Hi everyone,
This is to remind you that today (September 21) is the International Day of Peace. The United Nations General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.
Around the world, nearly 50 million children have migrated across borders or been forcibly displaced, 28 million of them fled violence and insecurity. UNICEF has just released a report about the growing crisis for refugee and migrant children: you may download it here: http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/childrenonthemove/uprooted/
The world community is accountable and must immediately take action to end the inhumane and unjust treatment of millions of displaced, migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking children around the world, with special attention to those who are in their most formative years, birth to age 8. OMEP urgently calls on our local, national, and global leaders to address the rights and needs of the youngest, displaced, migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking children.
We have been advocating strongly for the welfare of these young children. Thanks to the consistent efforts of our UN Main Representative Maria Pia Belloni [who is also now an Advisor at the Early Childhood Peace Consortium (ECPC)] and the UN team, early childhood education was included in article 4.18 of the draft of the outcome paper of the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants.
Earlier I also presented our 2016 World Declaration to ministers and vice-ministers overseeing education from 35 countries at the Asia-Pacific Regional Policy Forum on Early Childhood Care and Education. I pointed out that children are agents of peace and they must be supported to ensure a peaceful and sustainable future.
This is the perfect time to bring our declaration to your governments’ attention. Please join me in celebrating the International Day of Peace and build peace for our future generations.
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