The EUROCHIPS network (http://eurochips.wordpress.com/about/) launched its annual European Prisoners' Children Week (EPCW) during the first week of June presenting a series of recommendations on children with imprisoned parents to the European Parliament during the kick-off event in Brussels on May 25th, 2011.
In Scottland, where Parliment heard a motion on Children's Rights, Families Outside ( http://www.familiesoutside.org.uk/children-of-imprisoned-parents-eu-report/) tweeted each of the Bill of Rights over the course of the week:
https://twitter.com/#!/FamiliesOutside
The motion on Children's Rights was lodged by Alison McInnes MSP, Liberal Democrat for North East Scotland Region and states the following: "That the Parliament notes that European Prisoners’ Children Week will take place from 1 to 8 June 2011; recognises that, across Europe, more than 800,000 children have one or more parents in prison; notes that this includes many children in Scotland; further recognises that the rights of children with imprisoned parents are enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the European Convention on Human Rights, and believes that everyone must play a part in ensuring that the rights of all such children are protected, that they receive the support that they need and that prison visiting arrangements recognise the need to protect the child-parent bond." (http://www.familiesoutside.org.uk/scottish-parliamentary-motion-childrens-rights/)
EUROCHIPS, or the European Network for children of imprisoned parents, has as its motto "PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN WITH IMPRISONED PARENTS" (emphasis mine). Their online petition uses the term again: http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/chipshaverightstoo
While the U.S. may still hold claim to the title of the world's foremost jailer, these European sites are worth spending some time on, both for a sense of the global power of the "rights" model, and that of the voices of the children, which are highlighted throughout:
-”The first time I visited my mum in prison it wasn’t that good because it was a closed prison and obviously I didn’t quite understand where I was going at first to visit and there was a lot of security gates and searching and…I don’t know….. I got a bit funny about people being all around me and I felt it wasn’t private where I could talk. I felt pretty scared I’d say to go in at that age and visit my Mum, I just felt I didn’t have a Mum at that time……..I mean by that because she wasn’t there twenty-four-seven every day. I just felt I didn’t have one, and the only time I had a Mum was when I came to visit. so it was hard, a lot of people used to say “where’s your Mum?” and I didn’t know what to say, and I just used to say “I haven’t got a Mum” because that was the best thing for me to say.”
-”I found out about my mum going to prison myself through the tv and papers. I was told that she’s gone away, working away to try to be an Air Stewardess or I’d get mixed things from different people, like some would say “oh she’s off working away”, some would say “she’s been a bit naughty she’s had to go away for a bit” just silly little things at that age I’d believe. And every Christmas they’d be like “oh yes maybe she’ll be home this Christmas” and she never came so I’d just kind of blocked it out, like it was just an every day routine, just get on with it.”
-”I remember the very first visit I ever, ever had and Mum was quite run down, you know, very depressed and it looked like I was going into a really big Victorian old castle sort of thing, and the day was really rainy and dark, and it was cloudy. I just thought ‘what is this tomb?’ that we’re going into? The prison was very dark and dull and I felt quite claustrophobic.”
-”I remember being really upset because I didn’t understand what was going on and why I was being taken away from her after like an hour or two. Every time I used to see her I used to think ‘well she’s coming back now’ and she never did. I wouldn’t want to let go of her hand and sometimes the guard would just be like “you’re going to have to go now” …. and it just broke my heart. I’d be clutching her finger telling her “come on let’s go now” and she’s like “I can’t come” and I used to always say “why? Why? Why?”.
-”When I was ten my mother told me everything, and I understood, and I have no judgement, no nothing, because she’s my Mum at the end of the day…….everyone can make a mistake and be pushed.”
-"We’d go into the Reception area and give her our names and everything and tell them who we were visiting and give them the Visiting Order. Then we’d wait and we’d be waiting for about half an hour to an hour sometimes, and then they’d shout our names. And then we had to go with an Officer and walk up to the main prison bit and then go in Reception there, and then we had to be searched and everything, and by the dogs and that, and then we’d walk up to the Visiting Area, and then we’d visit her. We’d get about an hour there, and it just felt weird because at the tables you couldn’t like get up and give her a hug. It just felt like you were there but you felt like really distant from her”
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