Core Concepts

Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Technology that allows computers to perform tasks that usually require human thinking, like understanding language, recognising images, or making decisions.

Machine Learning (ML) – A type of AI where computers learn from examples (data) instead of being directly programmed.

AI Model – The “brain” of an AI system that has been trained to do a specific task, like answering questions or identifying photos.

Training (AI Training) –  The process of teaching an AI system by feeding it large amounts of data so it can learn patterns.

How AI Communicates

Chatbot – A computer programme that can have conversations with people through text or voice.

Prompt – The question or instruction you give to an AI. Example: “Explain climate change in simple terms.”

Natural Language Processing (NLP) –  AI that helps computers understand and respond to human language.

Voice assistant – AI that listens and responds to spoken commands (e.g., setting reminders or answering questions).

Large Language Model (LLM) –  A type of AI trained on huge amounts of text (books, websites, conversations) to understand and generate human-like language.

Creative AI

Generative AI – AI that can create new content, such as stories, images, music, or videos.

Hallucinations – When AI gives an answer that sounds convincing but is incorrect or made up.

Data & Decision-Making

Data – Information (like text, images, or clicks) that AI uses to learn.

Algorithm –  A step-by-step set of instructions a computer follows to solve a problem (like a recipe).

Recommendation system –  AI that suggests content (videos, products, music) based on your behaviour.

Automation –  When tasks are done automatically by technology instead of people.

Safety, Rights & Risks

Bias (in AI) – When AI produces unfair or unbalanced results because of the data it learned from.

Privacy – Control over personal information: what is collected, stored, and shared.

Digital footprint – The record of what you do online (searches, posts, likes), which may be used by AI systems.

AI ethics – Guidelines to ensure AI is used fairly, safely, and responsibly.

Everyday Use

App (Application) – A programme on your phone or computer. Many apps now include AI features.

Facial recognition – AI that can identify a person from a photo or video.

Screen time – Time spent using digital devices – important to manage, especially for children.

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On 13 March 2026, 200 signatories including 85 organisations alongside 115 academics adopted a joint statement expressing strong support for the European Commission’s intention to develop a Digital Fairness Act (DFA). COFACE Families Europe is among the signatories.

__________

In view of World Consumer Rights Day this Sunday, 15 March, we are writing to express our strong support for the European Commission’s intention to develop a Digital Fairness Act (DFA) and call for it to deliver meaningful protection in the digital environment for people of all ages, including vulnerable groups such as minors, seniors and persons with disabilities.

The DFA must update horizontal EU consumer law, in particular by clarifying its requirements, to make sure it delivers online. Clearer rules will strengthen Europe’s competitiveness by increasing legal certainty for all market participants, contributing to fair competition and reducing harm done online.

Digital technologies have become essential to everyday life. But the digital environment has also enabled the proliferation of commercial practices that not only violate fundamental rights, but also undermine consumer autonomy, cause tangible financial,(1) mental, and physical harm, fuel overconsumption,(2) distort competition and threaten the democratic discourse. These practices are not isolated incidents but have become part of business models built on asymmetric information and behavioural manipulation.

During the last mandate, the EU adopted important legislation to better protect people online, for instance the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act and the AI Act. However, these laws are limited in scope and content and are therefore not enough to address all the unfair and harmful practices that companies use online across many sectors.

Horizontal EU consumer law is a safety net for consumers that complements sector-specific EU legislation, but its enforcement needs to be improved. Therefore, we also strongly support the European Commission’s intention to strengthen the instruments for EU consumer law enforcement through a revision of the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Regulation.(3) However, this will not be enough as enforcement can only be as good as the quality of the law enforced. The Digital Fairness Fitness Check (4) has confirmed that EU consumer law has legal gaps and that there is a high degree of legal uncertainty about how it applies in the digital environment.

This is unsurprising, given that the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD),(5) as one of the key instruments of horizontal EU consumer law, was adopted more than 20 years ago and hence does not sufficiently address unfair practices online that are widely used today.

Against this background, we call upon the European Commission to use the upcoming DFA for an ambitious update of horizontal EU consumer law to better protect people online against any type of unfair practices.

With around 70% of respondents calling for new binding rules on dark patterns, addictive design, unfair personalisation, influencer marketing and unfair practices in video games, the results of the DFA public consultation6 clearly show that there is a lot of support for the upcoming DFA, way beyond the list of signatories.(7)

The Council of the EU has recently acknowledged(8) that consumer protection and competitiveness are mutually reinforcing and that consumer trust underpins the proper functioning of the Single Market. Furthermore, the Council of the EU has recognised the need to address regulatory gaps to further strengthen the protection of consumers, including minors, in the digital environment and has welcomed the European Commission’s intension to propose a DFA.

