No dia 17 de outubro, Dia Internacional para a Erradicação da Pobreza, uma representação do Instituto de Apoio à Criança esteve na Comissão de Direitos Humanos do Conselho da Europa.
Aí apresentámos o trabalho que fizémos no âmbito de um Projecto com a Rede Europeia de Acção Social (ESAN), em que recolhemos depoimentos de centenas de utentes das instituições membros da rede “Construir Juntos”. Fizémos um livro de que muito nos orgulhamos.
A nossa embaixadora, Jessica Oliveira fez uma comunicação que emocionou a audiência.
Esta foi a que fiz, a seguir…
Mrs. Annelise Oeschger, President of Human Rights Committee
Mr. Luis Quesada, President of Social Rights Committee
Dear President of European Social Action Network, Léon Dujardin
Dear Colleagues
First of all, I want to congratulate you, Mrs Annelise, for this initiative and also thank you and of course ESAN and Léon for inviting and giving us the opportunity to share our concerns in this environment of economic crisis so difficult for the most vulnerable people.
The Council of Europe is the oldest European Institution and in this International Day against Poverty is very important to us to have the possibility to be heard by so many high representatives of the most relevant bodies of the Council of Europe.
The Institute of Child Support (IAC) is a Non Governmental Organization, founded 30 years ago by the first lady of Portugal, Manuela Eanes, who is IAC’s President for large years, to promote the rights of the child, five years before the UN Convention.
IAC is now a reference on child advocacy in our country. We have sectors of work which were innovative in the complaint of violence against children: a legal support service, a Helpline “SOS Child”, which is anonymous and confidential and attended more than 120 thousands calls since its foundation in 1988. IAC was recognized like the NGO that in Portugal deals with the complaints of sexual abuse and exploitation: the European number 116000, which was created upon the European Commission Directives. IAC is a member of Missing Children Europe, the European Federation for Missing and Sexual Exploited Children.
It is interesting to stress that at International Missing Children Day, 25th May, we organize every year a great Conference about important matters. This year, we talked about Lanzarote Convention in partnership with the Council of Europe and we publicized the campaign “One in five”, with posters and leaflets. Our speaker is just our reference parliamentary for these matters here in the Council of Europe, Ms. Maria de Belém Roseira.
Another emblematic Sector of IAC is our Street Children Project, member of the European Federation for Street Children, which works with the most vulnerable children and young people. This professionals deal every day with poverty. They work always in partnership with many Associations in the field and have the great responsibility of giving hope and making the difference in the lives of the youngsters whose suffering and disappointments pushed them out of the schools and into the streets.
We work on the basis of three fundamental pillars for the development of young people: social and personal skills, education and training and working insertion. We had a very successful Project with ESAN, but now because of the crisis, our Education and Training Project has finished.
It is through this Sector that IAC has promoted the creation of a national network “Building Together”, which has now more than a hundred NGO all over the country. Initially and for two decades, IAC was the NGO in coordination, but today IAC is more a facilitator. We have projects in common, of course, and in 2010, the European Year for the Fight against Poverty and Social Exclusion, we work hard in this network. We gave special attention to Children and Young people and listen to their claims and made a notebook with their requests.
That year, the youngsters decided to found another Network: “Growing together” and there is a space of talk and thoughts, where they can express themselves in a free way.
So, when this challenge came from ESAN, we said Yes, immediately, despite having little time to organize the collection of testimonies. We have already the experience of doing that in 2000, because we had participated in another notebook with ESAN, but it is something that we must do constantly: Listening to the people and trying to be the voice of those who have difficulties to be heard.
We have testimonies of many people, hundreds of children, youngsters, man and women, old people. All of them show their thoughts, their lives, many talk about their suffering, as my colleague Isabel Porto will tell you better. Violence and poverty are the most concerning themes present in our book.
Yes, we made a book and we will make another edition in English and French to reach more solidarity.
These testimonies are very strong and show the devastated effects of the crisis. Our country is under financial assistance as you know. The troikas seem to be indifferent to the claims of people. The middle class has now many financial problems. They are losing their jobs and homes. We are seeing that the most vulnerable economies are not able to grow and pay the debts at the same time. We heard unemployed, homeless, people without sufficient incomes to provide for their families, people who have fear to lose support in health and also memories of violence and loneliness, in short, we heard desperate people. This is serious because people are starting to stop believing in Europe as a space of solidarity and undermines social cohesion.
This book is a wake-up call for the preservation of human dignity, which is the fundamental value of Europe, as a place of respect for Human Rights.
We have the hope that the Council of Europe can be the representative of the weakest before the European authorities, even European Union.
After his visit to Spain, the Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks just said the last 9th October that the austerity measures weaken Human Rights protection. The Commissioner Muizniecks stressed that “cuts in social, health and educational budgets have led to a worrying growth of family poverty in Spain”. In Portugal we feel also the same negative impact on families, in particular on children. Last year the Commissioner visited our two Centers for Young people who left or have problems in school, or with juvenile justice. He had lunch with our youngsters and listened to all of them. They enjoyed very much that great and unforgettable experience to talk with an authority in human rights and a reference all over the world in this important matter.
I would like to welcome the recent efforts to get even closer the European Union and the Council of Europe.
In this European Year for Citizens it is a good new to know about that.
In fact, we all know that wage cuts have negative impacts on the lower incomes, and without investment in education, health and employment, human rights are at risk, because poverty and social exclusion can’t be the solution to growth and cohesion.
Commissioner Lazlo Andor is also very concerned about that, so I think it is important this rapprochement between the two entities for sustainable solutions, but at the same time, “being able to reconcile economic efficiency and social equity” (Words of Commissioner Andor).
He recognized that there are great divergences in the euro area. Poverty rates have grown in the euro zone periphery, and that means the growing disparities are affecting harder the most deprived
But, we need good news in this context. While our ambassador Jessica was doing her presentation, I remembered Malala. It was a good new to know about the Sakharov Prize. The freedom of thought is a great value in Europe and Malala deserved that prize for all reasons, but is also remarkable that for the first time the prize went to a young girl.
Our NGO will continue the mission to promote Human Rights. Our Network “Building together” will remain committed in helping vulnerable people. But we need your help to spread our message. We know we can count on ESAN and also on Council of Europe.
I remember a very beautiful thought that Unicef used to write in Annual Reports for years:
“The wealth of Countries should not be measured by the size of armies, the opulence of buildings or the value of the trade, but by how countries treat their most vulnerable citizens, especially children.”
I hope that all together we can achieve this dream.
Thank you.
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