Publications

When schools started closing their doors due to COVID-19, countries in Europe and Central Asia quickly provided alternative learning solutions for children to continue learning. More than 90 per cent of countries offered digital solutions to ensure that education activities could continue. However, lack of access to digital devices and a reliable internet connection excluded a significant amount of already marginalized children and threatened to widen the existing learning disparities.

This report builds on existing evidence highlighting key lessons learned during the pandemic to promote learning for all during school closure and provides actionable policy recommendations on how to bridge the digital divide and build resilient education systems in Europe and Central Asia.

In the context of increasing child poverty, deprivation rates and the relative child income gap, and with the most economically vulnerable children hit extensively by the crisis (Chzhen 2014), this paper sets out to understand who are the most disadvantaged children. Analysis of the composition of the children at the bottom end of the income distribution illustrates that households with a lone parent, at least one migrant member, low work intensity, low education, or in large families are overrepresented in the first decile to different degrees in European countries. The analyses also reveal immense differences in living standards for children across Europe. In European countries included in the analyses, at least 1 in 5 children in the poorest decile lives in a deprived household.  A closer look at the different dimensions of deprivation at the child-specific level, reveals what living in the poorest decile means for children’s everyday life.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of the different policy reactions of European governments to the recent economic crisis on income distribution and poverty, giving special attention to children. Almost all the governments introduced fiscal stimulus packages in the first phase of the crisis. Nonetheless, the persistence of bad economic conditions led to a drop in the countries’ revenues with a deterioration of their fiscal conditions. In addition, the pressure coming from the financial markets and the resurgence of an orthodox policy approach pushed many governments to introduce austerity measures since 2010. In particular, there was a growing consensus about the necessity of fiscal consolidation despite awareness of the possible negative impact on economic performance and social outcomes. Some governments preferred to increase taxes while others preferred to reduce public expenditure, also cutting benefits and services for children and their families.

Les précédents rapports de la série des Bilans révèlent que lorsqu’une société ne protège pas les enfants contre la pauvreté, elle commet une erreur très coûteuse. En effet, si les enfants en sont les principales victimes, les pays en subissent également les conséquences et doivent affronter la baisse des compétences et de la productivité, la dégradation des niveaux de santé et d’instruction, l’augmentation du risque de chômage et de dépendance à l’égard de l’aide sociale, l’élévation des coûts de la protection sociale et des systèmes judiciaires, ainsi que l’érosion de la cohésion sociale. D’un point de vue économique, à l’exception du très court terme, la société a donc tout intérêt à prévenir la pauvreté des enfants.

Questo rapporto presenta gli ultimi dati comparabili a livello internazionale sulla deprivazione materiale e sulla povertà tra I bambini e gli adolescenti. Insieme, queste due diverse misure offrono un'immagine completa ed esaustiva delle condizioni in cui vivono bambini e adolescenti in alcuni paesi a reddito medio-alto.

Child participation is closely linked and interdependent with civil and political rights and with the fundamental perceived concepts of childhood, evolving capacity and autonomy. The right of children to express their views freely and to have them taken into account is both a substantive right and a general principle relevant to all aspects of implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The degree of children’s participation within a society and the ways of involving children and adolescents in all matters affecting them depend on various factors, including the perceptions of childhood and adults’ views about children’s capacity to participate. Independent human rights institutions for children promote, protect and monitor progress in the realization of children’s rights.