This year's International Children's Day is celebrated under the shadow of 21 active war zones, with 35 million children around the world forcibly displaced from their homes and displaced instead of growing up safe and loved, enjoying the benefits of education, having access to quality health services, enjoying social progress and preserving their cultural traditions, prospering and growing, says Children's Rights Commissioner Despo Michaelidou in her message for the Day.
As she notes, in 21 regions the use of weapons and violence has decimated freedom, justice, peace and the well-being of children.
Today I want to underline the individual responsibility of each of us to promote a culture rooted in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity. To be able to celebrate the International Children's Day, we need to build a safe environment where every child enjoys his or her rights in their entirety.
She refers to the important role that education has to play, which should address and combat racism, discrimination, cultural intolerance and xenophobia.
Addressing children, Mrs. Michailidou says that peace is based on a culture where all individuals enjoy their rights, but also respect and promote the rights of others, where there is equal distribution of resources, where the needs of present and future generations are met, where citizens take part in the decision-making process, where disagreements or disputes are resolved through democratic processes, and where governments join with civil society for the practical implementation of the above.
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