Ending child poverty in Europe
Recommendation 2044
(2014)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 11 April 2014 (18th Sitting) (see Doc. 13458, report
of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development,
rapporteur: Ms Sevinj Fataliyeva). Text
adopted by the Assembly on 11 April 2014 (18th Sitting).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly, referring
to its
Resolution 1995
(2014) on ending child poverty in Europe, once again
welcomes the commitment of the Council of Europe to children’s human
rights and child protection, most recently manifested in the Council
of Europe Strategy for the Rights of the Child 2012-2015.
2. The Assembly notes that, in the framework of the current strategy,
the issue of child poverty is covered under the third strategic
objective, “guaranteeing the rights of children in vulnerable situations”,
as a factor rendering children even more vulnerable than they are
already. The Assembly considers, however, that child poverty should
be given more prominence when it comes to the implementation of
the strategy.
3. Many child-oriented services offered at national and local
levels are confronted with budgetary restrictions which may have
a direct impact on the quality of such services and their delivery.
In the future, there needs to be greater participation of children
in order to better target social services and increase their effectiveness
by identifying those that are truly needed by children.
4. With the purpose of reinforcing the well-being of children
and the protection of their rights at the European level, the Assembly
invites the Committee of Ministers to:
4.1 give greater priority to the issue of child poverty when
preparing and adopting the Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights
of the Child beyond 2015, in particular as regards guaranteeing
the rights of children in vulnerable situations and the promotion
of child participation;
4.2 invite its different governmental bodies relating to children’s
rights to pay special attention to the current economic context
and the particular situation of children living in poverty when
implementing the current Council of Europe Strategy for the Rights
of the Child 2012-2015;
4.3 pay the same attention to this context in the implementation
of Committee of Ministers Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)2 on the participation
of children and young people under the age of 18, Recommendation
CM/Rec(2011)12 on children’s rights and social services friendly
to children and families, and the guidelines on child-friendly health
care (2011) and on child-friendly justice (2010);
4.4 invite the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
of the Council of Europe to contribute to activities in this field
alongside the governmental sector and the Parliamentary Assembly,
given that local and regional authorities are important stakeholders
when it comes to implementing social policies and services aimed
at families and children.
