Remarks by President General Assembly

H.E. Dennis Francis

at the Informal Meeting of the Group of Friends on Children and the SDGs, on “UNGA & Summit of the Future: Peace and Prosperity for Children”

14 December 2023, UNICEF House

Your Excellency, Mr. Brian Wallace, Permanent Representative of Jamaica, and Co-Chair of the Group of Friends on Children and the SDGs,

Excellencies,

Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for the opportunity to join you this morning– and I can tell you that, any theme relating to children will certainly lure me this early.

As an advocate for children’s rights myself – notably, the need for their protection and to ensure their access to a quality education – I am delighted by the active contribution of this Group to the promotion and pursuit of children’s rights and development.

Indeed, few areas are as universally recognized, or as powerful an accelerator, as the need to protect and advance the rights of children.

We understood this in 1989, when world leaders adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, enshrining – for the first time ever in international law – the recognition of children as a natural repository of the full complement of human rights.

That Convention has become the most widely ratified human rights treaty to date – underscoring the widespread uptake of the importance of protecting children and recognizing their inherent – investment – with rights.

Yet, while progress has been made since the adoption of the Convention, regrettably, children continue to bear the heaviest burden of crises – from conflict to climate.

And they continue to suffer disproportionately from poverty, malnutrition, forced marriage, bullying, and violence in many corners of the world.

Look deeper still – and one can see – those girls, children with disabilities, indigenous youth, and other vulnerable children at even greater risk.

Clearly, we need to step up our efforts and deliver on the promises, we made to them, our most cherished, most vulnerable.

As President of the General Assembly, I am committed to pursuing the goals of this important Convention – and to promoting children’s rights and safety throughout the 78th session. The SDG Summit Political Declaration – adopted last September by world leaders – did exactly that. What we need now is action.

Perhaps most importantly – in the current context – is the imperative to address the tragic and heartbreaking reality, that children are dying, and being left permanently maimed and emotionally scarred by conflicts and wars.

To be clear: the loss of children in Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, and in other parts of the world embroiled in war and conflict – is morally inexcusable.

Excellencies,

Dear Colleagues,

I cannot emphasize enough that our children are our future.

In order to guarantee that, we must work much harder now – as a needed investment – to put in place a Pact for the Future that supports the children of today and tomorrow.

This is all the more important because four billion children are expected to be born over the next 30 years. We therefore have an obligation to use moments such as the Summit of the Future, and its outcome, to further entrench, reaffirm, and revitalize children’s rights.

Tomorrow, we will mark the 75th anniversary of the UDHR – a landmark document, indeed. And next year, we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child itself.

We must utilize all these occasions to reflect on current challenges and to recommit to the full realization of children’s rights, everywhere in order to guarantee the development of our children to their fullest potential.

And let us recommit to doing just that.

I thank you.