Marking World Children’s Day 2025, UNICEF Syria presents the Blue Seed Art Contest
An inspiring platform where children express their dreams and rights through art
20 November 2025, Damascus, Syria- Every year on 20 November, UNICEF celebrates World Children’s Day, a global moment to amplify children’s voices and highlight their rights. In Syria, UNICEF marked the day in 2025 with “My Day. My Rights – The Blue Seed,” a nationwide art initiative celebrating children’s creativity and potential.
At the core of the initiative was the Blue Seed Art contest, which invited children and youth across Syria to express what their rights mean to them through photography, drawings, and digital art, sharing their vision of a world where every child can grow, learn, and thrive. More than 300 entries from children and youth in Syria, including displaced children and non-Syrians residing in Syria reflected children’s creative vision of safety, leaning, peace, inclusion and a future where every child has the right to express and be heard.
The initiative aimed to raise awareness of children’s rights and the impact of crises, engage youth through creative self-expression, and celebrate World Children’s Day with a message of hope, agency.
The celebration concluded on 20 November with the Blue Garden, a fully inclusive public celebration held at Tishreen Park, a vibrant and accessible public space in the heart of Damascus. Children, youth, families, partners and officials came together in an inclusive and participatory space designed to reflect children’s ideas, voices and rights.
The event featured an art exhibition of the top 30 artworks from the contest, the Tree of Rights, where children, youth and adults placed hundreds of paper leaves, each carrying a right and dream written in their words, an interactive corner for storytelling, drawing, scientific exploration and robotics and a safe space where children performed, presented, expressed and engaged freely and creatively.
Winning artworks were showcased in a curated art exhibition, inviting visitors to pause, reflect and immerse themselves in children’s visions of their rights and futures - with awards planned for a follow-up celebration to continue recognising children’s creativity and engagement.
The ceremony was presented by two young hosts, Saif (9) and Maria (13), whose confidence, warmth and leadership brought the event to life. Their role as presenters reflected the spirit of World Children’s Day - children not only participating but leading and shaping the narrative.
The programme also included moving music performances by three children with disabilities; Sham, Michelle, and Garen whose talent and presence underscored the importance of inclusion, accessibility and the right of every child to be seen and heard.
The celebration brought together a broad and diverse audience, including the Deputy Minister of Social Affairs, embassy representatives, the newly appointed UNICEF Syria Ambassador Qays Sheikh Najib, UN staff, children, families, and partners, all united in celebrating creativity, hope, and children’s bright futures.
Throughout the day, children engaged directly with decision-makers and guests, explaining their artwork, presenting robotics projects and sharing what their rights mean to them - turning advocacy into lived experience.
Beyond the day, the Blue Seed initiative resulted in active nationwide participation by children and youth, greater visibility of children’s rights through art and storytelling, stronger digital engagement and positive media coverage, and strengthened partnerships around child participation and inclusion.
“My Day. My Rights-The Blue Seed” is more than just an event, it is a celebration of imagination, expression and possibility. It shows that when we plant rights, we grow futures, for every child, everywhere.
