European Union Members of European Parliament allying for children

Project : TDHIF in Europe 18 Jul 2011 | child rights child trafficking poverty

Brussels July 12, 2011: The Member of European Parliament (MEP)’s Alliance for Children, created last March 2011, had its second meeting today in Brussels to boost children’s rights’ activities in the Parliament. Co-chaired by the Vice-President of the European Parliament Angelilli, with the participation of numerous MEPs and several NGOs including Terre des Hommes, the Alliance’s meeting heard the presentation of Commissioner Viviane Reding on the European Commission’s Communication “An EU Agenda for the Rights of the Child” launched last 15 February 2011.

Questioned by MEPs, the Commissioner Reding showed her commitment to “concrete actions” for children’s rights. Among issues discussed were the coordination between EU external and internal policies on child trafficking, the lack of reliable data, the absence of a strategy on child poverty, a focus on the most vulnerable children and the mainstreaming of gender in European Commission’s child rights agenda.

The MEP Alliance for Children is assisted with a supervisory role of UNICEF and CRAG – the Child Rights Action Group of which Terre des Hommes is a member. The initiative has enabled the commitment of MEPs to children’s rights, the creation of a forum for exchange on different parliamentarians’ work on child rights within the European Parliament, as well as within the Council, the Commission and NGOs.