Focus on child protection: Appeal for the day of children's rights in St. Georgen

Focus on child protection: Appeal for the day of children's rights in St. Georgen

The importance of children's rights is often overlooked, especially in times of crisis. Children and adolescents worldwide are fighting for their basic rights, while in individual regions such as Ukraine and the Middle East, schools and playgrounds are bombarded. Unfortunately, the topic has recently gained in explosion, since millions of young people are on the run and many of them have come into hopeless situations. The struggle for ensuring your development opportunities is always the focus. These ongoing challenges illustrate that even basic child rights are not a matter of course.

The UN decided in 1989 the first Child Rights Convention, a crucial step that puts the special needs of minors in the foreground. This international document ensures rights such as protection against violence, the right to education and leisure and should theoretically apply to all children worldwide. In fact, the implementation of many of these rights often remains behind the expectations. Because all children need protection to grow up in a safe environment and to develop freely.

deficits in the implementation of children's rights

In Austria, too, the rights of children are often not adequately observed. Purchase, exclusion and bureaucracy are just a few of the hurdles that affected families have to overcome every day. Some social problems are in the foreground, such as the exclusion of refugee families or the challenges that parents have to deal with with disabled children. These grievances result from a combination of political and social inadequacies and require a common effort to improve the situation.

On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Children's Rights, local groups such as the children's friends and the SPÖ in St. Georgen/Gusen have set an example. In stormy weather, they picked up a flag and inflamed tea lights on the market square. This campaign not only symbolized the hope of a better future for children's rights, but also presented a call to deal more intensively with the protection of minors. Ironically, the light of the tea lights was deleted by a strong gust of wind, which impressively illustrated the susceptibility of this right in an insecure world.

Overall, this event shows the discrepancy between the defined rights and their actual enforcement. A growing awareness of the challenges that many children face is essential to make the long overdue changes and to help the children's rights to respect.

For further information on the UN Kinder Rights Convention, please see here .