Protection of minors in the digital age

Volume 2, Issue 1 February 2018

New blog to keep you updated on research for the CULT Committee

Here are the welcoming words of CULT Chair MEP Petra Kammerevert:

“I welcome this blog of the Policy Department responsible for research for the Committee on Culture and Education.

On this page, you will find all relevant information about research publications prepared for the CULT Committee and on the ongoing activities of the Policy Department in support of the Committee.

Petra KAMMEREVERT – 8th Parliamentary term

The research is produced upon request of the CULT coordinators, and the studies revolve closely around the core topics the CULT Committee is responsible for: the dissemination of culture, cultural heritage, cultural and linguistic diversity, education, the audiovisual policy, the cultural and educational aspects of the information society, youth, sports and communication policy. Recent examples include presentations on cultural work with refugees, modernisation of higher education and on the European Solidarity Corps and volunteering. Naturally, the research papers are by independent experts and may not reflect the views of the Committee.

The blog makes it easy and quick for CULT Committee Members to access expert input. Assistants and Political Group staff as well as stakeholders and external experts can also benefit. For experts, there is also notice of contract opportunities. The blog features updates on the ongoing and future work of the Policy Department in support of CULT, and features links to the Factsheets produced by the Policy Department in the CULT policy fields.

New items on the blog and other information of interest to CULT are publicized on Twitter @PolicyCULT .

The address of the blog, for your favourites, is https://research4committees.blog/cult/

I hope that this website will prove useful for your work in the CULT Committee.

Petra Kammerevert
Chair, Committee on Culture and Education

Upcoming workshop on “Protection of minors in the digital age”

By Yiorgos GR / Shutterstock

The workshop on “Protection of minors in the digital age” will take place in the CULT Committee on 22 February from 09:00 onwards in ASP 3E2.

Three of the experts have prepared background papers and a fourth expert is going to present a study of the Commission’s Joint Research Centre. All these documents are available on the respective links below.

• Brian O’Neill, Director of Research, Enterprise and Innovation Services at Dublin Institute of Technology, explores the topic “Child safety online – definition of the problem”.
• Stephane Chaudron, Researcher in the Cyber &Digital Citizens’ Security Unit of the Commission’s Joint Research Centre, will present the study “Young children (0-8) and digital technology”.
• Eva Lievens, Professor of Law & Technology at the Faculty of Law of Ghent University, addresses “Solutions and policy dilemmas regarding minors’ protection online”.
• Sonia Livingstone, Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science, gives “Recommendations for EU policy developments on protection of minors in the digital age”.

All four of them are going to give presentations in the workshop on 22 February.

Recently published research for the CULT Committee

Why cultural work with refugees by Alison Phipps

Cultural work with refugees has a long history. It is a contentious area. Instrumental approaches to cultural work with refugees raise significant issues. This briefing outlines the contentions, provides a theoretical basis for the work, gives leading examples of cultural work with refugees, including work that promotes intercultural understanding and work that promotes fear. It outlines key findings and recommendations, which have a substantial focus on ethical engagement, aesthetic importance and societal wellbeing.

If you used this research, please give us your feedback.

EU funding for cultural work with refugees: current practice and lessons learned by Rasoul Nejadmehr

This in-depth analysis is an overview of publically funded cultural projects with refugees as target group. These projects are analysed in the light of two interconnected challenges in contemporary Europe, the challenge of good governance of cultural diversity and refugees’ aspiration to a good life in Europe. It asks the fundamental question of what it is to live a good life together in Europe today and how cultural interventions can contribute to this aspiration.

If you used this research, please give us your feedback.

EU funding for cultural work with refugees: towards the next programme generation by Rosanna Lewis and Polly Martin

This paper analyses the EU’s current programmes 2014-2020 that support cultural work with refugees in Europe and provides case studies of EU-funded projects in this field. It offers feedback from these projects, recommendations on the future programme generation, and suggests actions for the CULT Committee and its Members in order to inform and influence the future EU programme generation beyond 2020.

If you used this research, please give us your feedback.

External publications of interest

European Commission – DG EAC (2017): Structural indicators for inclusive systems in and around schools.

International evidence indicates that school systems need to change in order to tackle early school leaving and improve social inclusion in education and society. Policy-makers and school actors require practical tools to assist them in this process, made all the more urgent by the EU2020 headline target to reduce early school leaving. This report develops such practical tools; it is designed to inform strategic policy and practice by offering an innovative framework of structural indicators for early school leaving prevention and inclusion in school.

UNESCO (2018): Global report 2018: Re|Shaping Cultural Policies.

The Global Report series has been designed to monitor the implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). It provides evidence of how this implementation process contributes to attaining the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and targets. The 2018 Global Report analyses progress achieved in implementing the 2005 Convention since the first Global Report was published in 2015.

European Audiovisual Observatory (2017): IRIS Special – Media coverage of elections – the legal framework in Europe

Media plays a central role in the campaigns through which candidates hope to become elected politicians, and such communication goes hand in hand with the concept of freedom of expression and information under consolidated European and national jurisprudence.How this interplay has developed over the past years is explored in this report, produced in coordination with the Institute of Information Law (IViR) of the University of Amsterdam. It provides an overview of the most recent rules, case-law and policies across Europe with regard to the coverage of elections and referenda in the various media. Looking into broadcasting and print media, as well as the online dimension, it gives an insight into the differing degrees of regulation that political communication is experiencing within the different contexts, and shows – maybe quite surprisingly – that broadcast media remain the most regulated ones (as they remain the most influential), and that social media, despite their increased use by “crooked” politicians, remain substantially unregulated.