After its unanimous approval in plenary session last November, on Friday, 4th of April, the institutional agreement for children and adolescents was signed, which has, among other objectives, to promote child and youth participation in the municipality. Thus, Mijas is one of the 19 municipalities in the province of Malaga that join the agreement.

Signing the agreement, which has already been joined by a total of 19 municipalities in the province of Malaga (Torrox will soon join) were the mayoress of Mijas, Ana Mata (PP), and the Territorial Delegate for Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality of the Junta de Andalucía, Ruth Sarabia (PP). The aim of this document is none other than to promote child and youth participation in Mijas, as stated in the Third Plan for Children and Adolescents of Andalusia 2024-2027. "This network ultimately wants to give children and young people a leading role in the definition and design of public policies that directly affect them, and to put the focus back on child protection", said Sarabia.

 

Commitments

Mijas, by being part of this network is committed, among other things, to create a technical forum for children and young people to give their opinion on municipal matters; to promote the development of programmes that support the so-called positive parenting of families in the care, education and comprehensive development of children. "I think it is important to give them the space they need and for us it is also an important tool for channelling the different actions we have to develop in the different educational centres", said Mata. 

In this sense, the delegate said that "putting children at the centre is very important" and stressed that "with committed mayors like Ana Mata, we are very happy because we know that in Mijas our children will be better protected, but they will also be happier". 

 

Children's plenary session

For both the Junta and the Town Hall it is important to know what are the issues that concern them in order to develop actions that respond to these needs and concerns. Needs and concerns that were already conveyed to the Mijas government team on the 20th of November, during the first children's plenary session, as the mayoress recalled: "A plenary session in which the children of our municipality had a means to convey their concerns, needs, the model of city they want, not only to enjoy it now but also in the coming years". 

For her part, Sarabia focused on problems such as "the use of new technologies, social networks, bullying, attempts at self-harm, and the introduction to sexuality through pronography" and for which it is necessary to develop effective policies as these problems "concern both families and public administrations". 

 

III Plan for Children and Adolescents

The III Plan for Children and Adolescents of Andalusia 2024-2027 is presented as a reference document that guides the public policy for children and adolescents of the Junta de Andalucía. 

Sarabia clarified that these agreements, pending signature by the Torrox Town Hall, will commit all municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants in the province of Malaga to act in accordance with the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, approved in 1989 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, which was ratified by Spain in 1990. 

 

The agreement includes a total of nine commitments, including the elaboration of children's plans at local and provincial level that establish the priorities and needs detected, and that allow for the design of preventive actions in order to offer children a harmonious and violence-free family and social environment; as well as guaranteeing the rights of children, especially those who are most vulnerable, as the main focus of the planned actions, establishing mechanisms that enable their knowledge, dissemination and awareness-raising.

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