More than 150 delegates from across 42 European countries were in Malta this week to tackle the urgent issues of child poverty and social inclusion as part of the Eurochild Network Convention.
The Eurochild convention is returning to Malta after 17 years and is a recognition of the great efforts of the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society in championing children's rights.
Eurochild - the largest network of children's rights organisations in Europe, representing 211 organisations and individuals working with and for children - is presided by MFWS founder and chair Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.
"Child poverty is very real and our goal is to provide tangible input to European decision-makers to address the obstacles that trample on their rights to food, an education, access to health and safe environment, among others," Coleiro Preca said.
"You cannot have sustainable communities as long as child poverty persists - this merely leads to conflict."
The two-day convention, which opened on Tuesday, was addressed by Prime Minister Robert Abela, Children's Rights Minister Michael Falzon, UN Special Representative of the Secretary General Najat Maalla, as well as EU representatives and the Eurochild Children's Council.
Speaking ahead of the convention, which coincided with Eurochild's 20th anniversary and MFWS' 10th anniversary, Coleiro Preca said it will "reaffirm the legacy of our founders, which brings us together for a common purpose: to defend and safeguard children's human rights across Europe. We do this with pride by also drawing inspiration from the children themselves".
"The wars raging in Europe are leaving thousands of our future generation dead, maimed, hungry or orphaned. Climate change, domestic violence and poverty are also depriving so many hundreds of children from a sustainable future. Through this convention we hope we can amplify children's voices to drive the change; through shared experiences and best practices we can be strong together," Coleiro Preca continued.
Malta, she added, has made great strides in child participation and while this was an opportunity for the island to showcase its best practices in its work with vulnerable child communities, there still remained a lot of investment and work to be done.
This collaborative event will also shed light on the transformative power of early childhood development in breaking the intergenerational cycle of disadvantage. In fact, the Early Childhood Development Association offered also targeted expertise during the conference.
During the past two days the outgoing Eurochild Children's Council handed over their mandate to the new council for the next two years.