Celebrating Children’s Right to the City
In recognition of World Human Rights Day, we must reinforce each child’s right to the city. The right to the city is not only about the right of access, but the right to be heard and make cities a better place to live. Everyday around the world, millions of children are living within the fragile pockets of the city, without adequate shelter, deprived of their basic rights. They are unseen and unheard.
Following the adoption of the urban SDG “Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, the principles of equality and non-discrimination, inclusion and participation and accountability must be central to the discussions at the Habitat III Conference and embedded into the New Urban Agenda. The respect for and enforcement of human rights is a critical precondition for sustainable development.
The New Urban Agenda must give special consideration to the needs and interests of children, especially the most marginalised and vulnerable, and ensure their genuine participation in city planning processes. Children’s participation in important decision-making processes is a fundamental right as agents of their own lives. As knowledge experts of their own cities, they have the capacity to engage and provide solutions, in accordance with their evolving needs and capacities.
The city we need is one that ensures fair and just distribution of economic and environmental costs and benefits, community services like education and health care, and the ability for vulnerable groups, including children, to participate in decision-making processes. Without social equity and inclusion, our future cities will place more people into inadequate housing and living conditions, homelessness, insecure tenure, and increase disparities, inequalities and discrimination, thereby contributing to greater injustice in this world.
Today, it is important to acknowledge that we need to create a shared vision and value for all.
- Read how children and youth called upon Dhaka’s mayoral candidates to demonstrate their commitment to young people’s participation in city planning processes.
- Find out how World Vision is leading the children’s agenda at Habitat III.