Established in 1954, the United Nations Universal Children’s Day is celebrated on November 20th each year to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide. The day is significant because it marks the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Adopted initially by the United Nations General Assembly in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. These two documents set forth the collective rights entitled to children under 18 years old and calls for parents, individuals, governments, and local authorities to take measures progressively to protect this right.
Today is a day for children – a day to imagine a better future for every child. It is a day where each of us gets the chance to promote, advocate, and celebrate children’s rights. Children worldwide are continually experiencing violence in forms of abuse and exploitation, used as laborers in some countries, living on the streets, minority issues, suffering by differences, immersed in arm conflict, and no access to proper education. Today is a reminder that it is illegal and wrong that children are still facing war, terror, and poverty.
The child-rights crisis has dramatized with the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequences range from short to long-term, varying from physical, emotional, and psychological effects. There are socio-economic impacts directly affecting children in certain areas. As families are increasingly losing their income sources due to the unemployment to support home environments, children are finding themselves more vulnerable to poverty and likely more deprived of their essential needs. Children suffer from poverty differently than adults do, because the consequence tends to be lifelong: such as malnutrition, no access to education, physical, social and emotional development, and without access to health care are all factors that create long-term consequences for children in poverty.
Below is a reference of UNICEF data to visually represent the impact of COVID-19 on children of impoverished families and the prospective victims. The COVID-10 pandemic could move 142 million more children into poverty by the end of the year. This result is devastating, and with the unpredictability of the pandemic situation, the trend may keep increasing.
A quote to end this blog: “We believe that children are our future. They are our best chance at a change towards a more loving and peaceful world. Children are the most important resource for future economic growth.” We are putting our future at stake if we do not protect the children of the world.
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