in EU are supported through four major treaties including European Convention on Human Rights 1950, European Social Charter 1996, The European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights 1996 and the European Convention on the Contact Concerning Children 2003. Apart from these four major treaties, EU has also made smaller and less intensive regulations which are being implemented on more specific basis. (Beckett, 2007) The European Convention on Human Rights 1950 was a more general attempt to define the rights of humans and it was not a child centric legislation. However, it sets the overall tone of the regulation and suggests that the rights of children have also been considered. This is also significant in the wake of the fact that EU Court on Human Rights has developed significant level of jurisprudence to cover extensively human rights issues pertaining to children. (Bueren, 2007) Local and national governments in EU are considered to be closer to their communities and are considered in a better position to safeguard the interests of the children under the UN Human Rights Charter and Child Rights. It is critical to note however, that children did not featured as a voice in the overall policy making and legislative process in EU till late 1990s. At the time of formation of treaty, though there was an emphasis on bringing in equality between men and women however, children hardly featured into the overall policy making and legislative process in the region. (Renucci, 2005) The Amsterdam Treaty for the first time however, realized this anomaly and clarified new changes though which discrimination based upon age was discouraged. Amsterdam Treaty was enacted in 1997 and supplemented the European Union Treaty. The Article 13 of the treaty clarified that Children should be included in the treaty and discrimination against them should be treated equally along with adults. (Cockburn, 2010) The overall child protection can also be viewed from the perspective of social protection. Expenditure on social protection is considered as one of the indicators of how the 27 member States actually contribute and intervene into reducing predefined risks to individuals and families. (Ringold & Kasek, 2007). Social protection expenditure is a measure of how State and other institutions actually intervene in order to relieve individuals and households from certain risks. One of the components of components of social expenditure is the expenses incurred on the children and on their upbringing as lack of economic resources is cited as one of the major reasons for child exploitation. The overall expenditure on social protection the general public is approximately 30% of the GDP and indicates a significant contribution made towards reducing the risk to individuals and houses including children as well. (Ong, 2010) Legislative framework has also laid down the conditions and infrastructure to discourage and remove the material on child pornography. Existing legislations clearly address the issue of child exploitation through pornography and general use of internet. The hotlines between the member States as well as the role of Law enforcement agencies has been enhanced to ensure that objectionable as well as potentially unwanted material for children is removed from the internet. What is also critical to note that legislations are in place to ensure the supervised use of internet for children in member countries? (Davies, 2010) Research Question This research intends to explore as to whether the current EU regulations are adequate to provide sufficient protection to the Children in Member States. Methodology Research methodology outlines as to what research methods a researcher will use to achieve the research objectives. It outlines as to what is achievable and not achievable considering the available statistical tools and techniques. A well-grounded methodology therefore is considered as important for a well-defined research. Hypothesis The current EU regulations are sufficient to provide the required child protection in the member states. Research Design The research design should be the one which suits the overall research questions and provide credible answer to the same. The overall research design therefore should be suitable to answer the research question. In order to accomplish the overall research objectives, researcher has undertaken to use qualitative research design. (Creswell, 1994) Qualitative research design aims to understand the human behavior and indicates as to how a researcher can actually explore as to why and how decisions are made and being implemented. (Marshall & Rossman, 2010). It helps researcher to explore the human behavior and actions. More particularly, this research study will use ethical inquiry in order to explore as to whether the existing regulations are resulting into the desired outcome for the EU member States. Ethics are normally concerned with right, wrong, good and bad and outlines as to how issues of moral concerns can be explored. Since exploring the issue of child protection involves understanding the ethical point of view also, it is therefore critical that ethical inquiry should be blended with the qualitative research design to explore underlying research issues. More appropriately, the existing regulations from EU with respect to child protection will be explored from the perspective of Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism outlines the greater good for the greater number of people and as such existing regulations pertaining to child protection may be viewed from utilitarian perspective. Quantitative research methods will also be employed to explore and understand the impact of the legislations on the reduction of child exploitation. More appropriately, data from the member countries will be gathered and explored on following variables: 1. Incidences of child abuse 2. No of Children given under State Protection 3. Incidences of Child Pornography 4. Child Prostitution The above quantitative variables will be quantified based upon their occurrence in the member states. Sample Size For the purpose of this research, a sample set of 10 member countries will be chosen. This sample will be randomly picked countries officially admitted to the membership of EU since last 10 years. Data Collection In order to perform any qualitative review, it is important to actually have a historical background and context. Researcher needs to analyze and explore the historical context of the research question under study and must focus upon developing a systematic review of all the related historical facts. It has been suggested that the overall knowledge of any particular settings and contexts comes while reviewing the documents. As such, the data collection for the purpose of this study will be based upon reviewing documents i.e. legislations as well as systematic review of the existing literature. A thorough and systematic review of existing literature will be performed to explore and understand the evolution of legislative process within EU region and its subsequent adoption by the member States. For the quantitative part, the data will be collected by scrutinizing the official statistical figures for reporting on the various variables described above. Timeline 1. Finalization and submission of Research Proposal - 3 Month 2. Review of Existing Literature – 6 Months 3. Data Collection - 1 year 4. Data Analysis – 3 months 5. Dissertation Writing – 1 year Original Contribution Most of the existing studies on the topic are the reviews of the legislations made over the period of time. This research study will focus upon exploring as to whether these regulations have been effective in achieving their objectives. This research study will therefore provide an insight into how future legislations need to be done in order to make them more applicable and result oriented. Bibliography Beckett, C. (2007). Child Protection: An Introduction. London: SAGE. Bueren, G. V. (2007). Child Rights in Europe: Convergence and Divergence in Judicial Protection. Amestradam: Council of Europe. Cockburn, T. (2010). Rethinking Children's Citizenship. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: qualitative & quantitative approaches. London: Sage Publications. Davies, M. (2010). Child Protection in Europe: Local and Regional Government Cooperation. Retrieved from Social Work in Europe: http://www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/repository/fulltext/0061789.pdf Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. (2010). Designing Qualitative Research. London: SAGE. Ong, R. y. (2010). Mobile Communication and the Protection of Children. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Renucci, J.-F. (2005). Introduction to the European Convention on Human Rights: The Rights Guaranteed and the Protection Mechanism. Amestradam: Council of Europe. Rindfuss, R. R., David , K., Morgan, S., & Kravdal, O. (2010). Child-Care Availability and Fertility in Norway. Population and Development Review, 36(4), 25-748. Ringold, D., & Kasek, L. (2007). Social Assistance in the New Eu Member States: Strengthening Performance and Labor Market Incentives. Washington: World Bank Publications. Read More