During the United Nations General Assembly, on 19 September 2023, leaders of the six largest child-focused international organisations, as part of Joining Forces, are set to present a global Call to Action on children’s participation.
As world leaders meet at the UNGA, children will play a key role sharing solutions and advocating for the issues that most affect their lives and communities.
Joining forces, composed of ChildFund Alliance, Plan International, Save the Children International, SOS Children’s Villages International, Terre des Hommes International Federation, and World Vision is working to make sure that leaders take note of children’s voices, their needs and their calls to action.
Joining forces will host the event ‘Children as Agents of Change – A Call to Action to Enable Inclusive Child Participation to Accelerate Implementation of the SDGs’ at the margins of UNGA.
The message they are sharing at UNGA is that:
– children must actively, safely and meaningfully participate in all matters and decisions affecting their lives.
– all stakeholders should recognise children’s rights and capacities and take their views into account, fulfilling their obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
The call to action will focus on a number of core areas including institutional engagement with children so that their voices are heard by decision-makers and policymakers, investment in child participation as a lack of financing continues to be a core barrier to children’s meaningful, inclusive participation, and the ratification of international child rights instruments for States to demonstrate their commitment to upholding children’s rights.
The Call to Action will be officially launched in late 2023.
Image: © UNICEF/UN0438181/Ramasomanana