child rights

(FILE PHOTO, July 2018) A 14-year-old in Palestine, crosses the checkpoint at the end of the street where he lives in Hebron.
© UNICEF/UN0222683/Izhiman

UN officials call for release of detained Palestinian children amid pandemic

11 May 2020
Human Rights

Three senior United Nations officials in the Middle East are calling for the release of Palestinian children from Israeli-run prisons and detentions centres, saying they are at particular risk of COVID-19 infection.

Children raise their hands to answer a question in class at a UNICEF learning space in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (8 July 2019).
© UNICEF Patrick Brown

UNICEF reports uneven progress in 30 years of child rights treaty

19 November 2019
Human Rights

Although the world has made historic gains over the past three decades in improving children’s lives, urgent action is required if the poorest children are to feel the impact, a new UN report published on Monday warns.

Millions of children across Yemen face serious threats due to malnutrition, in particular, and the lack of basic health services, in general.
UNICEF/Almahbashi

Monday’s Daily Brief: Progress and pitfalls in child rights, millions of Afghans acutely food insecure, Middle East nuclear-free zone, social media and child detention

18 November 2019
Human Rights

A recap of Monday’s stories in brief: Uneven child rights progress; over 10 million  Afghans severely food insecure; Middle East nuclear weapons conference gets underway; Social media posts increasing child detention cases; UN and partners commit to universal health. 

Fourteen-year-old Issaa, a migrant from Niger, rests his hand on a gate inside a detention centre, in Libya, in January 2017. His mother died two years ago in Niger. He managed to set aside US$450, which he hoped would pay for a crossing by boat to Italy. He was arrested and detained before he was able to board a boat.
© UNICEF/UN052682/Romenzi

Anti-terror measures against youngsters’ online posts ‘linked to spike in child detention globally’

18 November 2019
Human Rights

Around 7.2 million children are detained around the world, 5.4 million of them in institutions, rights experts said on Monday, highlighting “aggressive” State counterterrorism measures for the spike in youngsters held for alleged links with armed conflict or national security concerns based on their social media posts. 

A girl holds a cutout set up as part of a UNICEF installation highlighting the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), displayed outside United Nations Headquarters.
UNICEF

‘Childhood is changing, and so must we’, UNICEF declares, as world marks historic convention

25 September 2019
Human Rights

Since its adoption 30 years ago, the milestone Convention of the Rights of the Child and its near universal membership has created “unprecedented international solidarity around children’s rights,'' the Secretary-General said at a commemorative event an UN Headquarters on Wednesday.

Lathitha Beyile, 14, from South Africa was an honourary UN Spokesperson on World Children’s Day in November.
UN/Liz Scaffidi

South African teen raises her voice on behalf of children…and the UN

29 December 2017
Interviews

A South African teenager was at the UN recently to raise her voice for children everywhere, particularly on the issues of education, child labour and gender inequality.

Lathitha Beyile from Soweto read a manifesto she had written which was inspired by children in her country.

Audio -
3'43"
UN Photo/Laura Jarriel
UN Photo/Laura Jarriel

All children have the right to an education, urge former refugees

19 September 2016
General News

All children have a right to an education, two former refugees turned activists told global leaders during an event to debate the world’s greatest challenges.

Audio -
Treaty Event at UN Headquarters with USG for Legal Affairs, Miguel de Serpa Soares (centre) officiating.
UN Photo/Win Khine

At UN treaty event, countries take action to advance child rights, regulate arms trade

2 October 2013
Some 59 States took part in the annual United Nations Treaty Event which gives countries the opportunity to sign or become party to treaties on critical issues such as human rights, disarmament and the environment on the margins of the General Assembly’s high-level debate.
Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Anthony Lake.
UN Photo/Ryan Brown

Amid proposed adoption ban, UNICEF asks Russia to focus on best interests of children

26 December 2012
Responding to the proposed adoption ban being considered by Russia, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today asked the Government there to be guided solely by the best interests of children in determining its policies and actions.
Taken from photo exhibition "Auschwitz - the Depth of the Abyss" at UN Headquarters, commemorating 60th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camps in Europe.
UN Photo/E. Debebe

At Holocaust remembrance ceremony, UN urges protection of children from war

21 January 2012
Top United Nations officials today urged for the protection of children from the scourges of war during a Holocaust remembrance service to honour the memory of the estimated six million Jews and countless others killed in the Nazi death camps during the Second World War.