On the side of the children

Sometimes we fail to realize the tragic situation involving countless numbers of youths in third millennium Europe. One in four children – for example – live situations of poverty, some of extreme poverty, while one million depend on public assistance for their survival. Thousands of minors are declared disappeared every year. According to estimates, some 800 thousand children have a parent in prison. Not to mention the fact that children represent a fourth of the new asylum-seekers. These are only some of the figures collected by the “Intergroup for the rights of minors” set up at the European Parliament. Learning from the Greek-case. Intergroups are informal structures within the European Parliament; they include MEPs and members of civil society with the purpose of promoting surveys, debates along with programmatic guidelines on a set of given issues. At present there are 28 intergroups on biodiversity, the digital agenda, disability, water, and the promotion of small enterprises. The intergroup for the rights of the child is aimed at “promoting the rights of children and ensure that EU decisions, both externally and internally, take into account the dimension of childhood and the rights linked to it.” The Intergroup was formed in December 2014. Among its chairpersons figure Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, of Italian origin and naturalized Swedish, member of the People’s Party, Caterina Chinnici, Italian MEP, member of the group of Socialists and Democrats. For all these reasons Damiano Zoffoli – married, two daughters, doctor, former mayor of his town, Cesenatico (Italy) -, upon arrival at the European Assembly, earlier this year, has been involved in the activities of this intergroup (whose manifesto is available on line: www.childrightsmanifesto.eu). “The Europe of today, dominated by fear, often lacking hope in the future, must look at its children, its offspring, to regain self confidence”, he told SIR. Zoffoli shared relevant, topical information: “In Greece the birth index fell from 10.6 per thousand in 2008 to 8.6; youths not in education and not in employment amount to 50%. Investing is critical to end the crisis, and the biggest investment should be made in the younger generations, who now pay the highest price of the selfishness of present Europe.” “That’s why I think that placing the effects and consequences that fall on children at the centre of every initiative of the European Parliament means radically changing perspective and exiting a vision focused on the present, that does not look at tomorrow”. Cross-cutting actions. What can the Intergroup do in concrete terms? “We support the development of European standards on child protection,” said the MEP. “We must also ensure – he added – that part of European funds are intended for the benefit of children, particularly the most disadvantaged, such as Roma children, children with disabilities and migrant children.” But actions for children should be adopted across the spectrum of EU policies. Just think of education, sport, research, health protection and that of consumers. Not to mention the actions – those of direct EU competence or in the areas where responsibilities are shared with Member States – in the fight against poverty (family support), the reception of migrants, the fight against discrimination. Also because, nowadays, Zoffoli explained, “none of the 20 standing committees of the European Parliament has a specific responsibility on childhood”, “there is no systematic assessment of the impact of legislative and non-legislative parliamentary work” on children and “no one tracks the share of the EU budget for childhood programs”. Looking at tomorrow. Hence the goal is to promote, along with other MEPs, “a permanent mechanism in the European Parliament with clear responsibilities for the protection and promotion of the rights of children in all areas of EU policies” while “monitoring Parliament spending to ensure that European funds are devolved to the best interest of the child”. Not to mention the need “to raise awareness among MEPs and European citizens on the right of the child and on how policies, legislation and EU funding influence the lives of children in Europe and in the rest of the world”. Zoffoli’s idea is rather simple, albeit challenging: “We must stop considering youths only as the weak link of society, to be protected and defended. This is a fundamental task of the families, of schools, churches, society and public administration. But we must also consider youths the true protagonists for whom and with whom we must create another Europe”.