The DFA offers an opportunity to show that ‘simplification’ should not become a synonym for deregulation. Updating EU consumer law can both increase legal certainty and ensure that digital markets respect people’s rights while supporting more sustainable economic models.

We stand ready to further support the European Commission in preparing this important initiative.

Read and download the full letter here.

(1) According to the Digital Fairness Fitness Check, unfair commercial practices alone cause consumers an annual financial loss of at least 7.9 billion Euro. European Commission, SWD(2024)230, Fitness Check of EU consumer law on digital fairness
(2) BEUC complaint against Shein, Click to buy (more)
(3) Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws.
(4) European Commission, SWD(2024)230, Fitness Check of EU consumer law on digital fairness
(5) Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market.
(6) European Commission, Public consultation on the Digital Fairness Act, Factual summary report
(7) See also the more than 228,000 signatures for a petition calling for a strong enforcement of the Digital Services Act and a prohibition of addictive techniques that are not covered by existing legislation
(8) Council of the EU, Conclusions on the 2030 Consumer Agenda

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• Teacher voices: teaching science through inquiry. Hear from Stefanaki Filachti, a primary school teacher in Greece, who shares how to engage young pupils in science through inquiry and the use of senses.
• Supporting the wellbeing of educators in Bulgaria. A resource helping educators assess stress levels and build mental resilience for a healthier professional life.

Discover more on the European School Education Platform

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Unequal care, Unequal work:  Structural discrimination against women in the labour market

Media Release

International Women’s Day

Brussels, 8 March 2026

On this 2026 International Women’s Day, COFACE Families Europe highlights key recommendations to move towards gender equal labour markets, and calls on the EU to adopt a European Work-life balance day on 20th March every year. In November 2025, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the EU Gender Equality Strategy. The resolution stresses the need to implement an ‘equal earner – equal carer’ model in the EU with the aim of achieving a more equal gender balance concerning care responsibilities for all EU Member States. Recent research confirms that discrimination against women in the labour market is structural, cumulative, and closely linked to unequal care responsibilities. Read the full media release here. 

According to research of the PATHS2INCLUDE consortium of universities under the Horizon Europe programme, reducing gender employment gaps requires transforming the unequal distribution of unpaid care. Evidence shows that persistent gender inequalities in employment are closely linked to care responsibilities and social norms. Effective gender equality policies at EU and national level must include a series of work-life balance measures for women and men, including adequate childcare and long-term care services, well-designed and well-paid parental leave, flexible work arrangements, and measures that encourage men’s take-up of care responsibilities.

Without such measures, exclusion of women from the labour market will persist in recruitment practices, working-time arrangements, career progression, and work-exit pathways that systematically disadvantage women – particularly mothers and carers. These disadvantages are reinforced by social norms, insufficient care services, and forms of flexibility that transfer care risks onto women rather than redistributing them equally between women and men.

Labour market exclusion is further compounded by intersecting factors such as age, health, migration background, and job quality, leading to unequal access to employment and increased insecurity over the life course.  As a result, gendered labour-market inequalities accumulate into higher risks of poverty and financial insecurity for women in later life, with direct consequences for families’ and children’s well-being.

COFACE President, Antonia Torrens:

“Tackling women’s exclusion requires a life-course, intersectional, and care-sensitive approach that combines equal treatment and anti-discrimination enforcement with labour-market, care, and social protection policies that enable the equal sharing of paid work and unpaid care.”

A mix of measures is needed to support reduction of inequalities and promotion of gender equal European labour markets.

• Integrate flexible work arrangements in workplace policies – these not only allow for greater flexibility, but they also lead to less care-based discrimination in employers that apply these.
• Expand access to affordable childcare and promote gender-equal parental leave policies encouraging more equal sharing of care responsibilities between parents.
• Ensure that family centres and hubs across Europe are father-inclusive, and accessible to all types of families without discrimination.
• Actively challenge gender stereotypes and norms around caregiving and work, by supporting both fathers who choose to be more involved at home and mothers who seek full-time and/or leadership positions.
• Highlight diverse role models in awareness campaigns, media, education, and workplaces to accelerate the normalisation of non-traditional gender roles.
• Encourage employers to adopt measures against discrimination in hiring mothers, including training on diversity management, inclusive hiring practices or mentoring programmes.
• Tailor policies at the regional level. As cultural attitudes vary significantly between and within countries, tailoring strategies to local values and challenges will be more effective than applying one-size-fits-all solutions.

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COFACE member organisation the National Parents Society of Persons with Disability (NPSPD) in Malta has recently marked an important milestone in its psychosocial support work, while also preparing new initiatives for the months ahead.

