‘Children’s rights should be safeguarded during the pandemic’

Children’s rights should be safeguarded during the pandemic, Member of the European Parliament Josianne Cutajar said.

She said access to education should remain a priority, despite students moving to online schooling. Cutajar also said that children in vulnerable situations have been affected greatly.

“There’s also poverty among children,” Cutajar said, adding that there are other aspects of children’s health which need to continue to be safeguarded. These include online abuse and digital literacy.

She said it is essential that we see children recover from the psychological effects that the pandemic has left on them in a concrete way.

The European Parliamentary group Renew said that children’s interests should always be first priority in the European Union’s policies. 100 million children currently live in the European Union. This means that one in five people living in the EU are children.

The quality of life of these children is at risk because of this pandemic. The political party group said that there could be a disproportionate and devastating impact on children, especially those who live in vulnerable and precarious situations or in poverty. Because of the pandemic, many children are facing violence or abuse. Their physical or emotional health is going backwards.