The 6 CEOs of Joining Forces will be in Brussels between 3 and 5 February to meet with policymakers from the European Commission and the European Parliament. The aim of the visit is to discuss how to place children and children’s rights centrally on the agenda of the new Commission and Parliament and more specifically, to encourage investment in child protection, ending violence against children and guaranteeing child participation. This is a major opportunity to reinforce our presence and our impact at EU level, showcase what we can achieve together, and bring children and the need for higher investment for children to the table of the largest global donor.
Children are born today into a rapidly changing world.
There are almost two billion children on the planet – twice as many as in 1960. One in five people under 18 are affected by conflict with hundreds of millions threatened by increased flooding, stronger tropical cyclones and intensifying droughts caused by the global climate crisis.
These challenges are shared by children in Europe. One in four children living in the EU is at risk of poverty, with half of all children in some EU states living below the poverty line.
Both children in the EU and worldwide grapple with an uncertain present and will inherit a precarious future. The challenges they face are multiplying, yet they are marching, mobilising and taking action across the globe to solve them. But this responsibility cannot be shouldered by children and young people alone.
By revolutionising how the European Commission works with children in Europe and beyond, the new Commission – under President Ursula von der Leyen’s leadership – can lend a much-needed hand to help them face the challenges of this new decade.
Since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC) was signed in 1989, massive strides forward have been made in saving children’s lives, protecting them and respecting their rights. Yet we have not had the same success in ending violence against children.
Children themselves consistently flag violence as their most urgent concern. Bullying, child marriage and child trafficking are just some of the gruesome daily realities many children are subjected to, with child labour, recruitment as child soldiers and female genital mutilation also posing a constant menace.
World leaders pledged to end these injustices through honouring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, but this promise has been broken for millions of children worldwide.
The Commission must help liberate children to change their societies by protecting them from violence. By producing a fully-fledged EU Child Rights Strategy, von der Leyen can guarantee children’s rights are mainstreamed into every decision the EU makes. This strategy should support children in every EU Member State and worldwide, and it should make sure the EU walks the talk on both the SDGs and the UN CRC.
Along with a safer world for children today, children also deserve a sustainable tomorrow. But growing inequalities between children within Europe and around the world are short-changing those most in need of resources.
Across the globe, over half of the world’s refugees are children, yet only two percent of global humanitarian aid is spent on child protection, and only four percent is spent on education in emergencies. Von der Leyen must inspire the Commission to help even these numbers up.In the EU, children from migrant backgrounds are almost 20 percent more likely to suffer through poverty than children whose parents were both born in Europe. Girls, Roma children, children with disabilities and children raised in single-parent households also face being marginalised through no fault of their own.
The European Commission must give marginalised children the tools to empower themselves. This means increasing investment in social protection, health, nutrition, education, child protection and care – guaranteeing the resources needed to strengthen the public services needed to not exclude or leave children behind.
Used in tandem with a system to measure and monitor investment in children across internal and external budgets, von der Leyen can make sure the progress made for today’s children will equally benefit the generation after them – both inside and outside Europe.
Despite the challenges which children face today, a sustainable future where children and their rights are respected in full is possible. But it will only become a reality if children who have a great capacity to innovate and who are true agents of change, are given real opportunities to substantially contribute to all key decisions that most affect them – such as how to tackle the climate crisis.
At the moment, children are expected to quietly accept decisions made by adults on their behalf, despite a child’s right to participate being fundamental to the UN CRC. Yet we know that when children can use their voice and understand their rights, they are far less likely to be exploited or subjected to violence.
Today’s 14-year olds will vote in the next European elections. But they need to be heard now. They are the future of Europe and the planet, the heart of our democracy and as they’ve demonstrated with the Friday for Future climate strikes, they want their views taken seriously. Von der Leyen can show Europe’s children that she makes sure their voices are heard at the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe. Decisions taken about children, without children risk not being in their best interest.
If children are to enjoy both a secure present and prosperous future, they will need allies standing in their corner. The von der Leyen Commission can be such an ally, and if the European Commission has their back, our changing world can still be an oasis for children both inside and outside Europe.
Authors:
Meg Gardinier
Chair of the Joining Forces alliance and Secretary General of ChildFund Alliance
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen
CEO of Plan International
Inger Ashing
CEO of Save the Children International
Steffen Braasch
Interim CEO of SOS Children’s Villages International
Delphine Moralis
Secretary General of Terre des Hommes International Federation
Andrew Morley
President of World Vision International