As soon as you have been watching the news today, you will know that UNICEF has submitted a report analyzing the situation of children in Spain. The document urges politicians and social agents to place childhood as a priority, taking into account its present value, and its role in the construction of the society of the future.
In the video that heads the post, we listen to a 16-year-old girl who expresses very clearly her vision of the critical situation that families with children experience. I especially like when he says something like 'whoever legislates should think before and empathize with the population', I totally agree with her. According to data from Caritas Europe earlier this year, Spain is the second country in the European Union with the highest rates of child poverty. This is not new, since we already knew from the Report Card last year, that we have the most dubious honor of being part of the industrialized countries with greater child population in a situation of social vulnerability.
In the aforementioned report, it is clear that poverty still has a child's face. In addition, its incidence is more widespread and more severe and intense in childhood than in the rest of the population. And analyzing the data by type of household, the trend is confirmed: 'households with children are significantly poorer than average and households without children'
According to INE data, 27.5% of children (2.3 million) are at risk of poverty in our country1. This poverty rate has among its causes the number of households with children with all unemployed adults, which has tripled since 2007 and is already close to one million. Too the percentage of children suffering from severe material deprivation has increased: from 5.5% in 2008 it has gone to 8.3%.
What value does childhood have in our country?
The demographic evolution joins the situation of poverty and inequality. The INE data estimate that our country will lose 2.6 million inhabitants in 10 years and there will be almost one million fewer children under 10 years old. Precisely the policies that promote birth are related to those that facilitate better conditions for children and their families. Y a country with more children is, among other things, a more sustainable country.
If we continue like this, two things can happen: there will be fewer and fewer children, or the country will definitely be broken by the inequality gap. The changes must pass through the social and political consensus that allows a new approach focused on the well-being of people and more strategic with respect to children.
A State Pact for Children
That has already been raised since last year by various organizations and social platforms. 'As in its day, the Toledo Pact shielded the rights of our elders, it is necessary to complete that attempt by shielding the rights of the other sector of the population that has no resources of its own: childhood. And today we present concrete proposals for that pact'.
The fight against child poverty and for the social inclusion of children, including measures such as establishing a universal help for dependent children, review and improve all aid and bet on inclusive and accessible public services.
The commitment to a inclusive and quality education, which includes measures against dropping out and school failure, is committed to regulatory stability and the educational model, guarantees school support, book scholarships and dining room to those who need it, the protection of the economic resources allocated to education and the inclusive approach of the system, including the promotion of access to education for children from 0 to 3 years.
General elements, which would affect the legislative changes necessary to improve the situation of children, the promotion of children's participation, make visible and protect children in budgets or improve the coordination of policies and services aimed at children between different administrations .
The State Pact must also include a mechanism that establishes goals, indicators and monitoring processes that allow measuring and evaluating the progress made.
With the report presented today begins a work process whose objective is the achievement of the pact, in which you want to involve, in addition to children and families, political parties and other institutions, social organizations, unions, businessmen and society in general The proposal of the Covenant is open to the support and contributions of citizens Through this web page.
Full Report |  The social value of children: towards a State Pact for Children in Sins and More | Poverty and social exclusion of children should be approached from a child rights approach. The reality of hunger and child undernutrition in Spain is called to the United Nations