On 23 January, NPSPD brought to a close its psychosocial support group for individuals. What began as a structured support initiative gradually evolved into something deeper. According to the organisation, the group slowly grew into a space built on trust, mutual understanding, shared vulnerability and solidarity. Over time, it became more than a formal support structure and developed into a meaningful community shaped by the people taking part.

Although the formal sessions have now ended, the support will continue. The space created by participants will remain active through monthly sessions led by the individuals who built it together. This transition reflects a participatory and empowering approach, where members are not only beneficiaries but also active contributors in sustaining peer support.

At the same time, NPSPD is opening a new chapter in its psychosocial support work. In two weeks, the organisation will launch psychosocial support groups specifically for couples. This new initiative recognises that disability is not experienced in isolation but is also lived within relationships, partnerships and shared everyday realities.

The couple groups will offer a safe and respectful space where partners can reflect together, strengthen communication and feel supported both as individuals and as a couple. By addressing relational dynamics and shared challenges, NPSPD continues to promote a holistic understanding of disability and family life.

Through these initiatives, NPSPD demonstrates the importance of accessible psychosocial support that responds to real needs within families and communities. The organisation’s work highlights how peer-based spaces can foster resilience, empowerment and mutual care.

Save the date: European expert meeting in Valletta, Malta

Looking ahead, COFACE Families Europe and NPSPD will host a European expert meeting focusing on the European Child Guarantee. This meeting will be supported by the Ministry for Social Policy and Children’s Rights and the Ministry for Inclusion and Social Wellbeing in Malta.

It will take place in Valletta, Malta, on 18 November 2026 and will bring together speakers from COFACE Families Europe and NPSPD as well as ministers, policy-makers and practitioners. The event will provide an opportunity to exchange expertise and experiences on advancing the implementation of the European Child Guarantee for children with disabilities and their families.

Further information about the programme and registration is expected in due course. COFACE members  are encouraged to save the date.

Read more about NPSPD here.

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COFACE Families Europe’s member Genitori Tosti in Tutti i Posti is leading a campaign promoted by Caregiver Familiari Uniti (CFU), an alliance bringing together caregivers, organisations and individuals committed to defending caregivers’ rights.

For the first time in Italy, on 27th of January 2026, hundreds of family carers gathered in the streets of Rome, to take part in a demonstration demanding better rights and protection. The initiative was born from the urgent need to highlight the shortcomings of the new draft law presented by the Italian Minister for Disabilities and calling for a law that ensures economic security, prevents social isolation, and establishes structured protections for caregivers.

The demonstration was followed by a press conference attended by delegates from CFU and Genitori Tosti. During the conference, speakers emphasised that caregivers require real rights, adequate financial support, and reliable social security protections, in line with European standards and current research on caregiving.

In Italy, people who provide 24-hour care to a family member still lack sufficient protection. Many are forced to abandon their job, due to the nature of caregiving that requires their full attention. This leads to financial hardship, social isolation, and serious physical and mental health risks. The speakers also highlighted the effects of chronic stress related to caregiving, known as “caregiver burden” (physical, emotional, and financial stress, by individuals caring for chronically ill, disabled, or elderly loved ones), which leaves many people alone, without the freedom to make choices, and without a safety net.

The presence of COFACE Families Europe at the mobilisation was through a video message that brought a European perspective to the debate. The debate underlined the differences between Italy and several other EU Member States in terms of recognition and support for family carers. Read the news article about COFACE’s involvement here (In Italian).

In parallel with the mobilisation, CFU launched an online petition on the IoScelgo platform calling for the recognition of 24-hour carers as workers, creating a direct channel for public participation and advocacy.

Read further about the campaign here.

Read more about our member Genitori Tosti.

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On Safer Internet Day, COFACE Families Europe has signed two open letters calling for robust legislation to tackle child sexual abuse and to prohibit nudifying tools. 

The first open letter, signed by 109 child rights organisations and partners, calls on the European Union (EU) to take decisive action to protect children online and to pass robust legislation to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation across Europe.  

EU negotiators are currently shaping the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation. The EU has a critical opportunity to be a world leader in protecting children online, but continued inaction and lack of ambition means Europe persists as a safe haven for perpetrators. Without strong laws, Europe will leave millions of children unprotected on online platforms and allow imagery of their abuse to circulate indefinitely online.  

For more than three years, EU leaders have debated the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) – a law designed to protect children from online sexual abuse. In that time, Europe’s child sexual abuse crisis has escalated dramatically: reports of grooming, sexual extortion and AI-generated child abuse material have risen exponentially across Europe.  

We therefore call for a prompt, ambitious Regulation that protects children from today’s and tomorrow’s threats. It must mandate reporting to the EU Centre and include prompt removal of CSAM notices.  

Read the full open letter here: Open Letter: Protect Children’s Online Safety in Europe.  

