More than one child in five lives below the poverty line and more than 42,000 are homeless: France still needs to make progress to guarantee the rights of children, in particular those of the most fragile, points out UNICEF.

Social and territorial inequalities prevent “too many children from having access to school, health or protection services”, deplores UNICEF France in a press release published this Sunday, on the occasion of the international children's rights day.

"The most vulnerable children, whether in a situation of extreme poverty, disability, victims of violence [...] struggle to see their most basic rights guaranteed," adds the organization, which is preparing a report for experts in the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Nearly 34,000 children placed in detention

In addition, France resorts to practices contrary to the principles of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, such as the administrative detention of children when families in an irregular situation are going to be deported, denounces UNICEF.

Since 2012, at least 33,786 children have been placed in detention, the vast majority of them in Mayotte and 1,460 in mainland France.

“The situation is worrying, although progress has been made.

Minors are not sufficiently protected in France.

They cannot sufficiently live their childhood life,” commented Adeline Hazan, president of Unicef ​​France.

She judges in an interview with the

Journal du Dimanche

that the confinement of children in detention centers for foreigners must be “prohibited”.

Unicef ​​recognizes improvements since 2016, the year of France's last evaluation by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

It emphasizes, for example, the development of public policies targeted at children.

In 2019, the government launched a plan to combat violence against children.

It has also put measures in place to strengthen support for the first 1,000 days of the child.

Difficulties accessing mental health

These policies are however "very scattered", which is detrimental to "their readability" and "their effectiveness", however regrets UNICEF, which calls for the creation of a Ministry for Children.

In her interview with the

JDD

, Adeline Hazan also denounces the difficulties of children's access to mental health.

"You have to wait six months to a year and a half to have an appointment in a medico-psychological center", she laments, but "the consequences are sometimes dramatic, leading to hospitalization of children or adolescents".



As for Childhood Social Assistance (ASE), “there are more and more children” entrusted to it “but the average cost of care is decreasing, and with it the quality of reception “, she points.

Company

Placed children: Child welfare "unable to protect children with dignity"

Health

Rich countries endanger children around the world, warns UNICEF

  • Company

  • Rights

  • Unicef

  • Child