3mn French children in poverty: UNICEF
More than three million children in France, a fifth of their total population, live below the poverty line, a new UN report says.
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in a report released on Tuesday revealed that around 30,000 children in France are homeless while 9,000 live in slums and 140,000 drop out of school each year.
“Our report is an alarm bell that should encourage authorities to take urgent and more efficient actions to improve the life of every child,” said Michèle Barzach, the president of UNICEF in France.
Children face the brunt of economic inequalities with “disastrous consequences for their future and that of society,” Barzach added.
"We know that they are paying the heaviest price for the economic crisis because poverty greatly hinders their development, makes them vulnerable in the long-term and puts their future in danger," the report said.
The UNICEF report also highlighted the “unacceptable” living conditions of thousands of migrant children in France, who are “deprived of their fundamental rights”. It said migrant children were most often the victims of discrimination and major rights violations.
Moreover, Genevieve Avenard, children rights’ officer, told Press TV that “In 2009 the UN committee for children’s rights has asked France to provide detailed figures on states of children in France ... the big picture is missing, that’s serious because no one knows about how big the problem is and therefore there are no proper solutions and these children keep suffering.”
“These children don’t have the decent quality of life, they can’t pursue their education at schools to play and grow in proper conditions that’s the first effect of the economic crisis inside a family,” she said.
“The second effect takes place in schools, there are only 1200 doctors at schools to prevent serious problems over France, that’s the result of budget cuts,” she added.
From 2008 to 2012, 440,000 additional children with their families fell into poverty in France, according to the report, handed to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.
MRA/NN/HRB
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