World Children’s Day 2024: Listen To The Future
On World Children’s Day, UNICEF highlights the need to listen to their plight
November 20 is designated as World Children’s Day by UNICEF. This year, the theme focuses on listening to their future.
” By listening to children we can fulfill their right to self-expression, understand their ideas for a better world, and include their priorities in our actions today,” UNICEF said in its statement.
The organization also released the State of the World’s Children for 2024. The report highlighted three megatrends and three possible scenarios.
The concerns of today’s children
The report mentioned three megatrends that will impact children’s lives. These trends are:
- demographic transitions,
- climate and environmental crises and
- frontier technologies
In the demographic transitions, UNICEF highlighted the issue of migration and couples preferring not to have children. Although migration can help in securing a child’s future, it also carries many risks, including child trafficking and exploitation, as well a separation from parents.
The issue of migration has become sensitive through the years, especially in America and Europe. With Donald Trump returning as president in January 2025, he made immigration one of his priorities, promising to protect the borders and deport illegal immigrants that may include children.
Demographic patterns will continue to change, shaping the rights of children. But it also carries opportunities and threats to their well-being.
Climate change has also become a big concern for today’s children. As the world continues to experience increasing temperatures, flash floods, and pollution, the child’s well-being is affected because it shapes how they talk, move, and even see the world around them.
Global temperature is projected to increase to 2° C in 2050, affecting the youngest and most vulnerable people.
Technology is the third trend that will continue to impact children. As technology develops, challenges arise in assisting children to use it for communication and learning. But not everyone is privileged as other countries still have no access to laptops or the internet.
To deprive children of technology is their present and future.
The possible scenarios for children
The report also presented possible scenarios children will have because of the megatrends, depending on how countries will act on it These are:
- A future shaped by business-as-usual trendlines.
- A future shaped by delayed development (in which decision makers choose a more fragmented path, leading to greater inequality and environmental degradation).
- A future shaped by accelerated development (in which decision makers opt for a more inclusive and sustainable path)
The full report can be read online.
Although the work continues, many still need to be done on children’s issues. Survival rate, education, and education continue to increase, but there is still a huge amount of inequality. For our children to be better, we have to continue shaping their future. Shaping the future starts by respecting their rights – the right to live, to have a home, to study, and to have a better environment to live in.
More about children’s issues
Why We Must Teach Children About Rainforests
Role Reversal: When Children “Raise” Their Parents
Breaking the Cycle of Generational Trauma and Toxic Patterns
