THE NEED YOUR VOTE
There are six serious problems affecting the six million children of Sri Lanka, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
In a dialogue with the media held in Colombo recently, UNICEF Sri Lanka Representative Tim Sutton outlined the six major issues confronting our children, in the fields of nutrition, education, poverty, physical punishment, peace and inclusion and of course, climate change. However, the UN agency does not intend to stop at just detailing these critical issues. Instead, the event was a call for action, urging all 35 presidential candidates to commit to addressing and resolving these issues.
As the battle for presidency rages, dominating dialogues across the country, UNICEF attempts to shine light on the rights of our children and make it one of the central issues at the heart of this discussion. Launching the campaign titled “Ara Wade: A vote for children” the UNICEF country representative highlighted that the forthcoming presidential election is a unique opportunity for Sri Lanka to ensure that children are at the centre of its vision for the future.
“We hope to support and encourage the people to focus on the rights of children, the issues that are holding our children back, encouraging them to discuss and ask our leaders to take these issues forward, as we move forward with a new president and a new government, eventually in 2020,” Sutton explained.
2019 marks 30 years since Sri Lanka pledged to protect and fulfil the Rights of Children by adopting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
Sutton noted that Sri Lanka had a proud history of prioritising the needs and rights of children embodied in its commitment to the CRC, which the government of Sri Lanka has reviewed since July, signing up to the global pledge to recommit itself to the CRC.
“We’ve made real gains for the children in healthcare, education and poverty, over the years by many different governments, in times of war, conflict and peace. Yet we know, there are still many children who aren’t able to lead a happy healthy life and aren’t able to live to their full potential,” he said.
UNICEF officials present at the event elaborated that the national presidential election provides the country’s leadership with an opportunity to recommit to addressing these needs. It also provides the public an opportunity to understand the challenges facing our children and to commit to addressing these challenges. They have the power and the responsibility to ensure that action is taken, they noted, adding that their message is not targeted at any particular political party.
We hope to support and encourage the people to focus on the issues that are holding our children back, encouraging them to discuss and ask our leaders to take these issues forward
2019 marks 30 years since Sri Lanka pledged to protect and fulfil the Rights of Children by adopting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
We’ve made real gains for the children in healthcare, education and poverty, over the years by many different governments, in times of war, conflict and peace. Yet we know, there are still many children who aren’t able to lead a happy, healthy life and aren’t able to live to their full potential