The new president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that he wants to strengthen social policies during his tenure, hence one of his first measures has been to announce that he plans to create a High Commissioner for the Fight against Child Poverty that he will personally supervise, according to The Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, has advanced.
This is how organizations like UNICEF or Save the Children are treated in their demand for concrete measures to protect children, who have been the clear losers of the (disappeared?) Economic crisis given the figures of child poverty that are currently being managed in our country . In addition to applauding that children are placed among the priorities of the political agenda, we propose seven measures by which the new president can begin to fight against child poverty.
1. Increase social protection spending
According to the Save the Children complaint, Spain has a weak social protection system for children, unlike most EU countries.
Our country only invests 1.3% of its GDP in social protection for the family and children; far from the European average of 2.4% and far from the investment of countries such as France, which spends 2.5% of its GDP or Denmark, 3.5%.
If in countries where there is no child poverty, governments spend much more money on children, how can we solve the problem if, despite the fact that one in three is at risk of poverty and exclusion, we invest less money?.
2. Create a State Pact for Children
It is a historical claim of UNICEF and the Children's Platform, organizations that have already asked Pedro Sánchez to fulfill the promises he made when he was in the opposition.
The aim is to create a State Pact for Children that includes a series of measures aimed at the fight against child poverty and for the social inclusion of children, including establishing universal assistance for dependent children, reviewing and improving all existing aid and bet on inclusive and accessible public services.
3. Caring for minorities
The most recent data reveal that 30.5% of children live in relative poverty, while 22% do so below the poverty line, figures that increase scandalously if we talk about groups like the gypsies, who represent the 2% of the Spanish population.
According to figures from the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, child poverty has a special impact on this minority, since 90% of the Roma population is below the poverty line. The solution posed by this NGO leads us to the following request: Education as a lever for change to break the circle of poverty transmission.
4. Work for a quality, equitable and inclusive education
In all European countries, the risk of poverty and social exclusion among children is strongly linked to their educational level and that of their parents. The "Lighting the future" report by Save the Children puts the focus on the importance of education as an element for a more equitable and just society:
"An equitable education is based on the fact that all people, regardless of socio-cultural and socioeconomic differences, should have equal access to the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Educational equity should serve as an instrument to compensate for differences and allow all people to enjoy of their right to education on equal opportunities. "
5. Summer school canteens for children at risk of exclusion
In families punished for unemployment, the nutritional quality of food entering the home has fallen to the point that 25% of children under 16 suffer from malnutrition.
Various organizations such as Fedaia have denounced the increasing demand of families who cannot properly feed their children. The Red Cross has requested that the summer dining grants be reinforced and Caritas supports this request as "the only guarantee for many families to feed their children in a balanced way." Now that the school year is over, thousands of children lose the only healthy food they were receiving per day. It is necessary, therefore, to extend the dining scholarships to the summer season or to supply this lack in some way or another.
6. Increase the benefit per dependent child
The vast majority of EU countries have a benefit for dependent children and their character is universal. However, in Spain the child benefit amounts to 24.25 euros per month and is not universal (only for the lowest income). According to data from Save the children, if this benefit is increased to 100 euros per month, that is 1,200 euros per year, as well as increasing the thresholds of families that receive this benefit, it would mean removing more than 630,000 children from poverty. relative and many others of severe poverty.
7. Quality employment
In the last three years we have seen how GDP can rise and unemployment figures go down while child poverty rates have remained as they were. The reason is the lack of quality employment that means that in Spain having work does not mean stop being poor.
According to the OECD in a 2016 study, "poverty has also increased, mainly due to the lack of quality employment that provides sufficient hours of paid work and adequate income." Stable work with adequate salaries and schedules that allow the care of children is one of the most pressing demands of parents.
Putting the issue of childhood on the table rather than an option is a necessity. We join the request of so many organizations for the new government to carry out effective measures to end this scourge in Spain, for example with these seven measures to start fighting child poverty.
In Babies and more Investing in childhood is investing in education, don't politicians see it or don't they care? So that no child is left in the shade: Childhood in data
