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This year’s Universal Children’s Day on 20 September took place under the motto “Respect for Children”. “We must repeatedly drive home exactly what rights children have. The Universal Children’s Day is a strong signal designed to ensure we don’t forget it,” explained Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens and Youth, Dr. Kristina Schröder. “Universal Children’s Day reminds us of the fact that children need our full attention every day and can expect the comprehensive respect of their rights,” said Kristina Schröder, patron of the Universal Children’s Day celebrations which took place at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin-Mitte.
Child rights are fixed on an international level by the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child. Germany has recently retracted its reservation to the Convention on the Right of the Child, thereby setting an important political signal: “We stand with no restrictions in our path to the goal of a child-friendly world,” declared Kristina Schröder.
The Federal Minister for Family Affairs is therefore also supporting the planned individual complaints procedure linked to the Convention on the Right of the Child that is currently being created on an international platform. With this policy children will be able to turn to an independent committee at the United Nations to voice their criticism if their rights are infringed.
“It is of vital importance that children are able to make their voices heard, also on an international level if their rights are being ignored,” explains Kristina Schröder. “This will ensure that grievances are not only discovered but that they are clearly and plainly named. The public attention must then create necessary pressure to stop these grievances and violations of rights.”
(Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth on 20 September 2010)
