Eurochild: Italian EU Presidency awarded “above average” grade on children’s rights

Eurochild, a network of over 170 child rights organisations, awarded an “above average” grade to the Italian EU Presidency for its performance on children’s rights. The Performance Assessment responds to the extent to which the Italian presidency promoted children’s rights during its six month tenure based on four criteria: listening to children, vision and leadership for a strong children’s rights strategy, action and cooperation at EU level to fight child poverty and children’s interests in the Presidency programme.

“We award the Italian Presidency of the EU with an “above average” grade for its overall performance in promoting children’s rights. It raised the need for a roadmap on the EU Agenda on the Rights of the Child, the key guiding framework for EU member states, and sought rebalancing of economic and social priorities of the EU. However it failed to meaningfully effect change in the European Semester which will remain a challenge for future presidencies. We will be measuring the EU’s political will to realise children’s rights, not only in words but in actions.” – Jana Hainsworth, Secretary General, Eurochild.

The Italian Presidency accorded a particular attention to the mid-term review of the Europe 2020 Strategy focusing on the poverty and social exclusion target. The Presidency raised the utmost importance of striking a balance between the economic and social dimensions within the governance process. They also promoted investing in human capital as one of the strategies to achieve the targets. The Council of the European Union encouraged Member States to step up efforts in investing in children by focusing on the implementation of the Investing in Children Recommendation, and invited the Commission to develop a renewed EU Agenda for the Rights of the Child. In addition, the Council itself committed to a fundamental rights approach, as well as raising political visibility of the respect for children’s rights.

Read the Scorecard on the Italian EU Presidency in full here.

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