EUROCHILD ANNOUNCEMENT

Announcement

 

 

Child Ambassadors will warn the EU about the danger
of ignoring child poverty

 

Children and Young people will meet next week in Brussels to discuss child poverty
and to present solutions to the European institutions

 

 

 

On 11-16 July, 33 young people from 9 European countries will gather in Brussels to discuss and present how children in their countries experience poverty and social exclusion.  Together they will develop some common messages on what can and should be done by decision-makers to ensure that every child has equal chances in life and is not marginalized by social or economic disadvantage.

 

These messages will be presented to representatives of different EU institutions: members of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, the Fundamental Rights Agency. The kids will also have the chance to work on the best ways to present and communicate their messages through film, animation or graphic design.

 

On Thursday 15^th July, the kids will meet with Philippe Courard, Secretary of State for Social Integration and the Fight Against Poverty in Belgium, which currently carries the Presidency of the European Union. The Belgian Presidency has committed to put the fight against child poverty at the heart of their Presidency agenda. The children should provide some good ideas on how this fight can be won.

 

The event is part of the 2010 European Year against poverty and social exclusion. It is organized by Eurochild, an European umbrella network of organizations promoting the rights and welfare of children. Eurochild is leading a campaign ‘End Child Poverty’ which aims to gather signatures and messages, particularly from children and young people themselves, to be presented at the end of the year to EU leaders, to demand that leaders ‘do everything possible to end child poverty now’.  In the words of Lavinia, a 25 year old from Spain, “Stop poverty now. Tomorrow can be too late!”.

 

The children’s delegations come from: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and the UK.  All of the children have been working on the issue of poverty and social exclusion in their home countries and come from organizations working with disadvantaged children and/or those that promote children’s participation.  The results of the event will be presented at the Belgian Presidency conference on child poverty and well-being, which takes place in Marche-en-Famenne 2-3rd September 2010.