Children’s rights community gathers online for annual Eurochild General Assembly
Highlights from the 2020 Eurochild General Assembly and Member's Day
Eurochild hosted its annual General Assembly online this year on 15-16 June 2020 owing to the COVID-19 related lockdown. Almost 200 participants including the entire Eurochild Children’s Council joined the two –day online event which was chaired by H.E. Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Eurochild. This event was an occasion for the children’s rights professionals to share their challenges of continuing to run their programmes and activities during the lockdown, discuss opportunities to promote children’s rights and assess the potential of EU developments on the lives of children.
European Commission Vice-President Dubravka Suica spoke at the General Assembly sharing her vision for the upcoming EU strategy on the rights of the child. She confirmed the importance of involving children themselves in the consultation. “Great pleasure to address the Eurochild General Assembly and present our ideas about the new comprehensive EU strategy for the rights of the child. The COVID19 pandemic has not left children unharmed. We need to include them in our recovery efforts.” (Twitter)
European Commissioner Nicolas Schmit also attended a webinar the following day as part of the Members Day to discuss the European Child Guarantee. Commissioner Schmit recognised that “COVID-19 crisis has revealed and deepened existing inequalities. It has shown that investing in children is extremely valuable. The Child Guarantee will aim to ensure equal opportunities for children.” Members and the Eurochild Children’s Council were delighted to have the opportunity to speak directly with EU decision-makers and policy officials in the run up to these significant initiatives impacting children’s rights and child poverty.
New members welcomed totalling 185 Eurochild members in 35 countries
Catriona Williams OBE who is the Founding President of Eurochild and recently retired as CEO of Children in Wales, was conferred Honorary Membership for her invaluable contribution to children’s rights locally and internationally. See list of new members below:
- The Children's Human Rights Centre Albania –CRCA (Albania)
- Alliance for the Rights of the Child - ADP (Czechia)
- FICE Croatia
- Kindermitte association for social enterpreneurship and quality in early education – KINDERMITTE (Germany)
- Childproof NGO – CIPOF (Kosovo)
- Council of Institutionalised Youth – CTI (Romania)
- International Non-Governmental Organisation “International Leadership and Development Center” – ILDC (Ukraine)
- Charity Fund EDUKIDS (Ukraine)
- “Auto moto group” non-governmental organisation (Lithuania)
- Serena Virdis – Individual (Italy)
- Giovanni Giulio Valtolina – Individual (Italy)
- Fabio Cruccu – Individual (Italy)
- Florence Koenderink – Individual (United Kingdom)
- Gareth Williams-James – Individual (United Kingdom)
Following the General Assembly, Eurochild hosted a number of webinars addressing the advocacy and organisational needs and demands of the children’s rights sector. From preparing for the future EU child rights strategy and the European Child Guarantee to discussing the Childonomics methodology and early childhood development, the topics covered vast array of upcoming areas for progressing children’s rights. The Eurochild Children’s Council also hosted its own webinar on the topic of education.
Children from the Eurochild Children’s Council participated actively throughout the event. They also presented their activities over the year – including their involvement in the network’s governance meetings and participating in recruitment processes.
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You can see the visual notes created by Drawnalism, highlighting key discussions from three of these webinars on future-proofing child rights advocacy, the EU child rights strategy and the European Child Guarantee here.
Read the Annual Report for 2019 launched at the General Assembly for stories and highlights of Eurochild’s work and accomplishments.