General Director of KMOP – Social Action and Innovation Centre, Dr. Antonia Torrens, was re-elected as Vice President of the Confederation of Family Organizations in the Europe Union (COFACE) during the General Assembly, which was held yesterday in Berlin.
The event, organized by COFACE, took place in the context of a public consultation launched by the European Commission called “Child Guarantee”, which aims to ensure that all children in Europe living at risk of poverty or social exclusion have access to equal opportunities and in basic services such as health, nutrition and education.
“Poverty as a phenomenon violates human rights, human dignity and leads to despair, intensifying thus social exclusion,” said Mrs. Torrens, presenting the challenges that exist in Greece and recommendations for the protection of children and vulnerable families.
Mrs. Torrens referred to the lack of a monitoring system for children living in unfavorable environment in Greece, the need to develop more stable policy frameworks but also the importance of empowering and educating the entire educational community and parents in order to support these children effectively.
“Especially during the coronavirus pandemic, the practical and substantial support of the most vulnerable people it is everyone’s responsibility. Both, KMOP and COFACE, we will continue our actions –as we have been working for more than 40 years for empowering families and children- with a view to promote access to quality education, training as well as to enhance their employability prospects” pointed out Mrs. Torrens.
During the event, Mrs. Torrens presented the work and actions of KMOP for the protection of the rights of children and vulnerable families, while she also had the opportunity to refer to the innovative program “Live Without Bullying”, implemented by KMOP, which has been recognized as a best practice for dealing with bullying at school and cyberbullying.
Our vision is a European Union, which creates opportunities for future generations, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit said, through a recorded video message. “Every child must have a safe place to live. Every child should have enough food to eat, access to healthcare and the chance to thrive at school. This is what the EC will try to achieve. To break the cycle of poverty, to ensure equal opportunities for children and to support their well-being”, he added.
COFACE was originally founded in 1958 as the European Action Committee of the International Union of Family Organizations. COFACE Families Europe is a pluralistic network of civil society associations representing the interests of all families.
Ms. Antonia Torrens is the General Director of KMOP, educational psychologist and the founder of Live Without Bullying, which was created in 2015 and aims at managing and tackling bullying in schools, as well as cyberbullying.
