Argentina

The continued increase in poverty in Argentina,triggered and formed a large part of the deliberations during the International Day for Eradication of Poverty, 2018 commemorations in Argentina.

On 27th October 2018, the Global Network of Religions for Children in Argentina organized an advocacy event in promotion of the rights of children as well as to mark the day of Non-Violence. More than 300 children and youth attended the event at the central square of Pilar, at the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The children and youth present showed their understanding of poverty as well as demanded for their rights as enshrined in the Convention for the Rights of the Child, through posters and banners.

Encouraging the children and youth, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, a Nobel peace prize winner said: “It is said that childhood is the future of humanity. This is only relatively true. I believe that children, adolescents and young people are the present, and that the fu-ture will be the direct consequence of the present. What today we have the courage to sow, we will reap its fruits tomorrow”.

The advocacy efforts to end child poverty by the Global Network of Religions for Children in Argentina culminated in an advocacy event held on 29th October 2018, in the National Senate of Argentina. More than 80 young people from different parts of Argentina participated in the event. During the event, one of the children stated that “We face child abuse, rapes, exploitation and trafficking.

The lack of access to education, decent housing, the lack of health coverage, poor nutrition and lack of opportunities con-demn us to a life we have not decided to live. We face hunger. We are criminalized on the basis our social origin and condition, we are excluded”. The children and youth unanimously advocat-ed for state policies and solutions that would protect them from abuse, violence and poverty. If such bold voices and actions from Argentina would be replicated by children, youth, religious lead-ers and organizations across the world, then together we can indeed end child poverty.