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Minister Westerwelle: Children’s rights must be strengthened
The United Nations has designated 20 November Universal Children’s Day. The day commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1989, and calls for action to advance the rights of children.
Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle issued the following statement on tomorrow’s United Nations Universal Children’s Day:
“Strengthening the rights of children is an important concern for international politics. We must remember – especially on Universal Children’s Day – that too many children remain vulnerable to violence and still lack access to education. The fact that there are still 300,000 child soldiers in the world shows the urgent need for action. We will use our two-year term on the UN Security Council to work there too for the worldwide protection of children, particularly in armed conflicts.”
Germany set important priorities this year with the withdrawal of the German reservation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and with support in the amount of US$ 150,000 for Marta Santos Pais, UN Special Representative on Violence Against Children.
Markus Löning, the Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, visited a Berlin primary school yesterday in honour of Universal Children’s Day and spoke with the students there about the advancement of children’s rights.
