About #VoteforChildren

Putting child rights at the heart of EU action

#VoteforChildren is a coalition campaign seeking for children’s issues to top the agenda for the European elections in May 2019. The members of the Vote for Children coalition are organisations working on children’s issues. See the full list of NGOs below.

In Europe, for the first time in a generation, people are worried that their children might not have as bright a future as they had. Austerity and rising inequality means that more than 25 million children are at risk of experiencing poverty and exclusion.

Some children continue to be treated differently to their peers such as children with disabilities, or Roma children, many of whom are confined to grow up in institutions away from nurturing family settings, or migrant and refugee children who are socially excluded and denied access to basic social services.

Outside of Europe the situation is dire for children. Although there has been progress, children in developing countries continue to face extreme poverty, discrimination and inequality.

The EU has been a principled aid donor, defender of rights and champion of sustainable development. It must continue this legacy now, more than ever, to defend and protect children’s rights at home and abroad and to ensure a sustainable future that leaves no child behind.

The Vote for Children coalition calls on European Parliamentary candidates to become Child Rights Champions to:

1. BREAK the cycles of poverty, inequality and conflict for future generations By intervening early, we can break these cycles and empower children through education, social services and strengthened child-care and child protection systems.

The EU has a role to play in stopping the war on children beyond its borders by ensuring they are protected, and by recognising and supporting children as actors of peace.

2. INVEST in children inside and outside Europe Investing in children is the best way to break these cycles and invest in everybody’s future. Healthy, educated, resilient children lead to more prosperous, sustainable, stable and safe societies.

This investment is not just about money. It also means ensuring that rights-based and sustainable policies are adopted to create the Europe children need.

3. LISTEN to children’s voices, INVOLVE them in decisions affecting them and ACT on children’s views
Even though children are the future of Europe and have valuable opinions,
we do not listen to them enough. Politicians are accountable for decisions they take that affect children.

MEPs must listen to children and involve them in decisions that affect them. They must act on children’s views and take responsibility for decisions that impact them. The results will not only help children participate as active citizens and empower them as agents
for change, but will transform our politics, our environment, our societies
and the Europe of the future.

BECOME A CHILD RIGHTS CHAMPION

FIND A CHAMPION IN YOUR COUNTRY

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