KOTA KINABALU, Dec 4 (Bernama) — Nations of the European Union (EU) shared the same reservations as Malaysia has on the Convention of the Rights of a Child (CRC).
Head of the EU delegation to Malaysia, Luc Vanderbon said the EU initially had a charter that the rights of children with EU citizenship within its member countries should be protected and guaranteed despite what was outlined under the CRC.
“Migration happens all over the world and it also happens in the EU, within the EU and from outside and into the EU.
“But afterwards, we decided we had to widen that provision of the charter by looking into which specific status, which specific books (categories) would classify a certain group of children.
“Before that happened, we had to provide necessary conditions immediately for a child to grow up and live in a human way, just like every other child in the world, including the ones that are citizens of the EU,” he said when met by reporters after a seminar on the rights of migrant children here Wednesday.
The seminar, which was organised by the EU, United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), also heard issues Malaysia was facing such as birth registration of children in Malaysia to migrant parents and the provision of education for migrant children.
Vanderbon said the EU was keen to work closely with organisations like Unicef and other UN agencies to promote important issues such as the rights of children.
He said it was vital for members of any society to dedicate to the wellbeing of their children who make up the future of the world.
“If you mess up your children, you mess up the future of the world,” he said.