EU member states should prioritise public investment in education, healthcare, housing, family support and childcare, making sure that these services reach all children.
See In the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 10th March underlines that “a child is first and foremost a child, regardless of ethnic origin, gender, nationality or social and economic background, ability, migration or residence status”.
The text highlights the huge toll the COVID-19 crisis is having on children, further exacerbating their risk of poverty, severely affecting access to education, compromising their physical and mental health and increasing the danger of violence and abuse. MEPs urge the Commission to table, as announced, a legislative proposal to establish the European Child Guarantee in the first quarter of 2021.
Right to education
EU countries should take the necessary measures to guarantee the right of education for every child, prevent early school leaving and ensure gender-equitable access to inclusive education from early childhood, including for Romani children, children with disabilities and migrant children. “Digital education should never permanently replace in-person learning”, MEPs say, also calling to include age-appropriate information about sex and sexuality in the school curriculum.
Integration and inclusion of migrant and refugee children
The situation of children in migration both within and outside the EU must improve, MEPs claim. Focus should be put on family reunification and adequate reception conditions, removing barriers to access basic services and integration measures. The text demands member states to avoid detention of children and guarantee that unaccompanied minors benefit of legal representatives and guardians.
Fight against sexual abuse
MEPs are particularly worried about sexual abuse against children, which has increased due to the pandemic and the lockdown, while social services and protective institutions became highly inaccessible. They complain that as many as 23 EU member states have not yet implemented the 2011 directive on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography.
Concerning child sexual abuse online, the committee stresses that cooperation with law enforcement authorities and service providers is key and calls on the member states that have not yet done so to criminalise online grooming.
The resolution also calls to :
- end, in law and in practice, all child labour;
- facilitate the return of European children detained abroad for association with armed groups (such as the Islamic State) to their country of origin, and
- combat all forms of violence and exploitation, including forced marriage, trafficking, torture, honour killing, female genital mutilation, incest, forced leaving of school and the use of children as soldiers.