It's Unthinkable That Children in Britain Can Still Go Hungry

It’s unthinkable that children in Britain can still go hungry Glenys Kinnock

Over four million children in Britain live in poverty and over a quarter of murder Glenys Kinnock, an MEP since 1994, is victims are under 16 - children's rights to a better quality of life are long overdue, Labour spokesperson on international both here and globally, says Glenys Kinnock development in the Imagine a small island with an established but physical violence or disturbing language and European Parliament. pressured agricultural base and a faltering insults, tend to under-perform at school, are She campaigns with industrial heartland. There's widespread more likely to perpetuate abuse themselves, to affluence and, on the surface, people appear fall pregnant at an early age and to resort to the Save the Children content. Deeper examination, however, drug use. And many children face abuse in the Fund on displaced produces some disturbing facts about the form of racism, from which they have little or people, and with situation of the youngest in the population: over no refuge; children as young as eight year old. Oxfam promoting a third of the children are living in relative have been subjected to racist attacks. In my basic education. poverty, over a quarter of murder victims are constituency I meet these children and young children and the only people who can legally be people and their lives have been blighted by She's chair of hit are minors. ugliness and suffering. FEWER, an It has the highest teenage pregnancy rate and Poverty for children and young people can international network highest infant mortality rate in the European mean living in crowded conditions, sharing working on conflict Union. Added to this, it has one of the highest bedrooms and being denied privacy and space to analysis and child conviction rates and 75% of the children relax. In the worst cases, children live in who leave non-parental care do so with no accommodation that is damp and ramshackle. prevention in world formal qualifications at all. Some don't get enough food to ensure they grow trouble spots and is The country is the United Kingdom. and develop properly. president and co- It's over a decade since the adoption of the UN It seems unthinkable that children in Britain founder of One World Convention on the Rights of the Child, which can go hungry, but it does happen. Whether the established basic standards for the treatment and financial pinch is because of plain poverty or Action. Her husband rights of children across the world, including parental mismanagement, children are often the Neil Kinnock is now a protecting them from discrimination, oppression ones who suffer. And if they have nowhere to European and exploitation. It's a huge achievement to have play, participate in sport or meet their friends, commissioner come this far: at the beginning of the 2Oth the message we are sending to children is that century, when the scourges of typhoid and they're not important to us. influenza were rampant and child labour was still One young girl, living on a large housing common, children were no closer to gaining estate in South Wales, said to me: 'Why don't basic rights than they were in the 17th century. we have a swimming pool here or a place to Then, the concept of childhood didn't even exist. play? Is it because there isn't enough money or Children were either invisible or regarded as because you don't care what we want?' small adults -depending on their social class. When people look for someone to blame, Even in loving homes, they were regarded as they often accuse the parents of neglecting their economic assets or liabilities. children. I believe that any policy for children The National Society for the Prevention of should acknowledge the support we must also Cruelty to Children was an instance of Victorian offer to many parents. Hardly any parents enlightenment, but it was Eglantyne Jebb, a actually choose to refuse to help their child do dynamic British woman, well at school. Some parents simply don't have who put the needs and rights of children firmly in the time, knowledge or mental energy to the public eye by establishing the Save The participate in parent teacher associations, to help Children Fund in 1919. There have obviously with homework, or to provide encouragement been great strides in the provision of free and support for a child who is being bullied. education and medicine since then, but there's still Parents themselves often lack the support, a long way to go. guidance or time to get involved with their As a teacher for 30 years, and as a mother and a children as much as they would want, or know grandmother, I feel strongly about the necessity to they should. prioritise and publicise the needs of children, and The parents of children who live in poverty I'm pursuing that cause as a member of the are often living under stress. Some - poor or not European Parliament's Children's Alliance. - Just don't understand the joys and obligations In the course of my work in the developing of parenting and are often unaware of just how world I have met many children who live with damaging their behaviour is for their children. terrible violence perpetuated by war. Yet, So, let's really think about what a 'child shockingly, over 30% of women in the UK friendly' society should actually look like. Let's experience violence from a partner, which means also ask children what they want. Let's that their children are exposed to violence, either encourage them to participate in society and let's directly or by hearing or seeing it in the home. help them to make sense of ideas like Children who live with abuse, whether it's

citizenship by asking their opinions and by listening to their responses. If they're asked, children will offer solutions. They're desperate for information, particularly about relationships, sex, drug use and their families, all of which are priorities for them. It's heartbreaking to be told: 'I want to have a better relationship with my children than my mother has with me. I admire and respect her, but we're not close.' There will be a UN Special Session in New York in September which will review the progress, or otherwise, made by the world's children. It will be a chance to consider the proof of advance, or retreat, and to specify the action needed on a range of issues including child labour, children in conflict and the devastating effect of Aids on young lives in developing countries. And this year's UNICEF report calls for a commitment to investing in a child's first three years of life. The cost savings, in the long-term, of programmes If they have nowhere to designed to provide clean water, play, participate in sport health care and basic education are enormous. or meet their friends, the There is a global commitment to message we are sending halving world poverty by 2015. to children is that they’re Any chance of achieving that not important to us depends on prioritising the provision of help for millions of youngsters whose lives are now blighted by a lack of basic services. As responsible citizens who understand the obligations of each generation to the youngest, we must apply constant pressure on government, at all levels, to ensure that the political will to bring about change is strengthened, and positive action lives up to fine declaration.