"Doers should start speaking, and speakers should start doing" – this was the key message of the conference organised by Eurochild “Children's Rights Matter: Why Europe needs to invest in children” in Brussels on 5-7 July 2016.
Experts, policy makers dealing with social and economic rights, as well as children and young people themselves discussed the rights of children in the context of challenges to economic and financial stability.
“The return on investment into children’s rights by far overweighs the potential costs of fixing in future what has gone wrong. So, it is not only socially, but also economically beneficial to invest into children,” said Gianluca Esposito, Head of Equality and Human Dignity Department of the Council of Europe.
The event participants discussed the involvement of children and young people in decision-making and in the budget processes, integration of refugee children, and informing children of their rights.
The event was held under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen of the Belgians.