Speeches

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, during my speech - one minute, indeed two to be honest - many children still in Ukraine will continue to become internally displaced or refugees, children who are forced to flee their homes. Children, traumatised and vulnerable children, in particular those from institutions, foster care, children in hospitals, children with disabilities, war orphans, unaccompanied minors, who risk ending up in criminal trafficking networks or victims of abuse. Dear Commissioner, I am well aware of your commitment to the protection of minors, but I would like to underline, having been the first signatory of the European Parliament resolution on the protection of the Union against minors and young people fleeing the war in Ukraine – a resolution that was strongly supported by the Intergroup on the Rights of the Child, of which I am co-chair – I would like to underline, I said, how we still need to step up our efforts to protect the most vulnerable. Humanitarian corridors, adequate reception services, health care and psychological support, appointment of guardians for single children, support for NGOs working on the ground, safe mechanisms for relocating children and their families between Member States, access of children and young people to education systems: These are just some of the actions that European and national institutions must urgently implement, I would say "here and now", to protect children. Children, the first victims of an absurd war.

(IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, domestic violence, whether physical or psychological, in family and emotional relationships, is one of the most widespread forms of gender-based violence, constitutes an unacceptable violation of the dignity and rights of women and dramatically involves children, sometimes directly with episodes of violence and infanticide, or indirectly in the case of assisted violence. But women and children do not always enjoy equal protection, due to the diversity of national laws. It is therefore necessary to provide them with greater protection by adding gender-based violence among the areas of crime referred to in Article 83 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the Union, and it is necessary to provide for domestic violence to be taken as a priority and decisive criterion in the examination of custody cases. Ensuring maximum protection for women and children who are victims of domestic violence must not be just a political choice because it is more, it is much more: It is and must be a moral imperative for the whole Union.