International Human Rights Days

The holiday’s adaption came in the aftermath of an emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in August 1982, following the fear of the growing number of civilian casualties, especially children, during the Lebanon War. UN Member States were mainly concerned by the significant number of deaths among innocent Palestinian and Lebanese children victims of Israel’s acts of aggression. The war led to the enactment of the Convention on Child Rights (adopted in 1989), which is now the most ratified human rights treaty. It allows States to protect children from killing and maiming, adduction and sexual violence, attacks on education and health facilities, and the denial of humanitarian assistance. 

Following the convention, the Resolution on the Rights of the Child (1996) was adopted. It reaffirmed the abovementioned principles, focusing on children soldiers and the need to ensure their demobilization and reintegration into society. Although preventing and responding to violence against children is one of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, violations of Child Rights have increased in many conflict-riddled regions of the world. The UN Secretary-General Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict notably highlighted in 2022 alone that children killed or maimed increased by 5% compared to 2021. Three thousand nine hundred thirty-one incidents of denial of humanitarian access were also reported by the UN in 2022, the most affected situations being in Israel and the State of Palestine, Yemen, Afghanistan and Mali.