Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-15-Speech-1-073"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.19991115.6.1-073"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, firstly I should just like to make a technical point. The debate we have here today, which is very welcome, has been part of a long, difficult technical process. First of all we thought we would have a proper resolution and then an oral question; in fact a great many Members signed an oral question. I would hope that their names can be added to whatever resolution comes out of today’s debate. We went to a lot of trouble to get colleagues to sign this. I hope that their names will also be listed in the agenda.
I thank the Commissioner for his statement: “We demand that the EU listen carefully to the voices of its 90 million children and young people under eighteen. We are concerned that the way in which Europe is developing creates real risks for the safety, protection and wellbeing of its young citizens. Twenty percent of Europe’s children live in poverty despite the countries of the EU being amongst the richest in the world.”
These are not my words but the words of children and young people from my country, Ireland, and other EU countries. They put it better than I can, how children are excluded from EU policy and how laws and policies that the EU makes have a very real impact on children’s lives, an impact that is different from that on adults. Children have a very low priority at European level. The only really serious political response came following the horrific Dutroux affair in Belgium when MEPs were queuing up to sign my resolution on that tragedy. Even then the EU’s institutional response has been largely focused on the issue of sexual abuse and trafficking and not on the wider set of EU issues that affect children.
The lack of a clear legal base in the Treaty has meant that children’s specific needs are ignored. This week the world celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world and the most comprehensive legal statement of children’s rights world-wide. Except the US and Somalia, all countries in the world have ratified the Convention; but despite the fact that the EU Member States have ratified it too, the EU institutions themselves have so far failed to implement it.
We have an absurd situation in which Member States have to promote the best interests of the child in legislation and policy, but the Union is under no legal obligation to protect children’s best interests. At present children are invisible in EU legislation. Single market considerations often override children’s best interests. For example, protection of children and children’s safety may be compromised by lack of regulation of services such as Internet and TV advertising. Children are seen as burdens, dependants, victims or barriers to work in direct contradiction to their status in the Convention. The strong focus on the citizen as worker in the Treaty means that the best interests of children are not considered. Children are only a target group in one action programme and very few temporary budget lines. Children and children’s projects receive less than EUR 5 million directly from the EU’s vast budget. Since the disappearance of the children and family budget line in DG V there is no budget line which has children as a general target group. Children have become invisible in EU policy.
Most fundamentally, there is no coordination and no unit of the Commission, no Directorate-General which takes a lead in developing a coherent, overall policy on children. I am glad to hear you say you are considering it, Commissioner. We look forward to rapid action on this matter.
I would like to make the following recommendations to mark the tenth anniversary of the Convention. The Commission should adopt a communication on children’s rights to mark the tenth anniversary of the Convention and create a children’s policy unit. Member States, at the next revision of the Treaties, must adopt a clear legal base on the EU Treaties to promote the best interests of the child. Parliament should ensure that children are more visible in budget lines and the Commission should improve its technique and develop mechanisms for dialogue with the NGOs representing children."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples