#VoteForChildren, a campaign putting child rights at the heart of EU action

With the European Parliament elections less than two months away, a coalition of organisations working on children's issues decided it's time to vote for a Europe that puts the rights of children at the heart of its agenda. In a context of increasing inequalities and an uncertain economic and climatic future, children's rights have never been more important for a better, safer, more equal and prosperous future. 

Date 2019-04-05 Author BIK Team Section awareness, youth

Did you know that1...

  • Over 25 million children in Europe are at risk of poverty and exclusion, with some countries in Europe where 30 to 45 per cent of children fall under this category?
  • In Europe, hundreds of thousands of children are confined to harmful institutions due to poverty, disabilities or discrimination, even though 80 per cent of them have a living parent and could grow up in the care of families and communities?
  • Girls face double discrimination due to their age and gender, with 32 million primary school-aged girls who do not attend school and 12 million girls annually who are married before they turn 18?
  • One in six children outside of Europe lives in areas of conflict? It is precisely these children, living in fragile countries who will bear the greatest consequences of climate change.

What can be done?

Taking all these facts into consideration, the #VoteForChildren coalition is asking future Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to become #ChilRightsChampion by singing up on the www.childrightsmanifesto.eu website and encouraging votest to factor this in when they decide who to vote for in the next elections.

What does that mean?

By becoming a #ChildRightsChampion, future MEPs commit to using their new mandate to:

  1. Break the cycles of poverty and inequality by empowering children through better education, social services and child-care and child protection systems. The EU can also play an even more important role in protecting children's rights also beyond its borders.
  2. Invest in children both in Europe and outside its borders, both financially and from a policy point of view
  3. Listen to children, involve them and act by taking their views into consideration

By encouraging candidates to dedicate their mandate to protecting and strengthening children's rights in Europe and beyond, both online and off, we can not only ensure a better, safer and healthier society for today's children, but also a better, more peaceful and sustainable future brought about future generations in which no child is left behind. 

You can find out more about the campaign and the #VoteForChildren coalition here: www.childrightsmanifesto.eu.

[1] More details about the statistics mentioned in this article can be found here.

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