The world has an estimated 2.2 billion children. Each of them have the right to grow up safely, attend school, and reach their full potential. World Children's Day marks the anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which spells out these rights. It is the most widely accepted of any international convention.
Since the CRC was first signed in 1989, a lot of progress has been made. The chance that will survive past 5 years of age has drastically improved by more than 50% since 1990, with millions more young children living on. Around the world, there has also been a 35% increase in children going to primary school since 2000, with out-of-school girls even more likely to enrol than boys.
However, on World Children's Day, it is crucial to remember that children around the world suffer rights violations everyday. There are still over 152 million children in child labour, with 108 million of them working in agriculture. They are doing work that puts their health, safety, education and development at risk. Child labour is intrinsically linked to children's rights because of the complicated root causes including poverty, access to education, and lack of infrastructure and basic services.
The ECLT Foundation takes the opportunity this World Children's Day to join the call made by organisations, governments, businesses, rights defenders and children around the world to keep children and their rights at the top of public and private agendas. Each and every child deserves to have a safe and healthy childhood that supports him or her to grow and thrive. This is an immense goal, but also a necessary investment for a common future. It will not be solved alone, but together we are up for the challenge.