Child Rights Manifesto / Vote for Children
#VoteforChildren is a coalition campaign seeking for children’s issues to top the agenda for the 2024 European elections.
Every 5 years the leadership in the EU institutions changes. EU citizens have the opportunity to vote for Members of the European Parliament. New leaders in the European Commission and European Council are appointed. As Eurochild advocates for the political prioritisation of children’s rights, these are important moments to secure new champions to the child rights cause.
To deliver for all children throughout the 2024-2029 European Parliament legislature, we ask candidates to commit to:
- Promote and protect the rights of all children, regardless of their nationality, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language, sexual orientation, migration status, disability or any other circumstance or condition, throughout both internal and external EU legislative processes, funding decisions and debates.
- Secure solid governance in the European Parliament which works for children by strengthening the mandate of the European Parliament Child Rights Coordinator and re-establishing the Intergroup on Children’s rights among others.
- Request a child rights impact assessment on any new legislative proposal and support legislation that guarantees a positive impact for children.
- Secure a child-centered EU budget, which invests in all children as part of current and future EU internal and external funding instruments and ensure the European Commission tracks and reports on child rights related expenditures.
- Call on the European Commission to renew its commitment to prioritize children’s rights, by ensuring strong governance on children’s rights, reviewing the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, and making sure it is effectively implemented through EU and national action plans that are adequately resourced and monitored.
- Ensure that the fight against child and family poverty remains a political priority for the European Parliament by supporting the proper funding, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the European Child Guarantee.
- Invest time and resources to facilitate meaningful, inclusive, and safe participation of children in all EU legislative processes and debates which concern them and guarantee the EU Children’s Participation Platform is systematically used in European Parliament policymaking.
Commit to become a Child Rights Champion in your next mandate and sign the Manifesto
Want to know more?
Read the press release about the campoaign maunch event at the European Parliament
Visit childrightsmanifesto.org
#EuropeKidsWant:
Eurochild, ChildFund Alliance, Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages, and UNICEF consulted children on the issues that matter most to them ahead of the elections. More than 9K children aged 10 to 18 across the European Union answered the survey.
Read the full report and the executive summary
The campaign is run by an alliance of more than 20 organisations which are members of the Children’s Rights Action Group (CRAG).
2019 EU Elections
For the 2019 European Parliament elections, several CRAG members collaborated in the VoteforChildren campaign. More than a hundred MEPs committed to breaking cycles of inequality, investing in children and listening to children’s voices. As a result, 1 in 7 of the new Parliament became a Child Rights Champion. The Child Rights Intergroup was renewed for the mandate and joined by 99 MEPs.
Also in 2019, Eurochild launched a petition to gather signatures to establish a Commissioner for Children in the next mandate of the European Commission 2019-2024. The campaign raised debate and attention among media, civil society and EU policy experts. Finally a Vice-President was appointed with a responsibility for leading the development of a comprehensive strategy on the rights of the child.
2014 EU Elections
The CRAG co-authored and launched the Child Rights Manifesto. It invited candidate Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to sign-up to championing children’s rights in EU policies, funding and legislation. Over 90 of the declared ‘Child Rights Champions’ were elected as MEPs. Many joined the first Child Rights Intergroup, a cross-party, a cross-national group of committed parliamentarians, who worked together with the CRAG to keep children’s rights on top of the EU agenda.
Contacts
Ally Dunhill, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Communications, Eurochild