Officially established on 20 November 1989, Universal Children’s Day marks the day on which the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international treaty that addresses the rights of children and youth under the age of 18.
The Convention’ s 54 articles recognizes the basic human rights of children and gives them additional rights to protect them from harm.
Universal Children’s Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly as a day of celebration of the state of welfare of children.
The aim of Universal Children’s Day is to put public initiatives and campaigns in place to rasie awareness of children’s rights worldwide, awareness of their situation in life, problems, wishes, needs and longings as well as to enable exchanges and meetings between them.
Those in positions of political responsibility should, in particular, be reminded that it is very much up to them to act in the interests of children. It is up to them to act in family and social politics with laws that explicitly protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse of all kinds, in educational politics, in measures for ensuring the safety of children in wad and conflict situation, etc.
The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities.
United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC Brussels)
Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155, Block C2,7th and 8th floor, Brussels 1040, Belgium
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