'The well-being of a nation and a community can only truly be measured by looking at the situation of its children,’ said Tibor Navracsics, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Public Administration and Justice at the conference ‘Rights of Sick Children’, which was held on Tuesday at the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner.

Mr Navracsics pointed out that apart from public holidays, everyday life is centred on adult society, and children are left out of political discourse; yet when talking about children’s rights, we are also talking about matters of the deepest personal.

Mr. Navracsics said, ‘After entering government, we made it a primary objective to deal with the situation of children and ensure their legal status. Therefore, for us one of the major topics of European integration is promoting the protection of children. The Hungarian Presidency would like to enact not only legislative measures, but also community-building measures.’

He underlined that ‘Our fundamental conviction is that European integration is only meaningful when it contributes to the freedom, welfare and security of people, since the European Union, beyond its community objectives, gives priority to individuals as well. The well-being of a nation and a community can only truly be measured by looking at the situation of its children.’

The Minister for Public Administration and Justice reminded his audience that Hungary has organised numerous conferences in connection with children's rights, one of the recent ones being an event jointly held with the Missing Children Europe organisation, where they discussed how the search for missing children could be made more effective.

Mr. Navracsics highlighted that the struggle for children's rights was not started by Hungary, and the next country holding the EU presidency will need to continue it just as we have, because only thus will our work have made any sense.

‘The well-being of children is an important task in politics, but cannot replace a loving family,’ said the Deputy Prime Minister, adding that we are only able to promote the emotional security of children, not enforce it. He said that the Government has enacted several measures aimed at creating emotional and financial stability within families, as well as creating incentives to start a family.

Mr. Navracsics called attention to the need for the help of NGOs, because whatever ideological conflicts there may be between parties, the welfare of children and enhancement of their safety should always be a common goal. The Deputy Prime Minister asked everyone to strengthen the alliance which cares about children and their rights. It is important to integrate into existing laws the provision that in the course of a prosecution for abuse, a child should not be allowed to repeatedly become a victim.

(kormany.hu)