“Poland should enact an active pro-family, pro-development policy to reverse the catastrophic demographic situation Poland faces,” claims Janusz Kochanowski, the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection.

Kochanowski, speaking at a conference commemorating the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, says that the model of a family is changing in Poland and the state has to work to support young, professional families.

“It is essential to promote multi-children families in media and through personal patterns. It is necessary to develop preschools because the modern woman is a working mother and we cannot change that, so we must make her role easier,” says Kochanowski.

Elzbieta Radziszewska, the government plenipotentiary for equal treatment of men and women, maintains that proper care for children should be a priority of the state.

“We adults – regardless of what party we belong to – we should introduce a solution beneficial to children. We have to think today about what will happen in 20, 30 or 50 years and introduce a responsible demographic policy,” stated Radziszewska.

Poland’s stochastic forecast is grim – the country faces a rapidly ageing population with fewer children being born. Demographic analysts predict that by 2050, the country’s population will measure between 27-35 million, compared to 38.2 million in 2004 and sixty-three percent will be aged over 65 years of age.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was passed by the General Assembly on 20 November 1989 and has been ratified by most of the countries in the world, with the exception of the United States of America. (mmj)