Brussels, 30/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - A fortnight away from the third UN conference on development financing (Addis Ababa, 13-16 July), civil society organisations are calling on the EU to lead by example by ensuring that investment in the welfare and protection of children is prioritised in the final UN document.
The issue was debated on 25 June at a meeting in Brussels between representatives from the EU institutions, member states and NGOs World Vision and Child Fund Alliance.
Within the development financing, Solène Edouard, the acting secretary general of the Child Fund Alliance, expects the protection of children against violence and exploitation to be a priority along with survival and development. This is all the more so, as investment in child protection has clearly been established as a crucial pillar of sustainable development at the European and world level. “It is clear that investing in children in particular will need to be a major focus of the sustainable development goals framework if the kind of poverty, inequality, violence and exploitation that disfigure and often destroy the lives of so many children around the world are to be effectively tackled”, says Deirdre de Burca, the Brussels director of advocacy at World Vision. World Vision and Child Fund Alliance are also calling for efforts to end poverty to be focused on the most vulnerable children, including those living in fragile and conflict-affected states. (Aminata Niang)