
UNICEF Photo
17 October is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The theme for this year’s commemoration, “Acting together to empower children, their families and communities to end poverty,” was deliberately chosen to put a focus on childhood poverty as the United Nations marks the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC is a landmark international human rights treaty that sets out the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of every child, regardless of their race, religion, or abilities. The Convention recognizes the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral, and social development. Sadly, for millions of children around the world, a lot of the rights outlined in the CRC are far from becoming a reality.
According to the 2019 UNICEF report on “The State of the World’s Children,” one-third of children under age 5 are malnourished – stunted, wasted, or overweight – while two-thirds are at risk of malnutrition and hidden hunger because of the poor quality of their diets. This situation is unacceptable. If governments can spend trillions of dollars acquiring weapons of misery and death, as well as investing billions in advancing technologies that can take people to other planets, why are we not able to feed our children? As the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, rightly noted, “Ending extreme poverty is not a matter of charity. It is a question of justice.” Poverty is not inevitable. … It is often the outcome of choices that society makes.”
Governments must deliver on the 2030 Global Agenda to lift families out of poverty. Access to Social Protection for all is an effective and efficient way to end childhood poverty. Every individual has the right to a life of dignity. According to Eli Khamarove, “poverty is like punishment for a crime you did not commit.”
Read more: UNICEF 2019 Report on the State of the World’s Children: https://uni.cf/2OPQwsm
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