A rights-based approach is necessary to address the impact of high energy prices on children

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent significant rises in the cost of living, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has deepened the financial and economic crises already being experienced in Europe.

According to UNICEF, the cost of living crisis has driven an additional 4 million children across Europe and Central Asia into poverty, a 19% increase since 2021.

It is beyond dispute that unfettered and unmitigated energy price rises risk pushing more children into poverty and social exclusion, and those children already in poverty into destitution. The short and long-term consequences to individuals and to society will be devastating. Living in poverty does not simply affect children’s experience during childhood, it also frequently serves to curtail the life chances available to them as adults feeding the relentless cycle of intergenerational poverty and undermining social cohesion.

Poverty is the most significant human rights issue facing children across ENOC.

In a statement published on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty – 17 October 2022 – ENOC calls for a rights based approach to urgently tackle the impact of high energy prices on the realisation of children’s rights.

The statement puts forward eight concrete, actionable, rights based, recommendations calling on European and national authorities to endorse, implement and support each of them.

• Read the full statement HERE.