Today children’s rights occupy an increasingly prominent place on the EU legal and policy agenda. The promotion and protection of the rights of the child is now an objective of the EU as set out in Article 3.3 of the Treaty on European Union. The rights of the child are also enshrined in the article 24 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The EU has now many legislative documents and non-legislative acts related to children’s rights or that may have the potential to impact on children’s life. This Phd thesis analyzes the nature, scope and value of EU measures in relation to children in two main areas : child protection and juvenile criminal justice. It investigates if there is an added value of children’s rights at E...