“We have had various commitments made by the President of the Republic on the central place of childhood policy. But that does not translate into concrete actions“, deplores Friday December 27 on franceinfo, Corentin Bailleul, head of the advocacy and programs division for Unicef France. The absence of a Ministry of Children in the new Bayrou government is proof of this according to him.
This cause “is the great forgotten“, deplored Thursday, December 26 in a press release the Dynamics for the Rights of the Child which brings together 27 organizations, including Unicef. Last June, Emmanuel Macron declared during a press conference: “We must act for ourselves, our children, in a much stronger and much clearer manner, carrying out a real revolution in public action for children and young people, from the first 1,000 days to 20 years old. We need to rebuild our child welfare system. It is a real national policy that needs to be built.“
For this, insists Corentin Bailleul, “we need a global strategy for children that is ambitious, coherent, supported by a minister who has the means to do it, who has a central place in government“He underlines that France had between May 2022 and December 2024, three delegated ministers or secretaries of state for Children. “This harms the continuity of public action” because “a certain number of strategies have been suspended and this has consequences on children“.
Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Labor, Health, Solidarity and Families, addressed the issue of child protection during her transfer of power to the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, December 24. However, this does not reassure the head of the advocacy and programs division for Unicef France. “It's a mega ministry. So, we fear that this question will be downplayed or neglected.” while “resources are insufficient“.
Corentin Bailleul calls for “a new impetus” car “a number of major topics around child protection” must “be led by a full minister“. He recalls that each year, 160,000 children are victims of sexual violence, that “3 000 court decisions are not executed due to lack of resources” allocated by the departments. It also emphasizes that “the housing crisis affects children. 2 000 children are on the streets today, 40 000 live in emergency accommodation“.
Finally, this representative of Unicef France evokes the situation in Mayotte where “half of the population is under 18 years old“. After the passage of Cyclone Chido, “we must adapt the emergency response and in particular the situation of children“. For that, “we must also weigh in on interministerial arbitrations“.
The head of the advocacy unit at Unicef France believes that the Interministerial Committee for Children, created in 2022, “was an interesting initiative“but he doesn't”has not met since November 2023“. Unicef France will launch in 2025.”a call for a major citizens' convention around childhood“. The children's rights association also calls for opening the right to vote from the age of 16 for the 2026 municipal elections.
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