Children should have special place in EU Aid policy: Kinnock

The fact that over 80% of the world's children live in the developing world with a poor quality of life is the reason Europe “should take positive action”, according to Glenys Kinnock. The long-serving British Labour Member was speaking about a report adopted by parliament Thursday.

“We have the political commitments on paper but now we need to translate that into some very positive action likely to ensure that we'll do more to improve the quality of life of millions of children,” Mrs Kinnock said.
 
The MEP - who has represented a Welsh constituency since 1994 - told us of her personal experience inspecting EU aid projects: “Women I spoke to recently in Tanzania said to me they can only give their children one meal a day, those children are physically and intellectually damaged by not having proper nutrition.”
 
She also voiced concern about the effect the economic crisis was having in developing countries, where social development programmes are being hit. “You see a lower investment in health care, medicine, education which all has a huge effect on children.”
 
The report calls for:

• Free basic education.
• More food distribution and social welfare services.
• A halt to child labour.
• The participation of children in decisions about their future.

The latter point is particularly important for Mrs Kinnock who said that “children are not small adults, they have views and opinions of their own; on the environment, the nutrition they receive and the education they receive”.
 
If they are denied the right to participate, “it’s a serious loss for everybody” as they “bring the ideas of a huge proportion of population in the developing world”. Mrs Kinnock urges leaders to listen to them “and that includes presidents and prime ministers”.