Time to act - Open letter for children's rights

We are representatives of 14 organisations working in different ways for children's rights globally. In connection with the launch of the World's Children campaign, we now choose to join forces to say that it is time to take the situation of children seriously, if we want the next generation to have the opportunity to live in a safe and sustainable world. When voices are raised that we do not belong together, that we should not help each other - then we need counter-forces that say otherwise. All of us and all of you tens of thousands of people in Sweden who are involved in Världens Barn and for children's rights - we are such a counterforce together. To reverse the negative trend, we need to strengthen cooperation between actors within Sweden - and between Swedish civil society and civil society in other countries - not weaken it. Young people's voices need to be taken seriously and, above all, we must dare to invest in interventions that promote children's rights globally.

As UN Secretary-General António Guterres himself writes, this year's UN report on the global goals makes for grim reading. For more than a third of the goals, progress has stagnated or even gone backwards. In 2020, extreme poverty increased for the first time in decades and recovery has been tough, especially for low-income countries. The aftermath of the pandemic, combined with armed conflicts and rising food prices, has left hundreds of millions of people unable to feed themselves in 2023. At the same time, last year saw the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth and climate-related disasters are affecting people's ability to live, work and play. In addition, wars and armed conflicts have created a situation where more people than ever before have been forced to flee their homes. This is a worrying state of the world, and in this situation - as always - it is children who suffer the most.

According to the United Nations, 148 million children under the age of five worldwide lack sufficient food to grow and develop. If trends continue, one in five children will be stunted by 2030. In addition, only three out of four children have access to drinkable water and as many as 1,000 children under five die every day due to lack of access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation, according to UNICEF.

A total of 250 million children between the ages of six and 18 do not have access to education. According to UNESCO, this figure has increased by six million since 2021 alone. Poverty is the main cause, but political instability, armed conflict and natural disasters are also obstacles. Children who do not attend school are often forced to work and are at greater risk of sexual abuse and child marriage. They also find it harder to find work and are more likely to have health problems as adults.

One in five children today is growing up in areas of armed conflict. According to a UN report released in June this year, violence against children in conflict situations has increased alarmingly. Children are increasingly being recruited into wars, attacked in their homes and kidnapped on their way to school. In 2023, the equivalent of 15 children were killed every day in armed conflict. In Gaza alone, 14,000 children have been killed since the outbreak of war, according to UNICEF.

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the adoption of the first version of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and we see that the overall picture of the situation of children globally is extremely disappointing. But we know that there is a chance to change it. We are 14 organisations with long experience and broad expertise in global development and children's rights. Every day, we and our partners work to protect, empower and develop children and their rights around the world. These are our joint proposals on how we can work together to strengthen children's rights:

• Listen to children and young people and their demands. Help ensure that young people have a say in decisions that affect their lives and futures.
• Raise your voice for warring countries to respect international law on the protection of civilians - there is no excuse for children to be targeted by bullets and bombs.
• Strengthen cooperation between actors within Sweden and between civil society here and civil society in other countries.
• Contribute to interventions that strengthen children's right to health, education and safety in the world. This is a prerequisite for safe and stable societies.