We pray for young people who are living in poverty.Young people who wake up hungry and go to bed feeling lonely.Young people who sleep on the street.Young people struggling to achieve their potential.These are your young people and we pray for them: We know you love them
Underdevelopment can have hugely negative effects on children and young people across the globe. It leads to extreme poverty and can limit access to education, health care and food. The impact on children is shocking:
- Worldwide 600 million children are living in absolute poverty
- 30,000 children die each day due to poverty
- Over 300 million children go to bed hungry every day
- The cost of eradicating world poverty is estimated at 1% of global income
Childhood poverty is a huge constraint to growth. By investing in children young people the obstacles facing developing countries can be lessened, partly by creating a healthy, educated generation that can effectively contribute to the economy. Countries need to focus budgets on the needs and the rights of children.
The UNCRC contains several articles that influence a child's ability to enjoy his or her economic rights, including the articles mentioned here. States have the obligation to do all it can to realise a child's economic, cultural and social rights (article 4). Linked to this is the right of a child to achieve an adequate standard of living. parents have primary responsibility to provide for this, but are entitled to assistence from the State when necessary under article 27. Furthermore, article 26 states a child's right to benifit from social security, including social insurance.
Dr Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England, said:
"As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child since 1990, the (British) government has made binding commitments to provide all children and young people with a standard of living that is adequate for their physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. We cannot turn away from these promises."
Earlier this year I was proud to sit in the gallery overlooking the Senedd as the debate and subsequent vote on the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure was placing a duty on Welsh Ministers to have due regard to the UNCRC in all their functions. This is a great start but with 32 per cent of children in Wales living in Poverty (Bevan Foundation, June 2009) there is a long way to go to the target of NO young people in poverty in Wales by 2020.
