Today is Universal Children’s Day. Going beyond words, it means a recommitment by all governments to the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child -- the right to life, to health, to education and to play, the right to family life, to be protected from violence, not be discriminated and to have their views heard.

On December 14, 1954, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution recommending that all countries should mark a Universal Children’s Day, to be observed as a day of worldwide fraternity and understanding among children and activity devoted to promoting the ideals and objectives of the Charter and the welfare of the children of the world. November 20 marks the day on which the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. This convention is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty. 

UN  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a message that what all children have in common are their rights. Every child has the right to live and thrive, to be educated, to be free from violence and abuse, to participate and to be heard.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Sri Lanka branch in a message says, it deplores any form of violence against children including sexual abuse, harassment, rape and sexual exploitation in prostitution or pornography. All children have rights and need to be protected from violence so that they can grow up to be healthy citizens.

UNICEF says while there has been a rise in reported incidents of sexual violence, its not clear whether this is a result of better monitoring and reporting or because of an actual surge in incidents. Credible evidence is needed to understand the depth of the crisis and will help to prevent, respond to and protect the child victims.

UNICEF says creating a protective environment for vulnerable children requires the active engagement of authorities, government institutions, social service providers, NGO’s, community and family. They could work together to help in the prevention and response to violence against children.

The UNICEF sponsored campaign on a ‘Violence Free Society for Children’ seeks to break the culture of silence and prevent child abuse. Several activities will be conducted across the most vulnerable and high risk districts in the country to build awareness on violence against children and child abuse in communities, schools, homes and among politicians and to develop the capacity of the child protection system to better identify and effectively respond to victims of violence and abuse.

The ‘Violence Free Society for Children’ campaign will help build capacity of the protection system through training of government staff, who work with families and children, to identify and follow-up cases of violence, equip children with the skills needed to protect themselves, raise public awareness and advocacy among parliamentarians to increase the state resource allocation for child protection, policy, legal reforms and awareness raising work, UNICEF says. 
If you really love children and if you see signs of sexual or physical abuse of children, the illegal employment of children and other offences, please break the culture of silence. Decide to do it today on Universal Children’s Day. You could phone 1929. 

On a broader long term scale the National Unity Government in its economic policy strategy outlined on November 5 and the 2016 budget presented today will give priority to education, unpolluted food and nutrition for children. The 2016 budgetary allocation for education is to be increased fourfold and we hope the proper implementation of this vision and mission will lay the foundation for a knowledge-based economy whereby well educated, healthy children could walk and work with the fullness of human dignity.