We give children and young people a voice.
Just like adults, children also have rights: for example, they have a right to a safe home, to education, and to a say and participation. The SOS Children's Villages work in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. For us, children's rights form the basis of our work. Voice and promote children's rights worldwide.We work to ensure that governments meet their obligations in the area of child protection, raise awareness among decision-makers and change political frameworks for the benefit of children. By establishing local child protection committees, we promote the anchoring of and compliance with children's rights.
Children's rights are violated worldwide, despite ratification, children's rights continue to be disregarded in many countries.
In the developing countries where most of the world's children and young people live, poverty is always also child poverty. This results in serious violations of children's rights, such as high child mortality or exploitative child labor that endangers health. Millions of girls and boys worldwide are still trapped in poverty because they cannot go to school. Children also suffer particularly from wars, flight and displacement: they struggle to survive, lose their parents or hundreds of thousands are abused as child soldiers.But children's rights are also violated in industrialized countries. In many countries, child poverty is widespread. Children from socially disadvantaged families have fewer educational opportunities or suffer from exclusion.
