Protest in Athens against closure of Corfu Smile of the Child
Smile of the Child
27 Dec 2022
/ 20:02
ATHENS. Outside the Ministry of Employment on December 30 at 10:30.
On the occasion of the closure of The Smile of the Child residential home in Corfu, bodies are calling everyone to take part in the protest outside the Ministry of Employment on December 30 at 10:30.
The Coordinating Committee for the Struggle of those with Special Needs stated the following:
"We do not tolerate:
- The children of the Corfu Smile of the Child being abused once again with the closure of the facility in the middle of the school year.
- Little Vasilis losing his life in his schoolyard in Serres, because it was simply convenient to have contractors to maintain the school.
- A twelve-year-old girl in Kolonos being repeatedly raped by "respectable" citizens, because her family is poor and lives without any social support.
- Children being massively abused and forced into child labour in the 'Ark of the World'.
- A 16-year-old Roma child growing up in a settlement without basic sanitary conditions, without any state services or even a school, ending up with a bullet in his head for stealing €20 of petrol and the policeman who shot him being released.
- The children of the seventh ward managed by the NGO of the SOS Children's Villages in the Penteli Children's Hospital being evicted and the employees being fired because the NGO decided "to invest in another social sector". While more than 70 children are accommodated in the pediatric hospitals of Attica with a prosecutor's order without any problem because the wards in the public facilities have been closed and there is no room to accommodate them.
- Children with special needs not being able to get the necessary examinations and treatments because their parents cannot afford them and hospitals have been left without doctors and nurses due to privatisation.
- Children with special needs, a hundred days after the start of the school year, still not being able to find a school to go to because of the privatised transportation system and staff shortages, while most special schools are dangerous and inappropriate.
The "smile on the children's lips" freezes every day in front of the cameras that watch them in the various "houses of the famous NGO", because of the lack of staff.
Piled up in "houses" are children (from infants to 18 and 20-year-olds) without the necessary permanent staff, much less scientific programmes adapted to the needs of children according to their age and special needs".
"And because the best gift for all children is the struggle for a society with love and warmth, without poverty and racism, on Friday 30 December at 10:30 we will sing our own carols outside the Ministry of Employment, demanding the protection of all children".
The Coordinating Committee for the Struggle of those with Special Needs stated the following:
"We do not tolerate:
- The children of the Corfu Smile of the Child being abused once again with the closure of the facility in the middle of the school year.
- Little Vasilis losing his life in his schoolyard in Serres, because it was simply convenient to have contractors to maintain the school.
- A twelve-year-old girl in Kolonos being repeatedly raped by "respectable" citizens, because her family is poor and lives without any social support.
- Children being massively abused and forced into child labour in the 'Ark of the World'.
- A 16-year-old Roma child growing up in a settlement without basic sanitary conditions, without any state services or even a school, ending up with a bullet in his head for stealing €20 of petrol and the policeman who shot him being released.
- The children of the seventh ward managed by the NGO of the SOS Children's Villages in the Penteli Children's Hospital being evicted and the employees being fired because the NGO decided "to invest in another social sector". While more than 70 children are accommodated in the pediatric hospitals of Attica with a prosecutor's order without any problem because the wards in the public facilities have been closed and there is no room to accommodate them.
- Children with special needs not being able to get the necessary examinations and treatments because their parents cannot afford them and hospitals have been left without doctors and nurses due to privatisation.
- Children with special needs, a hundred days after the start of the school year, still not being able to find a school to go to because of the privatised transportation system and staff shortages, while most special schools are dangerous and inappropriate.
The "smile on the children's lips" freezes every day in front of the cameras that watch them in the various "houses of the famous NGO", because of the lack of staff.
Piled up in "houses" are children (from infants to 18 and 20-year-olds) without the necessary permanent staff, much less scientific programmes adapted to the needs of children according to their age and special needs".
"And because the best gift for all children is the struggle for a society with love and warmth, without poverty and racism, on Friday 30 December at 10:30 we will sing our own carols outside the Ministry of Employment, demanding the protection of all children".
