We are utterly disappointed at the lack of adoption of the Council Conclusions on the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 7 October 2021.

The EU Strategy for Children’s Rights is the first of its kind and sets fundamental provisions that put children at the centre, improving the promotion and protection of children’s rights across the EU.

It is absolutely unacceptable that two Member States of our Union vetoed the adoption of the Council Conclusions on such an unprecedented and crucial strategy on the basis of an overtly homophobic rhetoric, which aims to set our Union back, contravening the EU Treaties and ultimately damaging the very children it claims to protect.

LGBTIQ+ rights are human rights and thus are not negotiable as they are enshrined in the EU Treaties and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Children have the right to healthy development, freedom of expression, self-identity, inclusive education and access to justice, in full compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which both Poland and Hungary have ratified.

Therefore, we call on the European Commission, as the guardian of the Treaties, to:

• Do its utmost to ensure that EU Law is fully respected across our Union and that EU children are not held hostage by a political propaganda;
• Fully implement all actions and initiatives as laid out in the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child adopted on 24 March 2021;

We stand ready to fully support the European Commission in the next steps of the implementation of the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child.

Sincerely,

David Lega MEP, Co-Chair

Hilde Vautmans MEP, Co-Chair

Evin Incir MEP, Vice-Chair

For more information contact:

Mr. Emilio Puccio

Secretary General of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights

T: +32 (0)2  28 38456

E: emilio.puccio@ep.europa.eu |  @Childmanifesto

 @EmilioPuccio | www.childrightsmanifesto.eu