The commitments taken by member States with respect to the European Social Charter and other Council of Europe conventions must be perceived and implemented with even greater intensity and attention when it comes to tackle poverty and homelessness of children, emphasised Giuseppe Palmisano, President of the European Committee of Social Rights, at the ceremony marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October.
The ceremony was organised by the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe in the presence of Jean-Baptiste Mattéi, Permanent Representative of France to the Council of Europe and Anna Rurka, President of the Conference of INGOs, as well as members of the Secretariat of the Council of Europe.
In addition, school children from Strasbourg read messages sent by other children living in poverty or in extremely precarious conditions, some of them demanding European countries to take action. Because, as pointed out by Jan Malinowski, Head of the Department of the European Social Charter, poverty and homelessness are not a fatality and have to be addressed.
- Speech by Giuseppe Palmisano, President of the European Committee of Social Rights (in French)
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