On the occasion of World Children's Day, Wednesday 20 November, the Caritas Foundation called on the EU to implement the "European Child Guarantee" project in practice.
This project, supported under the ESF+ following a request from the Party of European Socialists, should enable every child to have access to healthcare, education, housing and decent food. Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech to the European Parliament in July, announced that she wanted to make this guarantee one of the work objectives of her forthcoming Commission.
The proposal for this kind of guarantee "is an opportunity to effectively combat child poverty. Provided it is part of a coherent strategy to fight poverty at European and national level and is properly implemented", stated Caritas Europe Secretary General Maria Nyman in a statement.
European Parliament President David Sassoli also called on the new Commission to promote the protection of children at a conference in Parliament celebrating the 30th anniversary of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. He also announced that European Parliament Vice-President Ewa Kopacz had been appointed Special Coordinator for Children's Rights. "If we do not act quickly, more than 55 million children under 5 will die before 2030", he said. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki, intern)