Today marks the day 25 years ago when the United Nations General Assembly adopted a promise to 'protect and promote' the rights of children and it is time for the Government to deliver on this promise, the Green Party said today.
“Fairness is a value every New Zealander holds deeply in our identity, but it is kids who get the raw end of the deal too often,” Green Party co-Leader Metiria Turei said.
“Unless the Government takes concrete steps today to ensure every child has a warm, safe home, and food at school, then New Zealand’s promise to protect children is meaningless.
“The National Government’s record on children makes for depressing reading.
“This is a Government that voted against my ‘Feed the Kids’ Bill which would have ensured no child is hungry at school.
“This is a Government that is selling state homes rather than building the homes that children desperately need.
“Under National, poorer children have slipped even further behind at school, and its approach is to threaten schools in poor areas with funding cuts.
“This is a Government that has ensured that wages for the lowest third of New Zealanders have not risen the whole time it has been in power.
“Our children deserve better, they deserve a fair future. The Government can, and should, put children at the centre of its decision making and ensure that they have a future we can all be proud of.
“Fairness is in all of our hands and to celebrate 25 years after passing the rights of children it is time to deliver,” Mrs Turei said.
