ENOC represented at the UN Annual Day meeting on the Rights of the Child

12 March 2015

On 12 March 2015, the Human Rights Council (HRC) celebrated the 2015 annual day on the rights of the child. This year, the main focus of the one-day meeting was “Towards Better Investment in the Rights of the Child. The need for a child rights based approach” This was also one of the rare occasions when ENOC, represented by Mr. Marc Dullaert, ENOC Chair-elect and Dutch Ombudsman for Children, had the chance to address the HRC. Highlighting the effects of budgetary cuts across Europe, he noted that the cuts have damaged the availability and accessibility of essential social and other services and programmes provided to children and families, and especially to vulnerable children as the most dependent on them. Mr. Dullaert expressed concerns and regreted that the competent European Institutions and the International Monetary Fund failed to conduct impact assessments of their economic policies, insisting on the fact that one in five children in Europe are now at risk of poverty, which has impacted on their access to food, education, health, and other relevant areas.

Related news: 

• Report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Towards better investment in the rights of the child“
• ENOC 2014 position statement “Children and Austerity“