(Vatican Radio) As the world marks Universal Children’s Day – the anniversary of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child – UNICEF is urging a much stronger light be shone on the millions of children in every country and at every level of society who are victims of violence and abuse that continue to go unnoticed and under-reported.
The UN Convention, adopted in 1989, became the first legally binding international convention to affirm human rights for all children. It specifies that every child, everywhere, has the right to survive, grow and be protected from all forms of violence.
Among the many initiatives that have grown up around this observance is an interfaith World Day of Prayer and Action for Children, celebrated in many countries on November 20th. The idea, pioneered by a Japanese Buddhist organization in 2008, has been taken up by many faith communities in different parts of the world in order to raise greater awareness about the protection of children’s rights.
To find out more about this initiative and about the campaign to end violence against children, Philippa Hitchen spoke Madeline Eisner, senior communications advisor at UNICEF in New York….