PHILIPSBURG(DCOMM):--- Thursday, November 20th, is World Children’s Day. The 2025 theme is, “Listen to children, stand up for the rights of every child, every day.”
Around the world, children are standing up and talking about their lives, their hopes, and their rights.
World Children’s Day was first established in 1954 as Universal Children's Day and is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improve children's welfare.
November 20th is an important date as it is the date in 1959 when the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It is also the date in 1989 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Since 1990, World Children's Day also marks the anniversary of the date that the UN General Assembly adopted both the Declaration and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
World Children's Day offers each of us an inspirational entry-point to advocate, promote and celebrate children's rights, translating into dialogues and actions that will build a better world for children.
The Collective Prevention Services (CPS) says health is an area that every child has a right too, to survive and thrive.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that my day my rights, “from the moment the sun rises, children wake up to a world shaped by choices they didn't make. But every child, everywhere, also wakes with rights. Including the right to be protected, to learn, and to have their voice heard.
“It’s time to listen to children. To understand what their lives are like and how their rights are present, missing, or pursued every day.”
UNICEF says children and young people are powerful agents of change, bringing new ideas and perspectives that can help shape a better world for all of us.
World Children’s Day is UNICEF’s Global Day of Action for children, by children, marking the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Child rights are human rights. They are non-negotiable and universal. Upholding children’s rights is the compass to a better world – today, tomorrow and into the future.
By listening to children, we can fulfil their right to self-expression, understand their ideas for a better world and include their priorities in our actions today.
