UNIS/SGSM/1456
15 November 2024
On World Children’s Day, we celebrate the youngest members of our human family.
But today is also a moment to recognize the enormous challenges children face in our deeply divided, tumultuous and often violent world.
It is shocking that, in the 21st century, any child still goes hungry, uneducated, or without even the most basic health care.
It is a stain on humanity’s conscience when children’s lives are caught in the grinding wheels of poverty, or upended by disasters or violent conflicts that are killing and maiming children.
One hundred years ago, the League of Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child — the foundation of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history.
This year’s theme reminds us that we must listen to children as they fight for their rights — and for humanity’s future.
The recently adopted Pact for the Future includes a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations. All three texts contained strong commitments to protect and support children, invest in their rights, and expand opportunities to actively participate in the decisions affecting them.
Every child has the right to live in peace, health and safety.
Today and every day, let’s protect and support children as they meaningfully contribute to making our world a better, brighter, more peaceful place for all people.
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The UN Convention against Cybercrime aims to prevent and combat cybercrime more efficiently and effectively, including by strengthening international cooperation and by providing technical assistance and capacity-building support, particularly for developing countries.
I welcome the landmark adoption of a new international convention on cybercrime by the United Nations General Assembly. This remarkable step represents the first UN international legal instrument on crime-related issues in over 20 years, and it comes at exactly the right time.
"On this International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, I call on countries to heed the lessons of past health emergencies to help prepare for the next." — António Guterres
The new Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations (Vienna), Matilda Aku Alomatu Osei-Agyeman, presented her credentials today to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV), Ghada Waly.
