Eradicating extreme child poverty in Europe: an international obligation and a moral duty
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text
adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of
the Assembly, on 31 May 2022 (see Doc. 15524, report of the committee on Social Affairs, Health and
Sustainable Development, rapporteur: Mr Pierre-Alain Fridez).See
also Recommendation 2234
(2022).
1. Despite the efforts being made,
poverty, especially extreme child poverty, is far from being eradicated. In
Europe, there are still too many squalid living conditions. In 2022,
children, whatever their gender, origins or their parents’ status,
should no longer go to bed or school hungry. Children should be
protected from disease, deplorable housing conditions, disproportionate
consequences of the climate crisis, exclusion and lack of access
to healthcare, hygiene, education, culture and sport. These situations
are reminiscent of stories from another century and tell of unbearable
human rights abuses against those most vulnerable.
2. In 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed 150 million more people
into extreme poverty worldwide, especially women and girls, who
were disproportionately affected. In Europe, it confirmed the collective
failure of public policies to combat extreme child poverty. We will
be unable to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development
Goal (SDG) 1: “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”. Without
the salutary intervention of States during the health crisis, the
already serious situation of these children could have been disastrous.
As far as the pandemic’s adverse impact on the effective protection
of the human rights of girls and boys is concerned, the Parliamentary
Assembly recalls its
Resolution 2385
(2021) “Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children’s
rights”.
3. The coincidence of the climate emergency with the migrant,
health and social crises demands strong responses by public authorities
to end extreme child poverty. In view of the unacceptable situations
and referring to its
Resolution
2399 (2021) “The climate crisis and the rule of law”,
which emphasises the need for climate resilience, the Assembly calls
on Council of Europe member States to demonstrate the political
will to address every dimension of extreme child poverty and ensure
that no one is left behind.
4. The Assembly invites Council of Europe member States to adopt
a holistic approach in defining and implementing public policies
to combat extreme child poverty. This will involve impact assessments
that take into account all aspects of child poverty as violations
of the child’s well-being and best interests, without discrimination
regarding the child’s origins, birth environment, family, gender
or personal orientation.
5. In light of the above, the Assembly encourages member States,
when determining and drawing up their public policy to combat extreme
child poverty, to:
5.1 strengthen
their commitments contained in the European Social Charter (revised)
(ETS No. 163), especially Articles 30 (right to protection against
poverty and social exclusion) and 31 (right to housing), and ensure
that these rights are enshrined in national constitutions and that
they are implemented;
5.2 translate these commitments into concrete measures through
action plans that make the child’s best interests, well-being and
right to be heard the focus of public policies to eradicate extreme
poverty by 2030;
5.3 intensify the efforts to benefit children in their development
programmes in order to end extreme child poverty worldwide by 2030.
6. Recalling its
Resolution
2410 (2021) “Best interests of the child and policies
to ensure a work-life balance”, the Assembly urges member States
to invest heavily in combating extreme child poverty and to recommit
rapidly to the initial goals laid down by the United Nations. The
aim of this commitment is to establish environmental equity by:
6.1 ensuring that all children living
in Europe enjoy comprehensive and free social protection, capable
of providing adequate and appropriate care, while contributing to
a better understanding of the challenges of living together;
6.2 mobilising the massive resources needed to initiate a
thorough policy covering the first one thousand days of life in
order to combat the inequalities that develop during this decisive
period of childhood by taking account of the accumulation of exposures
to which individuals are subjected (their “exposome”);
6.3 ensuring that children have the right to food in sufficient
quantity and quality. To reach this goal, the Assembly proposes
that member States abolish VAT (value added tax) on essential food
items;
6.4 providing children living in poverty in neighbourhoods
in which it is concentrated with the facilities and programmes necessary
for their educational, health, cultural and sporting development
and adopt financial measures to help them escape poverty, such as
adequate child benefits;
6.5 encouraging, with regard to mobility, parents’ access
to green conversion bonuses to ensure that the benefits of environmental
transition are enjoyed by everyone and do not create new inequalities;
6.6 enabling better screening of children’s developmental
problems, including cognitive and sensory disorders, by school health
services and ensuring follow-up;
6.7 ensuring children’s access to free and adequate health
services, including preventive and restorative dental care, since
teeth are a strong social marker of inequality;
6.8 ensuring that the housing where these children live benefits
from energy efficiency measures and that the parents of these children
actually receive the assistance provided for in the event of an immoderate
rise in the price of energy.
7. The Assembly encourages the nine member States that have not
yet ratified the European Social Charter (revised) to resume their
work towards ratifying to it. It calls for the ratification of the
Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter Providing for
a System of Collective Complaints (ETS No. 158) in order to speed
up concerted efforts to combat extreme child poverty. It also invites
Switzerland and Liechtenstein to sign and ratify the Charter.
8. The Assembly welcomes the European Union’s recent initiative
to establish a European Child Guarantee. It encourages member States
to support this initiative or adopt corresponding policies. It calls
on member States to:
8.1 regularly
monitor the implementation of this guarantee at parliamentary level,
taking into account the voice of children, in accordance with
Resolution 2414 (2022) “The
right to be heard – Child participation: a foundation for democratic
societies”;
8.2 support the efforts of education services to include the
most vulnerable children and combat inequalities.
9. The Assembly reiterates its desire to bring about synergies
between the Council of Europe and the European Union agencies responsible
for the European Pillar of Social Rights. It renews its invitation
to the European Union to accede to the European Social Charter.
10. Lastly, the Assembly proposes to carry out a mid-term review,
in 2026, on the implementation of environmental equity in public
policies and the progress of the various public measures in Europe
aimed at combating extreme child poverty with a view to achieving
United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 1.2.
