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The National UNICEF Committee in Greece presented a new report titled: "The state of children in Greece in 2013," which was prepared in collaboration with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and describes the current living conditions of children in Greece, as well as a campaign and initiatives for vaccination of children in Greece and around the world.
The UNICEF report presents quite disturbing data concerning child poverty, living conditions, protection issues and delinquency among Greek and immigrant children in Greece. The report connects the rapid deterioration of the situation with the underlying financial crisis. The committee emphasizes that the crisis constitutes an inhibitory factor for the implementation of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and for this reason urges Greece not only to maintain social benefits but to expand them, especially for children. On the contrary, the policy that has been implemented these last few years with regard to the distribution of social protection expenditure in Greece shows that benefits for the family/children category remain almost constant. The indifference of the public sector has been steady over this period and it seems not to react even under these tough financial conditions. Firstly, in terms of social protection expenditure in Greece, family/children benefits remained unchanged over the past 15 years. Secondly, the way in which the budget is established and implemented does not allow for identification of resources allocated for the implementation of the CRC, nor does the lack of systematic and specific data allow for monitoring compliance with it.
