Dear President Coleiro-Preca, Director Ivankovic, colleagues and friends,
I recently spoke at a conference organised by AGE Platform, on equality for older persons. In that contribution, I said that experiences of social exclusion and inequality in old age are not determined by simply reaching a certain age, but by the structural, social and cultural contexts encountered throughout an individual’s life. If a person has not enjoyed equal rights and opportunities in earlier stages of life, these disadvantages will accumulate and lead to restrictions on the enjoyment of rights in later stages of their life.
This is one of the reasons why I was happy to accept the invitation to speak at this conference, which is not only timely and necessary, but is also packed with rich workshops, showing off good practice from across the EU. I would like to congratulate Eurochild on its ambition with this programme; I have no doubt we will all leave Malta both better informed and re-invigorated in our work.
The access to equal rights, freedoms and protections afforded to children and young people lays the foundations for the journey their lives will take. My agency, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, or FRA, collects data to highlight gaps, unmet needs and progress in this respect. It then uses such data to provide evidence-based socio-legal advice to the EU and Member States, so that they may design and implement effective and targeted measures to ensure the protection of and promotion of fundamental rights.
I recognise that I am in a room of peers; and am therefore aware that you all understand the challenges we face. In 2022, 24.7% of children in the EU lived in households at risk of poverty or social exclusion - this is around 20 million children. Notably, this is an increase of 1.6 million children compared to data collected before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over the last few years, FRA published a number of bulletins on the fundamental rights implications of the pandemic. One of the main results was unsurprising: that not all groups in society were affected equally. As with most crises, people in particularly vulnerable circumstances or environments felt a heavier, compounded impact. This holds true for older persons, disabled persons and, significantly, children.
When we place an intersectional lens over these affected groups, the situation deteriorates further. Children with disabilities were prevented from not only learning but also accessing key therapies and supports; children living in poverty missed out on school meals, and Roma children often had no way of accessing distance learning. In this last case, our data showed that 80% of Roma children in Eastern and Southern European countries had no access to computers or the internet, which illustrates the scale of the exclusion.
The indisputable protection of fundamental rights can often be the first thing diluted in efforts to combat crises, especially for those groups in society already on precarious ground. The pandemic was one such example, but there are many more. Take, for instance, the ongoing cost of living crisis. This year’s Fundamental Rights Report shows clearly that the impact of the crisis is not borne equally. Those already at risk of poverty, saw this risk expand to other areas such as energy, transport and access to public services.
I would like to particularly point at the situation of Roma children at being of particular risk of social exclusion and poverty. From our latest Roma survey data from 2020 we know that 83% of Roma children live in households at risk of poverty. 54% of Roma children live in a household experiencing severe material deprivation. Only 2 out of 5 Roma children (44 %) attend early childhood education and care – worryingly, this shows almost no change from 2016, when it was 42%, despite efforts made at national level. Where they do attend school, 52% of Roma children aged 6-15 are in segregated schools, where meeting and integrating with other children is impossible.
Often, fundamental rights are forsaken in the name of safety. Ukrainian children have suffered unimaginable harms, since February 2022. Though I can only speak to the children who have fled Ukraine and have come to the EU, this is no small number. As of October 2023, this came to 1.4 million children. Many of these children live in perpetual uncertainty. In their short lives, they have borne witness to a global pandemic, the violent invasion of their country, and a journey to a new country. Access to education, social welfare, health and social care, reasonable accommodations, and appropriate housing – all of these rights have fallen victim to the main goal of parents, guardians and governments, which is to make sure these children are safe.
Another persisting crisis which shines a light on concerning practices leading to exclusion is that of migration. At many borders across the EU, unaccompanied minors are detained, sometimes in isolation and often for long periods of time.
In FRA’s regular survey data collections we frequently ask persons at particular risk of harassment and discrimination about their respective experiences, including young persons from the age of 15 years onwards. We repeatedly notice that young persons are at higher risk of discrimination and harassment than older age groups.
For example, 70% of LGBITQ children between 15 and 17 years of age and 59% of young LGBTIQ adults between 18 and 24 years of age experienced at least one incident of hate-motivated harassment in the year before the survey. 23% of parents or guardians of children with African descent say that their children experienced racist harassment or bullying at school, and 10% said their child had been isolated at playtime.
We must acknowledge the impact such examples of social exclusion, poverty, discrimination and harassment has on the mental health of children and young people. In FRA’s survey on the experiences of Ukrainians entering the EU, over one third of 12-15 year olds, and over half of 16-17 year olds admitted to feeling depressed. In our recently published LGBTIQ report, one third of LGBTIQ people had considered suicide in the year before the survey. Young people, trans, non-binary and gender diverse people are most likely to have suicidal thoughts.
Despite all this, and though the reality for many remains dark, we must focus on positive practice and measures that bring change, of which we have some examples. The irreplaceable value of child participation is affirmed in the 2021 EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, through its inclusion as a key objective. The EU Commission’s efforts to find rights-based solutions through initiatives such as the EU Child Guarantee and its new Recommendation on integrated child protection systems are to be welcomed. National Child Guarantee action plans contain many concrete and effective efforts by Member States to improve the lives of children. FRA’s recently published mapping of child protection systems in all EU Member States shows that progress has been made towards more overarching child welfare and protection legislation.
However, we must do more. There is no other choice. Measures taken by the EU and Member States in recent years shows that there is the recognition that challenges remain. The presence in this room of public bodies, international organisations, civil society organisations and academics shows the passion and commitment to improvement that exists.
For my part, I can commit FRA’s support to this cause. We will be a reliable and active partner and continue to push the agenda of child protection and participation, backed up by robust data and evidence. We will continue to assist in the implementation of Commission initiatives, with the full thrust of expertise we have. We will bolster national efforts to build capacity, both in respect of data collection and implementation of child’s rights measures.
Finally, FRA will work tirelessly to break down the siloed approach to rights. Rights are too often viewed through a single lens, perhaps of age, gender, disability, or ethnicity. We must find ways to view them through the lens of the life of a person, with all the various overlapping identities that might contain. Full and free access to such rights at the earliest possible age will lay the foundations for the years to come.
I will conclude by wishing you all the very best for the next two days, and for the motivating outcomes which we will no doubt see.
Thank you
