With two weeks to go before the European Commission presents a new EU strategy on the rights of the child, the European Parliament adopted its resolution on the subject on Thursday 11 March by 545 votes to 24 with 119 abstentions.
In particular, MEPs want the new strategy to include “concrete measures” to eradicate child poverty, ensure adequate access to health care, and protect migrant children.
The resolution also calls on the EU to strengthen its commitments against all forms of violence and discrimination against children, including physical, sexual, economic and psychological violence. In particular, MEPs find it unacceptable that 23 Member States have still not implemented the 2011 directive on combating child pornography and the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
MEPs also expect the EU and the EU-27 to end child labour and statelessness.
Some of the recommendations were addressed directly to the Member States. They are, for example, called upon to take measures to prevent school drop-out, to build the capacity of the social services workforce, and to adopt national strategies to combat child poverty.
Finally, the resolution stresses the need to take into account children’s voices in decision-making processes.
On this point, Commissioner for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica said during a debate on Wednesday that more than 10,000 children had been consulted in the development of the upcoming strategy. Children will also be involved in the Conference on the Future of Europe, she said.
Several MEPs, such as rapporteur Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, Spain), also stressed the importance of “taking into account the current pandemic, which will only exacerbate the inequalities that exist in the Member States”.
See the resolution: http://bit.ly/38xYWgO (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)