All children, no matter where in the world they live, have inalienable rights, enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. If these rights are to exist not only on paper, but actually in children’s lives, we need to tackle many different problems at once: children in many conflict regions of the world are exposed to many different dangers, from child poverty to sexual abuse and the most serious crimes against children.

It is the right sign that the German Government is attaching greater value to children’s rights. In doing so, we will be guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We have undertaken to anchor children’s rights explicitly in our constitution and to introduce special financial assistance for children in need. We also aim to provide better support for children with disabilities.
Today is important in drawing attention to the subject of children’s rights, but we must be actively engaged every single day, because to us children’s rights are not an additional extra, but an integral part of our values-led foreign policy.