Leading Child Rights Organizations Call for a Second Revolution in Child Rights
Produced by the Joining Forces Alliance — an alliance of the six leading child-focused organizations — the report makes the case for a new era of commitment for children. Alliance members assert that governments must take bold action to target the children who continue to suffer, often the result of discrimination based on gender identity, race, caste, religion, disability or sexual orientation.
Global statistics reflect the challenges that remain. Each year:
- Over 5 million children die from preventable causes, and nearly half of these deaths are attributable to undernutrition;
- 95,000 children a year – 70% of them boys – are murdered, and 15 million adolescent girls report experiencing forced sex;
- And 64 million children lack access to primary education.
The report highlights key factors that contribute to the gaps in progress, including a lack of investment in services that are critically important for children. For example, most countries fall well short on spending the 5-6% of GDP to ensure universal coverage of essential health care. And foreign aid, which many of the poorest countries rely on, is falling short in critical areas such as health and education.
Another factor is the lack of quality data. Governments tend to rely on data that reflects national averages, making it difficult to identify the needs of specific children and to monitor progress. Disaggregation of data by gender, age, disability and locality, is increasingly important as many rights violations are concentrated amongst disadvantaged groups of children.
The Joining Forces Alliance is calling on governments to embrace and act on all parts of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This must include:
- Implementing legislation, policies, budgets, and programmes that are inclusive of all children;
- Promoting the rights of all marginalised children and championing gender equality;
- And supporting children’s meaningful participation and upholding their rights to freedom of expression and opinion.