The second open letter, endorsed by 107 organisations, institutions and individual experts, calls upon governments and legislators to urgently enact and enforce regulation, at the latest within the next two years, to prohibit nudifying tools and ensure they are universally inaccessible. 

Nudifying tools use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate nude images from clothed photos. Though mainly marketed for adults, these tools are often misused to create non-consensual nudified images of people and are increasingly being used to produce illegal images of children. The companies, developers, and individuals who create or distribute them must be held accountable and face legal and criminal consequences.  

Deepfakes are now closely linked to sexual coercion, extortion, and blackmail. The alarming ease of these AI tools means abusers no longer need to obtain photographic intimate images; they can create them artificially, at scale, with terrifying efficiency. Offenders, including young people themselves, are already monetising these images, creating new abusive economies. 

Signatories call on institutions, companies, and citizens to take immediate action towards eliminating the use of nudifying tools by committing to the following:  

• Recognise that nudifying tools inflict irreparable harm on individuals, enabling the indefensible abuse and exploitation of women and children in particular.  
• Acknowledge the profound societal damage this functionality causes, including the normalisation of explicit imagery and gender-based violence, as well as the erosion of trust and safety. 
• Demand accountability and innovation, requiring technology companies to implement safety by design, fast-track the development and delivery of effective protections, and provide clear transparency.

Read the full open letter here: Unifying Voices Worldwide: No to Nudify. 

Further reading on protecting child rights online:

• COFACE media release Safer Internet Day (2026) 

• COFACE Safer Internet Policy Brief (2024)  

• EU Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) proposal 

• European Parliament position on CSAR proposal 

• Council of the European Union position on CSAR proposal 

• EU Recast Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Directive proposal 

• EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act 

• EU Digital Omnibus proposal on AI

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COFACE member organisation Udruga roditelja Korak po korak (Parents’ Association “Step by step”) has published the second edition of the newsletter for the SCHOOLinHUB project, highlighting recent progress and key developments.

The new edition provides an overview of the project, its objectives and its target groups. SCHOOLinHUB aims to support integration and language learning, working closely with children, parents and teachers to strengthen inclusive educational environments.

Among the updates featured in the newsletter is a report from the SCHOOLinHUB transnational project meeting held in January, where partners worked on developing and refining project materials. The edition also outlines progress across different Work Packages, summarising key goals and results achieved so far.

In addition, the project has launched its podcast series, offering further insights into its themes and activities. The series is now available online and forms part of the project’s broader efforts to share knowledge and good practice.

Readers are invited to explore the full newsletter and learn more about the initiative via the project website. Udruga roditelja Korak po korak also encourages stakeholders to follow the project’s updates for future news and developments.

Through initiatives such as SCHOOLinHUB, the organisation continues its commitment to supporting families, educators and children in building inclusive and supportive learning communities.

Read more about Step by step here.

Find the podcast series (in  English) here. 

More information about the project and the newsletter for SCHOOLinHUB here.

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COFACE member organisation LEAP Ireland has shared a 60 second video capturing key moments from its recent Leadership for Inclusion Series in Galway, which ran over six months and concluded earlier this year.

The three weekend learning series was developed for people with intellectual disabilities and or autism, their families and allies who are committed to strengthening community inclusion. The initiative provided a structured and reflective space for participants to deepen their understanding of what meaningful inclusion looks like in everyday life.

LEAP was honoured to welcome Robin Acton, who recently completed her second term as President of Inclusion Canada, to lead the series. Robin is currently supporting the LEAP leadership team to deliver the Leadership for Inclusion Series independently in the future, enabling the programme to reach more families and communities. LEAP expressed its deep gratitude to its Canadian colleagues for their generosity and collaboration.

Over the course of the series, participants gained an in depth understanding of inclusion and began developing strategies to act at both personal and community levels. The programme encouraged participants to reflect critically on existing systems and to consider how to create meaningful inclusion for people with disabilities in the everyday life of their communities.

Key themes explored throughout the series included:

• Understanding the difference between genuine inclusion and superficial approaches and why achieving real inclusion can be so challenging.
• Recognising the critical importance of having a clear and ambitious vision for an inclusive life.
• Developing skills in critical analysis to distinguish between practices that enable inclusion and those that undermine it.
• Gaining insight into how systems operate and how they can either support or hinder participation.
• Exploring practical ways to drive social change.
• Sustaining hope and long-term commitment in the pursuit of systemic and societal transformation.

The series also examined what it takes to bring about real structural change and how to maintain momentum over time. By combining reflection, learning and action, the programme aimed to equip participants with both the confidence and the tools needed to advocate for inclusive communities.

The 60 second video offers a short glimpse into the energy and commitment that characterised the six-month journey. You can view the video here:

Learn more about LEAP Ireland.

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