The final conference of the PROMISE 1 project took place on 14 June 2017 at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels, Belgium. More than 90 participants from 30 countries meet in Brussels on for the conference Launching the European Barnahus Movement.
The conference advocated for child-friendly, multi-disciplinary and interagency services supporting child victims of violence. Several high-level speakers gave their support to the European Barnahus Movement, including Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, and Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General on Violence against Children. Bragi Guðbrandsson, lead expert in the PROMISE project, presented the Icelandic experience and how it has inspired the European Barnahus Movement. The expert panels discussed multi-disciplinary and interagency responses to violence against children in Europe and how the Barnahus Model embodies children’s rights. In this context, the European Barnahus Quality Standards document was launched.
In her remarks to the conference, Ms Věra Jourová Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality noted how PROMISE is a flagship project for the European Union, elaborating:
It is largely thanks to this project that we can now talk about a ‘European Barnahus movement’. And that is why the Commission decided to complement this by launching a further call for proposals last year on Barnahus.
The conference also launched the first of the PROMISE publications:
- The Barnahus Quality Standards are a very important tool defining the interventions and services, which provide a common operational and organizational framework.
- Enabling Child-sensitive Justice – the success story of Barnahus and its expansion in Europe identifies the factors and dynamics that have enabled the establishment of Barnahus and lessons learned.
- The PROMISE Compendium of Law and Guidance provides a comprehensive overview of the legal framework and authoritative guidance concerning the rights of child victims and witnesses.
- The PROMISE tracking tool is a self-evaluation tool for the services.
- The Advocacy Guidance for countries and services that are keen to embark on the process for establishing Barnahus.
PROMISE has received several rounds of co-funding from the European Union through the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020) of the European Union. PROMISE, including the relevant partners and/or members, are responsible for the content of this website, which can in no way be taken to reflect to reflect the views of the European Commission.
