Global Issues: Children

Introduction

A new organisation established by the United Nations intervened to provide food, clothes, and medical care to the children of Europe in the aftermath of World War II due to their dire situation.

As a permanent member of the UN, UNICEF launched a successful global campaign against yaws in 1953. Yaws is a debilitating condition that affects millions of children and is treatable with penicillin.

The UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959

The Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which outlines children's rights to safety, instruction, health care, habitation, and a healthy diet, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1959.

After concentrating on child health issues for more than ten years, UNICEF widened its scope to include the needs of the entire child. Thus, an ongoing interest in education emerged, starting with financing for teacher preparation programmes and classroom supplies in recently independent nations.

The group received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965 "for the Promotion of Brotherhood Among Nations." To the benefit of all children, everywhere, UNICEF works in more than 190 countries and territories today, making a special effort to reach the most marginalised and vulnerable children.

UNICEF's work is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

The Convention on the Rights of the Child guides UNICEF's activities (1989). The Convention has been ratified by more countries than any other international human rights pact in history. The Convention altered how children are perceived and treated, transforming them from passive recipients of care and charity to human beings with a unique set of rights. The Convention's exceptional approval demonstrates a strong global commitment to promote children's rights.

Since the Convention was adopted, a lot has been done, from decreasing infant mortality to increasing school enrollment, but much work still has to be done.

Every child has the right to health, education and protection

Every society has a stake in increasing children's opportunities in life, and every kid has the right to health, education, and protection. However, millions of children around the world are denied a fair chance for no other reason than the nation, gender, or circumstances of their birth.

Children suffer the most from poverty. One out of every six youngsters on the planet subsists on less than US$1.90 a day. Their families find it difficult to pay for the essential medical treatment and nutrition they require to give them a good start in life. As a result of these hardships, 149 million children under the age of five had stunting in 2019.

More than 175 million children are not enrolled in pre-primary education despite significant advancements in school enrollment in many regions of the world, missing a significant investment opportunity and beginning their lives with severe inequities. A 2017 UNESCO report states that six out of ten children exit primary education without attaining the required reading and math competency levels. The fact that armed combat lasts longer and longer only makes this difficulty worse.

The world united to condemn and mobilize against the use of children in armed conflict.

The world came together more than 20 years ago to denounce and mobilise against the use of children in armed combat. Since then, hundreds of kids have been freed as a consequence of UN Security Council-mandated Action Plans and other initiatives meant to stop and prevent the enlistment of kids in the military and other organisations. However, there are still significant obstacles to the protection of children impacted by armed violence.

Approximately 426 million children (more than one in six) and 1.6 billion children (69%) respectively lived in conflict-affected countries and conflict zones in 2019. Armed conflict is displacing millions of children, many of whom are unaccompanied or separated from their families. These kids are highly vulnerable to serious abuse in and around refugee camps and other places. The Secretary-General urges Member States to protect the rights of displaced and refugee children and to provide them with the appropriate support services since action is urgently needed to ease the condition of children displaced by armed conflict.

The right of children to protection from violence

Despite the fact that the Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees children the right to protection from violence, one billion children worldwide still face some sort of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse each year, and one child dies as a result of violence every seven minutes.

No barriers of culture, class, or education exist when it comes to violence against children. In institutions, schools, and homes, it happens to children. Along with the rise in cyberbullying, peer violence is another issue. When someone close to them commits the act of violence, children who witness it often experience isolation, loneliness, and dread as well as lack of support. The youngest children are particularly vulnerable to violence, regardless of a child's gender, ability, or nationality or religious background.

A set of suggestions on how to end violence against children were offered by the UN Study in 2006, and the Secretary-General named a Special Representative to oversee their successful implementation.

A lot of states now have laws that forbid physical, mental, and sexual abuse and provide help for victims; campaigns are raising public awareness of the detrimental effects of violence; and bullying, sexual abuse, and destructive behaviours against minors are being addressed. Additionally, we have additional information about the scope and type of violence against children.

Although these are important advancements, much more needs to be done. The 2030 Agenda's inclusion of a specific goal (16.2) demonstrates the commitment of the international community to putting an end to all kinds of violence against children. To make that admirable ambition a reality for every child, we must act quickly.

Children and the Sustainable Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) served as a reference point for numerous issues affecting the lives of children, youth, and their families for 15 years. During this time, significant advancements were made in lowering avoidable child deaths, increasing the number of students enrolled in schools, reducing extreme poverty, and ensuring that more people had access to clean water and wholesome food.

The MDGs did not effectively address many of the world's most important concerns, such as resolving inequality, fostering equitable economic growth, shielding children from violence, and combating climate change, hence progress has been unequal.

The new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were ratified by world leaders in September 2015, and they vowed to eradicate poverty by 2030. However, if increased efforts are not made:

Between 2019 and 2030, up to 52 million children could pass away before turning five.
Compared to children in high-income nations, sub-Saharan African children will have a mortality rate before the age of five that is sixteen times higher.
Sub-Saharan Africa will be home to nine out of ten children who live in abject poverty.
Around the same number of primary school-aged children who are not in school now—more than 60 million—will be absent. Sub-Saharan Africa will account for more than half.
By 2030, an additional 150 million more females will wed before turning 18 years old.

These enormous injustices and risks endanger not just the rights of the individual children but also their prospects as a whole. They maintain intergenerational cycles of disadvantage and inequality that jeopardise the security of all countries throughout the world as well as the stability of society.

Children and the UN system

From the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) emphasis on education to the International Labour Organization's (ILO) efforts to end child labour to the Children and Youth Programme of UNRWA to the school feeding and health programmes backed by the World Food Programme's (WFP) and disease eradication campaigns by the World Health Organization's (WHO),