Home / Employment / Contact / Search / Français / Español     

UNICEF in Action / Highlights / Information Resources / Donations, Greeting Cards & Gifts / Press Centre / Voices of Youth / About UNICEF
 

Rallying Call for the Global Movement for Children

In every child who comes into the world, the hopes and dreams of the human race are born anew.

Children are the bearers of our common future – a future that is in our hands as never before. For the world has the knowledge, the resources and the legal imperatives to give every child the best possible start in life, in a family environment that offers the love, the care and the nurturing that children need to grow, to learn and to develop to the fullest.

The entire community of nations acknowledged as much when they embraced the Convention on the Rights of the Child – and vowed, a decade ago, to fulfil the goals of the World Summit for Children. These obligations must be met, not only by governments, but by all of us.

Yet in this new millennium, it is clear that more – much more – must be done if the world is to protect the rights and meet the needs of all children.

That is why we, as citizens of every nation and members of families, communities and civil society organizations of every kind, hereby resolve to help mobilize a Global Movement for Children – an unstoppable crusade to end, at long last, the poverty, ill health, violence and discrimination that have needlessly blighted and destroyed so many young lives.

Our determination is rooted in the knowledge that in furthering the best interests of children, the most effective actions must come from within the context of our own lives and hearts, and from listening to children and young people themselves. As members of the human family, each of us is responsible. All of us are accountable.

1. Leave No Child Out
All forms of discrimination and exclusion against children must end.

2. Put Children First
It is the responsibility of everyone - governments, individu-als, non-governmental organizations, religious groups, the private sector and children and adolescents themselves - to ensure that children's rights are respected.

3. Care for Every Child
Ensure all children the best possible start in life.

4. Fight HIV/AIDS
Protect children and adolescents and their families.

5. Stop Harming and Exploiting Children
Violence and abuse must be stopped now. And the sexual and economic exploitation of children must end.

6. Listen to Children
Respect the rights of children and young people to express themselves and to participate in making the decisions that affect them.

7. Educate Every Child
Every child - all girls and boys - must be allowed to learn.

8. Protect Children from War
No child should experience the horrors of armed conflict.

9. Protect the Earth for Children
Safeguard the environment at global, national and local levels.

10. Fight Poverty: Invest in Children
Invest in services that benefit the poorest children and their families, such as basic health care and primary education. Make the well-being of children a priority objective of debt relief programmes, development assistance and government spending.

Next: Say Yes for children