Humanity’s Future Depends on Ensuring Children’s Rights, Active Participation in Decisions Affecting Them, Secretary-General Observance Message Stresses

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for World Children’s Day, observed on 20 November:

On World Children’s Day, we celebrate the youngest members of our human family.  But, today is also a moment to recognize the enormous challenges children face in our deeply divided, tumultuous and often violent world.

It is shocking that, in the twenty-first century, any child still goes hungry, uneducated, or without even the most basic healthcare.  It is a stain on humanity’s conscience when children’s lives are caught in the grinding wheels of poverty, or upended by disasters or violent conflicts that are killing and maiming children.

One hundred years ago, the League of Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child — the foundation of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history.

This year’s theme reminds us that we must listen to children as they fight for their rights — and for humanity’s future.

The recently adopted Pact for the Future includes a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations.  All three texts contained strong commitments to protect and support children, invest in their rights and expand opportunities to actively participate in the decisions affecting them.

Every child has the right to live in peace, health and safety. Today and every day, let’s protect and support children as they meaningfully contribute to making our world a better, brighter, more peaceful place for all people.