Children’s Rights in Europe in the Aftermath of Covid-19

On June 29, The Children’s Rights Alliance organised a webinar aimed at discussing a range of different issues regarding Covid-19’s effect on the lives of children. Amongst others, speakers included Professor Aoife Nolan, who presented on protecting children’s rights in the aftermath of Covid-19, and Professor Helen Stafford, who covered the EU perspective of protecting children.

Professor Nolan highlighted that although children are not the face of this pandemic, they risk being among its biggest victims. At best, the rapidly evolving situation will continue to affect children in general, and aggravate the situation of disadvantaged groups, as the crisis exacerbates previous inequalities. Reduced access to food, rising deprivation in households, increases in domestic violence, impacts of poor housing, and losses in child learning due to school closures and digital exclusion are amongst the factors that explain the disproportionate impact on socially vulnerable children.

The Professor argued that many rights established under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child have been challenged. Besides the most immediate ones, such as the right to adequate housing and education, others such as family rights, right to play and rights of children in care have also been threatened. Although the UN Committee “recognizes that in crisis situations international human rights law exceptionally permits measures that may restrict the enjoyment of certain human rights to protect public health”, such restrictions should necessarily be proportional and kept to a minimum. The Committee also defends that states’ actions should reflect the principle of the best interests of the child. The Professor remarked that it is not clear how the Committee will assess compliance, and that meanwhile domestic and international accountability instruments should be refined. In addition, she called for a progressive move from a reactive stance to a post-Covid policy design.

Professor Stafford highlighted that protecting the rights of the child is a key feature of EU action, which is supported by a robust institutional architecture, which includes legislative, political and organisational building blocks. In response to the crisis, EU policies included a €20 billion package to support humanitarian effort to external regions, a €750 billion “rescue-fund” for internal economic support and a proposed Child Guarantee Fund due to be adopted in 2021. The latter covers five key areas (free healthcare, free education, free childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition), and has four key target groups (children in poverty, children in institutions, migrants and refugees and children with special education needs and disabilities). The panellist remarked that once the funding has been guaranteed, the remaining challenges include making sure that they reach children where and when they need the most and optimising cross-national collaborations.

The Covid-19 pandemic had an immediate and profound impact on the early years and school-age sector. In the aftermath of the crisis, Early Childhood Ireland’s advocacy work will be based on reclaiming children’s rights to education and care within a framework of improving services.