International Human Rights Days

The United Nations has established that children’s rights are human rights. However, globally many children are denied access to basic human rights. Enacted in 1959, the United Nations established November 20 as World Children’s Day to spread awareness about the welfare of children, amplify their voices, and promote actionable change. 

Poverty plays a significant role in the marginalization of children around the world. UNICEF estimates nearly 333 million children live in extreme poverty. This means children are relying on less than $2.15 a day to provide for all of their basic necessities. This has exacerbated the gap in access to food, water, and health care among.  Extreme poverty hinders not only their physical development, but it also limits children’s social, economic, and educational opportunities. According to Amnesty International, only 50 percent of girls in the world’s poorest countries will ever get legal status. UNESCO also found that nearly 250 million children did not attend school in 2023. 

Furthermore, human trafficking is an industry that continues to exploit children. As the third most lucrative criminal industry, children are especially vulnerable to human trafficking. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, around 20 percent of trafficking victims are children. In creating policy to solve this issue, policymakers often forgo consulting with children and listening to their concerns that have formed from first hand experiences. As a result, policy with the original intention of helping victims may push victims further away.

As a defense against the marginalization of children, The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1954 before later establishing the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. As the most ratified convention within the UN, the UNCRC declares that children have the rights to life, non-discrimination, for their voices to be heard, and for their best interests to be preserved. Through these principles, the charter aims to advocate for and empower children around the world.

To mitigate the poverty violence, exploitation and other forms of human rights violations that children experience, listening to children is crucial. World’s Children Day calls upon the world to amplify the voices of children to understand the issues that they uniquely face.  The UNRC not only guarantees their rights, it has pushed for children to be aware of the universal rights that they are guaranteed. 

Sources

World Children's Day 20 November 

World Children’s Day Listen to the future. Stand up for children’s rights

CHILDREN’S HUMAN RIGHTS

Declaration of the Rights of the Child

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Written by Chantel Mackey for Yonsei GSIS Human Rights Hub