World Children’s Day: #KidsTakeOver

Today, on the World Children’s Day with a theme #KidsTakeOver and the anniversary day of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Turkmenistan’s youth took-over spaces as they gathered at the United Nations building voicing their support for thousands of their peers to shine a light on the most pressing issues that matter for their generation. Young people, as part of #KidsTakeOver, enjoyed taking over the role of the UNICEF Representative taking turns to share their plans and how they would undertake their responsibility of advancing child rights mandate delivering on SDGs.

Through fun activities, children from the Youth Peer Education Network (Y-Peer), supported by UNFPA, delivered serious messages to the United Nations experts, that provided advice to the Government of Turkmenistan on the best ways to maximize the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the Government on issues that concern them most and ensuring all children benefit from the resources and opportunities thus created.

“Today is a day for children and by children. We, children, want to see that all children can equally achieve the best potential in life and enjoy their rights in Turkmenistan. Almost half of our population are children and young people under 25. We would like to call for sustained actions for all children in areas of health, education and social protection,” said children at the event.

“As we celebrate the World Children’s Day, it is wonderful to let the #KidsTakeOver important platforms around the world. We, as UNICEF, celebrate children everywhere; we celebrate their hopes and their dreams and we want them to be counted. Children have an amazing sense of reaching out to all other children embracing diversity. It is a chance for all of us to listen to what children and young people have to say, the world they want, the change they would like to see,” resonated Shaheen Nilofer, UNICEF Representative in Turkmenistan.

Children reflected on their participation in the post-2015 national consultation, “The World We Want”, and shared their vision on the role they would like to play in implementing SDGs in Turkmenistan. Among children’s recommendations inclusive barrier free spaces for people with disabilities, climate change initiatives at schools, equal opportunities in education, increased public investments for children’s programmes, and more importantly, affordable and universal essential services for all children were prominent.

Children and young people called UN agencies and experts to reach out to policy makers in realizing their rights. Young people marked the celebration by doing special signature moves to the tune of the World Children’s Day music video that symbolizes actions for children around the globe.