The cascading crises that the world has witnessed this year give child rights advocates such as myself pause for thought: what are the ways forward and how can we all ensure that all children have their rights fulfilled and the chance of a brighter future?In my role as chief executive of Save the Children International, I get to meet children from so many complex, fragile environments facing situations that are unimaginable to most of us – situations no child should ever be in – and I am so often overwhelmed by their resilience and their hope. At a refugee transit centre on the border of Sudan and South Sudan this year, I met a 13-year-old boy who had fled the war in Sudan with his extended family. He spoke of the heartbreaking loss of both his parents in the war and how he struggled with ongoing nightmares. As we were speaking outside on a makeshift volleyball court, groups of teenage boys who had also fled the war in Sudan were laughing and cheering as they competed against each other to get the ball across the net, taking turns to play. Advertisement
For no matter what, children are children. They want to play. They want to laugh. They want to learn. They want a future. And we need to be there to support them – and to listen to them. …
