The World Children’s Day is celebrated on 20th November every year and this year as it coincides with the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the most widely endorsed human rights treaty in history. So this year, the World Children’s Day has more significance than ever.

Actors and Unicef Goodwill Ambassadors David Beckham and Millie Bobby Brown participated in a global summit as part of celebrations marking World Children’s Day, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York where they joined children and young people in demanding action to protect and promote child rights. All over the world, children participated in similar summits in more than 50 countries, from Armenia to Jordan and from Ethiopia to Indonesia.

For most of us who live with our parents in safe and comfortable environments, the World Children’s Day passes by unnoticed, as we go about our lives where we always have food on our table, money in our pockets, clean water to drink and doctors and medical care available for the slightest illness or injury. But many children in the world today live in war or disaster zones, or in environments which are hazardous or inflicted with epidemics of disease. Thousands of children are denied their rights for healthy and nutritious food, clean air and water, and education and safety and protection against crime.

Therefore, the World Children’s Day aims to raise awareness and funds for the millions of children that are denied their basic rights. The World Children’s Day was first established in 1954 as Universal Children’s Day.

“Young people my age are facing so many new challenges today that 30 years ago were hard to predict,” said Millie Bobby Brown, Unicef’s youngest Goodwill Ambassador. “I’m proud to add my voice to all those around the world who are asking for solutions to today’s problems such as bullying, access to education, mental health awareness, suicide prevention and climate change.”

“Children everywhere dream of a better future,” said David Beckham who opened the global summit. “I have worked with Unicef for almost 20 years and I have met children in all corners of the world, young people that have ambitions for a better education, a life free from disease and for peace. All children deserve the opportunity to reach their potential and I’m very proud to support the young people speaking up for change today.”

On this World Children’s Day, a global day of action around the world, children hosted summits with leaders and decision-makers while governments renewed commitment to child rights. In a symbolic stand for child rights, famous landmarks around the world were lit blue.

As one of the countries that endorsed the CRC within a year of its adaption, Pakistan has also taken significant steps to prioritise children’s issues.

As part of the celebrations of World Children’s Day and commemoration of the CRC, 20 iconic buildings in the country, including the Quaid-i-Azam Residency in Ziarat, Quaid-i-Azam Flagstaff House and Mazar-i-Quaid in Karachi, Minar-i-Pakistan in Lahore and the Prime Minister Secretariat, the Presidency and the Parliament building in Islamabad, besides the provincial assembly buildings in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta, were lit up in blue. On this occasion, the UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore wrote an open letter to children of the world about why she’s worried, but hopeful, about the next generation. Below are some excerpts from the letter:

“Dear children of today and of tomorrow,

“Thirty years ago, against the backdrop of a changing world order — the fall of the Berlin Wall, the decline of apartheid, the birth of the world wide web — the world united in defence of children and childhood. While most of the world’s parents at the time had grown up under dictatorships or failing governments, they hoped for better lives, greater opportunities and more rights for their children. So, when leaders came together in 1989 in a moment of rare global unity to make a historic commitment to the world’s children to protect and fulfil their rights, there was a real sense of hope for the next generation. So how much progress have we made? In the three decades following the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in spite of an exploding global population, we have reduced the number of children missing out on primary school by almost 40 per cent. The number of stunted children under 5 years of age dropped by over 100 million. Three decades ago, polio paralysed or killed almost 1,000 children every day. Today, 99 per cent of those cases have been eliminated. Many of the interventions behind this progress — such as vaccines, oral rehydration salts and better nutrition — have been practical and cost-effective. The rise of digital and mobile technology and other innovations have made it easier and more efficient to deliver critical services in hard-to reach communities and to expand opportunities. Yet poverty, inequality, discrimination and distance continue to deny millions of children their rights every year, as 15,000 children under 5 still die every day, mostly from treatable diseases and other preventable causes. We are facing an alarming rise in overweight children, but also girls suffering from anaemia.

The stubborn challenges of open defecation and child marriage continue to threaten children’s health and futures. Whilst the numbers of children in school are higher than ever, the challenge of achieving quality education is not being met. Being in school is not the same as learning; more than 60 per cent of primary school children in developing countries still fail to achieve minimum proficiency in learning and half the world’s teens face violence in and around school, so it doesn’t feel like a place of safety. Conflicts continue to deny children the protection, health and futures they deserve. The list of ongoing child rights challenges is long.

And your generation, the children of today, are facing a new set of challenges and global shifts that were unimaginable to your parents. Our climate is changing beyond recognition. Inequality is deepening. Technology is transforming how we perceive the world. And more families are migrating than ever before. Childhood has changed, and we need to change our approaches along with it.

So, as we look back on 30 years of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, we should also look ahead, to the next 30 years. We must listen to you — today’s children and young people — about the issues of greatest concern to you now and begin working with you on twenty-first century solutions to twenty-first century problems.

With that in mind, here are eight reasons why I’m worried for your future, and eight reasons why I think there is hope:

1. You need clean water, clean air and a safe climate

2. One in four of you are likely to live, and learn, in conflict and disaster zones

3. We must make it OK to talk about mental health

4. Over 30 million of you have migrated from your place of birth

5. Thousands of you will officially never exist, unless we act

6. You need 21st century skills for a 21st century economy

7. Your digital footprint must be protected

8. You might be the least trusting generation of citizens ever

— UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore

You can read the letter in full on https://www.unicef.org/

child-rights-convention/open-letter-to-worlds-children

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 23rd, 2019