Dublin December 29th, 2017: Brian Mac Neill
Its been a difficult and oftentimes harrowing year for millions of children around the world. Numerous conflicts in countries such as Yemen and Syria have seen children become casualties of war, either as tragic victims of bombs or bullets, or through malnutrition and preventable disease caused by war, like those currently suffering from Cholera in Yemen. Millions more have been displaced, violently uprooted from the lives they once knew and cast into a frightening new life of uncertainty and unfamiliarity. In Sub-Saharan Africa many children have been exposed to malnutrition caused by changing weather patterns and the droughts and failed crops that invariably follow. Millions of children still toil under backbreaking labour, suffer gender based violence, or many other forms of abuse and exploitation. Should we despair?..no. Children dont want our despair, they want our action. They want our investment and they want to be prioritised. As head into 2018 we should redouble our efforts to protect children and ensure their human rights are upheld in all parts of the world, be it in a conflict zone or a sweatshop.
In 2015 the global community made a pledge to build a better, safer more equitable world for all citizens by 2030.
In the coming months the Irish Government will release its National Implementation Plan for the Sustainable Development Goals, taking a leading role in putting these targets into action, just as it did in co-chairing this historic and complicated global agreement. The goals are a road map for global society and represent an incredible opportunity to dramatically improve children’s lives, in a host of profound ways, by 2030. We urge you to get behind this work and help us in our battle to protect children and prioritise their human rights.
The moral case for improving the lives of children cannot be questioned. Sometimes though, its important to appeal to the head as much as the heart. We would encourage you to read the article below that makes a sound economic and practical case, underscoring why our work to improve children’s lives is not just important and just, it is also sensible. The cost of inaction is many times greater..
