Photo credit: Vincent Reynaud-Lacroze
On the occasion of Universal Children's Day, the Groupe Enfance, of which Aide et Action is a member, organised a webinar on 19 November 2020 on the theme "10 years before the end of the Sustainable Development Goals, which policies for an effective implementation of children's rights at the international level?
In 2015, more than 193 States made a joint decision to build a more just and sustainable world by 2030, where everyone's rights would be guaranteed. These same States took as their roadmap 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on gender equality, hunger, health, decent work and education... The achievement of these Sustainable Development Goals is of course linked to the achievement of human rights, and more particularly the rights of the child.
Children's rights: an unfinished agenda
However, 31 years after the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), it is clear that these rights are still far from being fully implemented. " To give just one example, one child in six is not in school. The situation is even worse when we look at areas of conflict, fragility, or when other factors of discrimination are added, such as gender: nearly one girl under the age of 18 is married every 2 seconds. By 2030, if nothing changes, 150 million underage girls will be married "insists Michelle Perrot, Director of Advocacy at the NGO Plan, in charge of facilitating the webinar organised on the occasion of Universal Children's Day 2020 by the Children's Group. A group that brings together 19 NGOs, associations and collectives - including Aide et Action - united for the defence and promotion of children's rights in France and internationally.
A webinar to better take into account the rights of the child
For this day-event dedicated to children's rights, the Groupe Enfance wanted to reflect on the question: "10 years before the end of the MDGs, which policies for an effective implementation of children's rights? The objective was to remind France to take into account children's rights in its international policies and actions and to look around Europe to see how our neighbours are dealing with these issues.
Taking inspiration from our neighbouring countries
The Children's Group therefore gathered around a virtual table Valérie Carlier from the Belgian Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Iris Abraham, Member of the Cabinet of Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President for Democracy and Demography at the European Commission, in charge of children's rights and Aagje K. Ieven Secretary General of Missing Children Europe, Co-Chair of the informal Children's Rights Action Group.
Valérie Carlier spoke about Belgium's commitment to ending the involvement of children in armed conflict. Iris Abraham spoke about the work of the European Commission in developing a strategy on the rights of the child and the importance of involving children in the development of public policies concerning them. Finally, Aagje K. Ieven, presented the recommendations for internal and external policies of each country in the field of children's rights to work at local, national and international level.
The Children's Group presented its recommendations
Following these different interventions, Michelle Perrot, on behalf of the Children's Group, presented the Group's recommendations for a better consideration of the rights of the child. In particular, she asked that children's rights be taken into account in France's international policy (especially in the framework of the Solidarity and Development Act (ex-LOPDSI)), that public officials and state operators be made aware of and trained in the children's rights approach, and that France's contribution to the realisation of children's rights in its international policy be made visible, especially by setting up a tool to track the public development aid budgets dedicated to children's rights.
To this end, the Groupe Enfance announced that it would carry out a study entitled "Which tool for a better consideration of children's rights in international policy", the conclusions of which will be shared before the end of 2021. The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and its operator, the French Development Agency, were able to respond to these requests in the person of Anne-Charlotte Dommartin, Delegate for relations with civil society and partnerships at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. She spoke about the adoption by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs of a human rights and development strategy and its forthcoming operational implementation. She also insisted on the interest that the Ministry had in the studies and tools developed by the Groupe Enfance for a better effectiveness of children's rights, for example its white paper on training in the rights-based approach to children or its Checklist to better integrate children's rights into humanitarian and development projects.
