Urgent Action Needed to Tackle Child Poverty, Says UN
In her latest report to Member States, Dr. Najat Maalla M’jid, the UN Special Representative on Violence against Children, underscored a paradox shaping the world today: while violence against children remains alarmingly widespread, there is also an unprecedented wave of political will and global collaboration to end it.
The turning point, she noted, came with the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence against Children held in November 2024, where 120 country delegations gathered to make concrete commitments.
The meeting spurred the creation of the Pathfinding Global Alliance to End Violence against Children, now joined by 47 Member States and counting.
Dr. Maalla M’jid commended governments for taking practical steps to invest in violence prevention, recognizing that ending violence is not just a moral imperative but an economic one.
Countries are increasingly assessing the costs of violence and the returns on investment in child protection, sharing insights on how to strengthen coordination, integrate social services, and involve children, civil society, and the private sector in shaping solutions.
However, the 2025 report highlights poverty as a key driver of violence, with nearly one billion children living in multidimensional poverty and 1.8 billion without social protection. For many children, poverty strips away their dignity and right to safety, education, and hope.
“I have to choose between education and survival,” one child shared during a focus group. “Instead of holding pens, I am holding tools for hazardous work.”
The report calls for child-sensitive social protection systems that go beyond financial aid, ensuring access to healthcare, education, nutrition, housing, and safe environments.
Social protection, it emphasizes, must be treated as an investment in human capital and sustainable development, beginning in early childhood and continuing throughout life.
As the world rallies to protect its youngest citizens, the message is clear: ending violence against children begins with ending child poverty.
This call echoes the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees every child the right to a standard of living adequate for their physical, mental, spiritual, moral, and social development, and places a duty on governments to support families in securing that right.
