26 Jul, 2014 @ 08:30
1 min read

Spanish government under fire for failing poverty-stricken children

colonia

SPAIN has come under attack for failing to tackle child poverty.

NGOs are up in arms after the government offered just 0.18% of the €9.4 billion that Unicef insists is necessary to help the country’s huge number of impoverished children.

They insists millions of youngsters in Spain are being left at risk after the government agreed to put up a paltry €17 million.

More money is urgently needed for vital medicines, clothing, food and toiletries, and campaigners insist this amount is ‘very, very far’ from what is needed to stop the rising tide of child poverty.

The current rate of child poverty is 27% affecting around 2.5million youngsters.

The way funds are being distributed has also proved very controversial, as it bases funds on relative poverty levels and not the size of the affected population.

As a result, Andalucia will receive additional funding of just €1.90 per poor child, whereas the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta will receive €153.02 per child.

Maria Jose Sanchez Rubio, the regional health minister for Andalucia, said it is an ‘absolutely unbalanced’ situation.

“We cannot have the same budget for 636,000 (underprivileged) children in Andalucia as for 20,000 children in Ceuta.”

Save the Children Spain insisted that, while the additional funding is a ‘sign of political goodwill’ in the fight against child poverty, it is not enough.

“We also need public policies to prevent and eradicate structural child poverty that affects 32.6% of children in our country.”

Imogen Calderwood

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5 Comments

  1. Spot on and it was these arrogant and corrupt bankers that caused the problem in the first place – socialise the losses and privatise the gains – revolution anybody – not today thank you – there’s loads of swill left in the troughs, sad but true.

  2. And with further increases in the cost of living things will only get worse. I have noticed again recently the price of food slowly creeping up and of course once again we are set for YET another rise in the price of electricity.

    As a small business owner I suffer also here as things like autónomo and rubbish collection have all gone up and as new laws are introduced for new insurance policies that are now a legally requirement all which cost money

  3. Politicians across Europe are no longer interested in their own peoples welfare, more interested in pleasing their pig masters in Brussels so they have a well paid job when their voters tire of them and kick their sorry backsides out of office. Even when the swill runs out in the trough they know they can still jump on the well stocked gravy train.

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