Our children are faced with much more diverse forms of violence and discrimination, and in this context family education plays a key role, which involves relating correctly to an ethnic minority, or another minority, Deputy Prime Minister Tanczos Barna said on Monday, as he addressed the regional ministerial Conference on ending violence against children.
"It is our obligation to own up in front of the entire society to these ailments we are facing and to embark on a path of healing, because every day the forms of aggression, of violence against children are increasingly diversified. Perhaps we had to put up with other challenges. Our children must face much more diversified forms of violence and discrimination. It so happens that I, an ethnic Hungarian, a representative of the Romanian government, must put on every morning the same shoes as Mr. [Labor Minister] Manole, the shoes of a minority ethnic, in a community that does not always relate, in a correct way, to an ethnic minority (...) and does not always appreciate diversity as a value and as an asset. And this, unfortunately, is passed down from generation to generation. Unfortunately, if we, adults, live and think like this, we will educate our children in the same spirit. The challenges our children face, unfortunately, stem to a large extent from us, adults, who fail to teach them at home, in the family, in society, in larger groups, how they should relate to their peers, how they should be more understanding, how they should accept others. And if we educate them like this, the next generations will be just as aggressive with children, they will continue to believe that spanking is a good way to discipline children, and we will not be able to change these very conservative mentalities we should have gotten rid of tomorrow," said Tanczos Barna.
According to him, families and children in Romania must understand that "normality could be wiped off in just a second".
"War is at our border and hundreds of thousands of children are suffering in Ukraine because of this infernal conflict, hundreds of thousands of children have suffered and keep on being exposed to hellish suffering in Gaza and in other corners of the world that we do not see. There are corners of the world that are not shown and are not seen by the entire world and where suffering, unfortunately, is at home. I am convinced that these conferences will help a lot, they will help those people who have dedicated their lives, who have dedicated their daily work to presenting these solutions, diversifying the solutions that are within everyone's reach, that can change the world," added Tanczos Barna.
High-level representatives - including ministers, senior decision-makers, professionals, and children - from across the European Union and the wider Europe and Central Asia region met on Monday in Bucharest for a two-day regional ministerial conference dedicated to ending violence against children, in a bid to tackle a phenomenon that remains widespread in Europe and Central Asia.
The event is organized by the Romanian Ministry of Labor, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity in partnership with UNICEF and the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Violence against Children.
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