21-11-16 Message for International Children’s Rights Day

On 20 November 1989, the international community adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child through in the UN General Assembly, aqnd committed itself to protect the fundamental rights of children all over the planet. The right to life, to health, to education, to play, to be protected from violence, to not be discriminated against, and to have their views heard, are protected in order to ensure the capability of children to grow up and develop their personality in a secure environment that ensures their basic needs, dignity, and the prosperity to which they are entitled.  

However, despite the efforts made in this direction, progress has been small. Millions of children continue today to face violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation, and they are denied access to education and to meeting even their most fundamental needs.

The recent heart-wrenching images of bombed schools and hospitals in Syria, the dead, injured and dismembered children, the children buried in the rubble of their houses, all serve to remind us that the road to building a safe environment for children around the world is still long.

The children who are the victims of war highlight the deficit of contemporary civilisation and the divergence between declarations and reality. The Greek state, and more particularly the Education Ministry, with a sense of responsibility exerts every effort to protect and support these children, so as to guarantee equal opportunities to education and their relief from the repercussions of poverty and social exclusion.

We commit ourselves to continue our efforts in this direction , sending a message of respect and the defense of the rights of all children who live in our country. Such a stance is a precondition for a more just, more democratic, and human world.