The world has more than two billion children, and almost half of them are living in poverty. Thirty thousand infants die each day from preventable diseases. Of those who survive, many suffer from malnutrition that will impair their physical and mental development. The proportion of children attending primary school is increasing, but more than 120 million children of primary school age are still out of school.

An estimated 250 million children are engaged in child labour, more than two-thirds of them in hazardous or degrading conditions. Worldwide, 15 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS and 20 million have been forced to leave their homes by conflict or human rights violations.

The world’s young people deserve better than this. In 1989 the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely accepted human rights treaty in history. The Convention sets standards for health care, education and social services so that every child will have the right to develop, be protected from harm and participate fully in cultural and social life.

The UN’s Millennium Development Goals identify the steps required for every child to enjoy these rights. It is up to us to pressure our governments to ensure that all these goals are achieved.

See also Health, Education, Employment and The human cost of war.