UNICEF calls for action for children’s rights on World Children’s Day

Havana, November 20, 2023 - This November 20 we commemorate World Children’s Day. In such a complex global scenario, UNICEF Cuba makes an urgent call for action to protect the rights of children and adolescents around the world.

The date commemorates the 1989 adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. The Convention establishes the fundamental rights that must be guaranteed for every child, including the right to health, education, protection, participation and integral development.

Thirty-four years after its adoption, these rights continue to be violated for millions of children and adolescents around the world, due to the unequal impacts of climate change, armed conflict, poverty and discrimination. World Children’s Day is a unique platform to raise awareness of the effects of crises on children’s rights and renew the commitment to act to leave no child behind.

In Cuba, the celebration of this day will create the opportunity for dialogue between children, adolescents and a group of members of the National Assembly at its Capitol offices. Between November 20 and 24, the guarantees and challenges of the Convention on the Rights of the Child will be discussed, with the participation of adolescents in 11 provinces of the country.

The date comes after the approval, in July of this year, of a new Integral Policy for children, adolescents and youth and in the midst of a process of normative updating. This context represents an opportunity to include a children’s rights approach and move towards a Law for the comprehensive protection of the rights of children and adolescents, in accordance with the recommendations made to Cuba by the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2022.

UNICEF supports national efforts to transform legal norms, but also behaviors and beliefs that limit the recognition of children and adolescents as subjects of rights.

Faced with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis in Cuba, which have repercussions on essential services for children and their families, UNICEF has prioritized its response, especially in the areas of health, nutrition, education and child protection, in order to leave no one behind. However, resources are limited in the face of enormous needs. UNICEF therefore calls on the international community to increase its financial support and backing for this work in favor of Cuban children’s rights.

We are confident in the transformative power of child and adolescent participation to build a peaceful and more just world. Therefore, UNICEF calls on world leaders and decision makers to prioritize the rights of every child, listen to their voices on the issues that affect them, and invest in their well-being and integral development.