The UNICEF on Thursday urged governments across the world to allow children their right to protest and appealed to its member-states to refrain from violence and ensure their protection.
“Children’s rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, including in peaceful protest, are enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world. It is incumbent on member-states to ensure that children can exercise this right in a safe and peaceful manner,” said UNICEF’s Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
The statement from the UN agency is a condemnation of governments cracking down on young protesters globally, on a day of protests across the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act as well as the police crackdown at Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University.
“Although every context is unique, from the Middle East to Latin America to the Caribbean, and in Europe, Africa and Asia, young people are calling for action on the climate crisis, for an end to corruption and inequality, for better education and employment opportunities — and for a fairer world for everyone, everywhere. It is therefore a heartbreaking irony that, in standing up for their fundamental rights, many children and adolescents are simultaneously having their rights taken away. Many of these protests have left young protesters behind bars, injured and at times killed. Schools have been shuttered and public services interrupted.”
Ms. Fore urged countries to allow children to protest and to respond to them in a “principled, constructive and supportive way.”
