Why the next 25 years will be the era of children’s rights!

25 years on and children’s rights are far from being a reality for a majority of children in Europe.  More than one in four children in the EU lives in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion.  As Nils Muižnieks Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner says in his recent comment: “States should acknowledge child poverty is a major human rights challenge”. 

Far from protecting children, as required by the UNCRC, States are dismantling safety nets and driving already vulnerable families deeper into poverty.  We know that failure to prevent poverty and to support to families in the community places a heavy burden on costly and often flawed child protection systems.  We also know that still in Europe too many resources are locked up in an institutional care system that violates the rights of children on a daily basis – the right to private and family life, the right to protection from violence and abuse, and sometimes even the right to life.

What then is there to be positive about as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the UNCRC? At risk of being naïve or utopic, we give 4 arguments about why we believe we are at a turning point for the rights of the child.

  1. It is widely acknowledged that ‘business-as-usual’ in how governments run our countries and decisions are taken is not an option.  Across Europe mainstream parties are losing favour, and the political elite is widely distrusted. Whilst populist parties that pander to people’s fears are not the solution, more openness, transparency, dare we say more vulnerability, authenticity and humility, in mainstream politics, is.  Those advocating for children’s rights understand this.  If we build a society where the rights of every child are respected, we recognize the unique potential and contribution of every individual. We create leaders more interested in empowerment of others than the power they have over others.  If children, from birth, are recognized as individual rights holders, this changes perspective on all vulnerable groups in society.
  2. More and more leaders talk of the need to break down silos in policy making.  There is nowhere that this is better understood than in the child rights sector.  For children to grow up happy, healthy and confident, we need joined-up thinking in education, health, social welfare, media, housing, etc.  If policy makers have common understanding of the ‘whole child’, using a common rights language, the contribution and the limitations of any single policy agenda to achieving child well-being is better understood.
  3. The crisis has focused attention on how to spend limited public resources more effectively. There is a growing body of evidence around how investment in children, and in particular the early years, reaps long-term economic and social benefits. The European Commission’s Recommendation on Investing in Children, launched as part of the Social Investment Package in 2013, stresses the importance of early intervention and preventative approaches.  Work being done by the OHCHR on towards better investment in the rights of the child and the UNCRC general comment on best use of resources is also bringing evidence that a child rights approach is also the most economically-sound approach.
  4. Child rights civil society organisations are increasingly better organized and active in the political realm. Children and young people’s voices are increasingly being heard. The children’s sector is perhaps the last to fully shed its charity identity. Many organisations still struggle with their need to fundraise (which can play on the public’s perception of ‘children in need’) with the growing acknowledgement of children as actors and agents of change.  But attitudes are changing.  Children are opening the Annual Convention of the European Platform against Poverty in Brussels today together with EU leaders.  It’s symbolic but important. The annual ‘Children as Actors in Transforming Society’ event is gaining visibility and impact as a space for championing child participation and their right to be heard.  In addition to producing the alternative reports to the UNCRC, coalitions of child rights organisations are recognizing the need to be politically active on a continual basis.  Eurochild currently as 17 ‘national partner networks’ – representative structures of children’s organisations – who we are actively supporting to strengthen their advocacy capacity and impact in the national and EU political arena.

Change is not going to happen overnight, but the conditions are ripe for children’s rights to take center stage across the political spectrum in the coming years. Let’s hope on the 50th anniversary we really have something to celebrate!

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Contact: 

Federico Lanzo - Eurochild
federico.lanzo@eurochild.org
T +32 (0)2 211 05 53