Debate: Creation of a European initiative for an annual designation of European capitals for children
Date: WEDNESDAY, 13 MARCH 2024
Speaker: Dubravka Šuica
Language: EN

When it comes to children, I want to make the point that they are our agents of change. Throughout my mandate, children have made it clear to me that they are engaged citizens and eager to participate in their democracy. Equally, making children’s rights a reality in all dimensions must take place at all levels of governance. This includes the local level, the cities, the regions. This is where we can see how we can make a difference in children’s daily lives. The European Union continues to put children’s rights at the heart of its efforts. Just three years after its adoption, the Commission has delivered on the commitments to turn the Strategy on the Rights of the Child into action. It is about empowering local and regional actors to cover all dimensions of children’s rights. Everything from health and social inclusion to services and protection against violence. I would like to single out one key issue that we have collectively tried to address together throughout this mandate, and it is child poverty. In the European Union, one in five children is affected by poverty and socioeconomic exclusion. Many of these children live in cities, it is not only in rural areas. When it comes to the implementation of the European Child Guarantee, our key instrument to tackle child poverty, cities play a crucial role in delivery of services such as early childhood education and care, education, including school-based activities and healthy lunches, and also housing, which is a key problem in Europe nowadays. So it is essential to continue investing in children. It is essential to fully implement the European Child Guarantee. Also in the next mandate, child poverty in the European Union must be eradicated once and for all. Cities are key actors in democracy. The participation of children in political and democratic life is a right, it is also a necessity to make our democracies more resilient from within – it’s not only from outside. So children want and they have the rights to be included in developing solutions to their problems. They want to be involved in decisions at home, at school, in their cities, regions, countries, but also at the European level. That is why we have launched the European Union Children’s Participation Platform, together with children, civil society organisations and the European Parliament. I also want to thank the Intergroup for children because we really cooperate, this is very good collaboration.  We, therefore, learnt about your initiative to establish a European capital for children with interest. In this vein, we also need to recall that any initiative involving children needs to be comprehensive. As you are probably aware, similar ideas have been developed at the European Union level. For example, the very successful European Capital of Culture, European Capital of Democracy – the European Capitals of Inclusion and Diversity Award also recognises the role that cities and local authorities play in fostering diversity and inclusion. The objectives that you set out with this initiative are at the heart of some existing funding schemes. The European Commission Citizens Equality, Rights and Values programme fosters children’s engagement and participation. It also supports citizens’ engagement and participation in the policymaking process. Civil society and international organisations have developed initiatives that aim at supporting cities in becoming more attuned to children’s needs, and empowering children in voicing their ideas. For example, a Child Friendly Cities Initiative has been led by UNICEF with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1996. All these initiatives require a thorough and complex process of preparation and management. This would also require exploring all existing mechanisms which could already support such an initiative as the European capital for children. I will end now here, listen to your remarks and then, in the end, I will express our position.