Protecting children is a priority – now is the time to prove it | Child Rights

When governments adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we committed to a world that invests in our children, where every girl and boy grows up free from violence, exploitation and neglect. Establishing, for the first time, global targets to end all forms of violence against children, grounded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Today, 10 years on, we must confront a stark reality: we are not on course to achieve those targets.

Each year, half of the world’s children are victims of violence. Bluntly, we are failing to keep a billion girls and boys safe in their homes, schools, communities, care settings and online.

We recognise the complexity of the issue, and we recognise its consequences, often lasting lifetimes and spanning generations. Violence erodes every investment that families, communities, and governments make in children, from their education and social inclusion to their mental and physical health. The violence experienced by a billion children today is the same violence that will undermine the health, prosperity, and stability of our societies tomorrow.

As Ministers, we are driven by the possible, by the interventions and investments that can most improve people’s lives. We are motivated by the fact that violence against children is entirely preventable. And that preventing violence strengthens public health outcomes, social protection systems, community resilience and intergenerational mobility.

Decades of rigorous research, community mobilisation, and country experience have given us a clear understanding of what works. The INSPIRE framework, coordinated by WHO and partners, provides a proven blueprint of seven strategies – from strengthening norms and laws to supporting parents and caregivers, scaling response services and creating safe school environments. A recent, largest-ever, evidence review on preventing violence against children confirmed unequivocally that INSPIRE strategies work. We are now the first generation in history with the knowledge and tools to deliver sustained reductions in violence at a national scale. We have the opportunity, and responsibility, to act.

This is why we are launching the WHO Council of Champions to End Violence Against Children. The first-ever global collective of Ministers committed to using our political capital to position violence prevention where it belongs: at the centre of national and global health, social development, justice, protection and economic agendas. We are compelled to act by the fact that children who grow up safe are healthier, learn better and are more socially protected, becoming adults who contribute to stronger, more equitable societies.

Together, we, the 10 Ministers, will generate – and demonstrate – political leadership. From the outset, we must confront the dramatic disparity between the scale of the problem and the scale of investment. Whether looking at domestic budgets or funder flows, the power of preventing violence – with its wins for child outcomes from social development to mental health – remains unrecognised and under-resourced. We are committed to prioritising the problem, increasing funding and intensifying actions to unlock the enabling potential of preventing violence against children.

This year is our proof point. In November 2026, the Second Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, hosted by the government of the Philippines, will stand on the shoulders of an impactful First Global Ministerial Conference in Colombia in 2024. That moment proved what is possible. Prioritising our most promising and vulnerable citizens, mobilising member states, civil society, citizens and delivering unprecedented commitments to action for children affected by violence.

With the SDG deadline fast-approaching, we must do more and do better. The Ministerial Conference in Manila must celebrate success, lock-in progress, elevate expectation and generate concrete commitments, commensurate with the scale of the violence prevention challenge. It represents a moment to scale best-proven INSPIRE strategies, confront the financing gap head-on, strengthen health and social protection systems, and ensure that lived experience – of children, young people, civil society and victims of violence – helps shape the solutions so essential to delivering our shared SDG promise.

Let our next moves as Ministers prove our commitment – redoubling our efforts to work towards a world free from violence and exploitation, just as we pledged, just as each child deserves.

Signed by:

HE Evis Sala, Minister of Health and Social Protection, Albania

HE Anna Karapetyan, Deputy Minister of Justice, Armenia

HE Alexandre Padilha, Minister of Health, Brazil

HE Stephanie Rist, Minister of Health, Families, Autonomy, and Disabled Persons, France

HE Wafa Bani Mustafa, Minister of Social Development, Jordan

HE Ahmed Abdulwahab Ahmed al-Awadhi, Minister of Health, Oman

HE Teodoro J Herbosa, Minister of Health, Philippines

HE Elia dos Reis Amaral, Minister of Health, Timor-Leste (East Timor)

The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy