New Delhi: UNICEF India and partners celebrated an activity-packed Child Rights Week starting with National Children’s Day on 14 November and culminating on a high note on World Children’s Day on Sunday. As part of the celebrations, the iconic monuments and landmarks in several places in India lit up with #GoBlue and #ForEveryChild sending child rights messages in unison.
Legendary cricketer and UNICEF Regional Ambassador, Sachin Tendulkar and popular Bollywood star and UNICEF Celebrity Advocate, Ayushmann Khurrana, together with two-time Grammy Awardee, and UNICEF Celebrity Supporter, Ricky Kej, joined the call of inclusion, for every child in solidarity with child rights.
World Children’s Day is an annual celebration to mark the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), promulgated 33 years ago on this day. In Delhi, the Rashtrapati Bhavan (President Building), the Parliament House, Prime Minister’s Office (North and South Block), Qutub Minar, along with UN Offices lit up in blue.
"#GoBlue is a symbolic expression that has yielded tremendous results over years in drawing much-needed attention to rights #ForEveryChild in India and globally," a UNICEF release said on Sunday. Raj Bhawans (Governor House) and Legislative Assemblies in states also went blue for children along with railway stations and airports.
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Other iconic monuments across the country that lit up in blue include the Amber Fort (Jaipur), Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal and the Municipal Corporation (Mumbai), the Charminar (Hyderabad), MANUU University, the Rumi Darwaza, Lucknow University and Char Bagh Railway Station in Lucknow, the Jahaz Mahal and India's first private station RaniKamlapati Station in Madhya Pradesh, the Howrah Bridge, the Bidhan Sabha, Nehru Children's Museum, and the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Temple in Kolkata, Kankariya Lake, Ellis Bridge and Airport in Ahmedabad, and the Brahmaputra Heritage Centre in Assam.
In Chhattisgarh, 1000 village streets were painted blue; and in Madhya Pradesh, a village called Lambatalab went blue, with messages of education, nutrition for every child, painted on walls. The week-long activities highlighted the importance of inclusion and non-discrimination #ForEveryChild best demonstrated through sports, thereby disrupting gender stereotypes and social barriers, particularly for the most marginalized and vulnerable.
Cynthia McCaffrey, UNICEF India Representative said, “World Children’s Day is a time for all of us to renew our collective promises for every child, especially for girls, to be included and protected and reach their full potential, unhindered by gender stereotypes, inequalities, and other barriers.
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This week we have advocated for inclusion and driving away discrimination as symbolically kicked off by children and celebrities. UNICEF India is privileged to support this cross-sectoral movement in India, a country that has made remarkable strides in improving outcomes for its youngest stakeholders and sees children as force multipliers for generational transformations."
Children also took over media across India and interacted with heads of states, statutory bodies and media channels. In Jharkhand, 20 adolescent reporters took over a press conference with the Chief Minister and interviewed him on Child Rights, Sports, Inclusion and Diversity.
In Gujarat and Karnataka, children became journalists and interviewed people on 'Sports for Development' theme. In Uttar Pradesh, children took over Private FM and community radio channels. In Delhi, children took over radio channels and interacted with editors of Amar Ujala, the fourth largest Hindi Daily. In Odisha, 100 child reporters from tribal areas published their own magazine, launched on World Children’s Day.
Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes every child's right to rest, leisure, and play. Sport is important to a child's physical and mental development, in building life skills, promoting inclusion and leadership. Article 2(1) of the Convention prohibits discrimination of a child based on “the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.
