World Children’s Day

Today marks World Children’s Day, Unicef’s annual day of action for children, by children. This year has been challenging for all of us, but especially for children. We must work to ensure child can go to school and learn, every child can access the healthcare they need, and every child can enjoy the world around them in a safe and sustainable climate.

During Business Questions on Thursday 19 November 2020, I quoted Pablo Casals to mark World Children’s Day: “we must all work to make the world worthy of its children”. 

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, or UNCRC, is the basis of Unicef’s work. It is the most complete statement of children’s rights ever produced and is the most widely-ratified international human rights treaty in history.

The Convention has 54 articles that cover all aspects of a child’s life and set out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all children everywhere are entitled to. It also explains how adults and governments must work together to make sure all children can enjoy all their rights. Every child has rights, whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, language, abilities or any other status.

You can read the Convention in full here: https://www.unicef.org.uk/what-we-do/un-convention-child-rights/