European entities ensure that all the countries of the Union work in favor of children's rights

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The general director of Child Care and Adolescence, Ester Cabanes, and the director of the Children's Platform, Ricardo Ibarra, during their speech. Source: Taula del tercer sector.

Even so, from PINCAT they warn that the increase in violence and mental health problems threaten the rights of children in our home.

The Faculty of Social Education and Social Work of the Pere Tarrés Foundation - Ramon Llul University of Catalonia last week hosted the Social Europe Debate ' A new impetus to local and European action in defense of children's rights ', organized by the Table of Third Social Sector of Catalonia and DIPLOCAT , in collaboration with Eurochild .

The day consisted of two reflection panels, the first of which revolved around the global and community perspectives of children's rights in the European Union . During the debate, the head of the Social Policy Unit of the Directorate-General for Labour, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission , Jiri Svarc , was optimistic about the situation of children's rights, assuring that " it is a matter in which all states are working to a greater or lesser degree."

With regard to the Catalan and state situation in this matter, the general director of Child and Adolescent Care of the Department of Social Rights of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Ester Cabanes , assured that "the launch must be celebrated of the State Action Plan for the Implementation of the European Child Guarantee , since this measure means that, for the first time, childhood is put on the table of all governments, at all levels".

For his part, the director of the Children's Platform , Ricardo Ibarra , recalled that the Child Guarantee Plan "is not the solution to everything and that, when its funding ends, we will have to change methodologically how we act towards child poverty , realizing that we must be very ambitious and start working on prevention , rather than eradication".

To close the first table, UNICEF Europe and Central Asia's child protection specialist , Stela Grigoras , focused on how days like 'A new impetus to local and European action in defense of children's rights childhood' represent "a very important investment in our future , both at European and international level".

Children's rights, pending subject in Catalonia

During the day, the report on children's rights in Catalonia by the Children's Platform in Catalonia ( PINCAT ) was also presented , which reveals that Catalonia is at the bottom of Europe in terms of poverty data and social exclusion of childhood .

The technical manager of PINCAT, Judit Calabria, set out some of the main conclusions of the report that the Platform has updated two years after its original publication, in 2021, and which, as Calabria explained, "evidence the worsening of the rights of children and adolescents in almost all areas that are worked on".

According to PINCAT, one of the most worrying indicators in the report is the serious increase in violence data . In fact, in the last two years, cases of violence involving minor victims have increased by 106% . Added to this data is another very worrying one, which is that sexual violence towards children has increased by 51.3% in the period between 2016 and 2021.