2017 EU Guidelines on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child

The EU Foreign Ministers have adopted the revised EU Guidelines on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child - Leave no Child Behind.

Children have the potential to be the greatest agents of change and sustainable development in their communities and in their countries. They are the leaders of tomorrow. The EU will continue to stand up for the rights of every child to reach their full potential in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols.

These Guidelines set out the EU's overarching strategy to strengthen efforts to ensure every child, in particular the most marginalised, is reached by EU policies and actions.

To achieve this aim the Guidelines promote a systems-strengthening approach which identifies all the necessary measures, structures and actors which need to be in place to protect all the rights of all children. The importance of a rights-based approach, encompassing all human rights, and how it can be operationalised is also underlined.