According to a Unicef study, the results of which were published this Tuesday, one in five children in France eats less than three meals a day. Faced with this, the UN organization urges the French government to act urgently to protect the rights of children and guarantee their development.
Child protection in the sights of Unicef. According to the results of a consultation carried out among 20,000 young people aged 6 to 18 by the UN organization, one in five children do not eat three meals a day in France and more than one in four have suffered physical violence from from other children. Faced with this, Unicef announces the creation of a child rights observatory.
“A deep feeling of exclusion among these children”
Concretely, 16.2% of children and adolescents surveyed claim to experience material deprivation and 25.7% difficulty accessing knowledge, as indicated in the consultation, the results of which were published this Tuesday, on the eve of International Children's Rights Day.
Some 7.3% say they never spend time with friends outside of home and school, 10.9% cannot have a party for their birthday or other event and 7.1% can never invite friends to where they live.
“These deprivations, often cumulative, generate a deep feeling of exclusion among these children and adolescents, who feel constrained by a deviation from the norm, without necessarily being plunged into absolute distress,” specifies UNICEF.
In detail, 22.8% of the children surveyed eat less than three meals a day, 11.9% only eat meat, fish or an egg (or the protein equivalent) once a week (or less often). ). And 11% eat fruits and vegetables only once a week (or less often).
“Protection gap”
But the UN organization raises another point, the “protection gap”. In total, 31.3% of young participants said they had already suffered insults, hurtful teasing, or verbal violence, whether from other children or adults.
Even more worrying, more than one child in four has suffered physical violence from other children or adolescents (30%) and more than one child in ten is affected by violence committed by adults (13.1 %).
This is not without consequences for these young people. Of all the children over 13 interviewed by Unicef, 30.6% revealed that they had already thought about suicide, and 6.2% said they had had sexual intercourse when they were not. They didn't want it.
Creation of a child rights observatory
Faced with this worrying observation, Unicef is urging the government to act “urgently to protect the rights of children and guarantee their development in a fairer society”.
At the same time, the organization announces the creation of a child rights observatory, a digital platform centralizing “reliable statistics” on this issue, in particular to enable the development of “more effective” public policies for the most vulnerable. young people.
