19/11/2008
Gurmai and Rovana Plumb raise awareness on children left behind by parents working abroad
19 November 2008
Socialist MEPs Rovanna Plumb and Zita Gurmai are on a mission to highlight the plight of children left behind when parents migrate abroad for work.
Romanian MEP Rovanna Plumb - President of the Romanian Social Democratic Women's Organization - organized a meeting in Bucharest to discuss the problem with decision-makers, experts and NGOs. Talking were Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women, and many others including the Alliance for Childhood European Network Secretary General Michiel Matthes, the Head of Unicef Romania Edmund McLoughney, and the Federation of NGOs for Children Executive Director Diana Nistorescu.
Although work abroad may be temporary, the impact on the child, usually left with relatives, is often similar to that of the loss of a parent through divorce or death.
In Romania up to ten per cent of all school children have at least one parent away from home working abroad.
“We need to open a serious debate about this problem” said Rovanna Plumb “It is a real and new social problem with potentially serious psychological effects on the adults and parents of tomorrow."
"These children need support services" said Zita Gurmai, "and we need to discuss how to fund such services."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Julian Scola, Communications Advisor - Media & Campaigns
Party of European Socialists, Rue du Trône, 98, B-1050 Brussels
Mobile +32 486 117 394
julian.scola@pes.org
