We are living in a critical global context where millions of families and their children find themselves trapped in situation sof conflict, displacement, exacerbated by climate change and natural disasters. Globally, nearly 20 per cent of children younger than 5 years of age struggle to survive on less than $2.15 per day. One in six children is estimated to be living in conflict zones; with more attacks on hospitals and schools, unprecedented number of them were prevented from accessing basic and humanitarian services. Nearly half of all deaths among children under 5 years of age occur in conflict-affected or fragile environments. These shocking data are still approximate; over 200 million children under 5 years of age are invisible, because they do not have a birth certificate, nor a nationality. Due to overlapping global crises, an unprecedented number of children are on the move placing them in extreme danger, with higher risks of death, going missing, victims of trafficking, sexual exploitation, forced labor, child marriage, illegal adoption or being forced into begging, particularly if unaccompanied or separated. This disregard of international and human rights law represents a moral, social and economic catastrophe. 

 

World Children’s Day is a moment to reaffirm our shared responsibility to protect and empower all children, especially those facing displacement, statelessness, violence, and exclusion. This year, the commemoration takes a special meaning. The Second World Summit for Social Development (November 4-6, 2025) will convene world leaders in Doha, Qatar, to renew global commitments to social justice, inclusion ad equity. Social protection is a core human right under international law, and the World Social Summit Political Declaration reaffirms its centrality in achieving sustainable development goals. 

 

 

Particularly at risk are the youngest ones. The science is clear:  exposure to toxic stress significantly harms children’s short and long-term health and wellbeing - detrimental to their development, negatively impacting our communities, societies and future generations. 

The goal of the event is to highlight the need that the policy-makers, in formulating universal social protection adopt a comprehensive child-centered approach, recognizing that children’s rights, also in humanitarian settings, are indivisible, interdependent and interconnected. Child protection must be coordinated, ensuring that all actors and systems - education, health, mental health, welfare, justice, civil society, community and family - cooperate to prevent abuse, exploitation, neglect particularly for children in vulnerable situations, starting with the youngest. The event will underscore that growing evidence suggests that investments in young children, their parents/caregivers and communities, offer a unique opportunity to make a cost- effective and sustainable impact; Early Childhood Development initiatives, have demonstrated in many successful projects around the world, that ECD promotes resilience to toxic stress and disrupts intergenerational cycles of poverty and violence, by building more cohesive and peaceful societies.