13 March 2025
During a discussion on early
childhood development, the High Commissioner for Human
Rights underscored that 80 per cent of the human brain is
formed in the first three years of life, as he appealed for
a reset in youth-centred
policy.
“Investments in early childhood are
one of the smartest ways to achieve sustainable economic
development; studies indicate that the economic
return can be up to 13 times the amount invested,” he
insisted.
Citing South Africa’s Child Support Grant
and the Bolsa Familia programme in Brazil, the High
Commissioner pointed out that they “help to ensure that
children born into the toughest circumstances can still have
the most essential needs covered”.
Today’s threats
to children are also virtual, and youngsters everywhere lack
the tools to stay safe online, Mr. Türk continued, before
warning that children’s access to food, basic
sanitation and drinking water remains unequal across the
world; two in five lack access even to basic
sanitation.
Children suffering extreme heat
to rise eight-fold
Climate change is also likely to
make children and future generations more vulnerable, Mr.
Türk told the Council, noting that in the next 30
years, eight times as many children could be exposed to
extreme heat waves and twice as many to extreme
wildfires.
Emphasising the wider benefit to
society of early childhood development, Dr. Najat Maalla
M’jid, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General
on violence against children, said that that “even
the very youngest and those in the most vulnerable
situations have rights, including rights to development,
protection and participation”, as outlined in the
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Brain
drain
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More than one million new neural connections
form every second in the first few years of life, the
practicing paediatrician explained, as she warned of the
long-term impacts on very young children’s health,
learning and behaviour when caregivers are unable to provide
nurturing and safe care.
Many children with
disabilities or from minorities have no access to supportive
early child development services, along with others in poor
or emergency settings, Dr. M’jid noted.
“Given the
unprecedented humanitarian crisis – due to conflict and
forced displacement – we must ensure that [early child
development] programmes are embedded in the humanitarian
response,” she insisted.
One chance at
parenting
Also taking part in the debate at the Human
Rights Council was 13-year-old child rights advocate,
Vlad.
“Raising a child is not a maths test that you
can retake it if you haven’t done it right the first
time,” said the young Moldovan, noting that parents,
family and the community form the pillars of a child’s
first year of life.
“But what happens when a child
is born with a disability or into a family that doesn’t have
enough resource to rise them? Do we step aside because this
is not our problem or – on the contrary – do we help the
child and the family to develop and overcome those
difficulties?” he asked.
Vlad, who volunteers at a
free centre for children with disabilities and developmental
difficulties run by NGO Lumos Foundation, stressed“how
important it is to intervene early in child development,
because the earlier we react, the more chances we
give to the child to develop harmoniously … a child’s
difficulties, however great they may be, can be overcome or,
at least, minimized.”
‘I miss my home,
my family and friends’
Ten-year-old Joyce, who was
forced to flee Syria’s civil war, told the Council
precisely what children needed in her home country, so that
other youngsters just like her could stay there in safety:
“Education, safety and child friendly spaces – not
shootings, missiles, bombs or kidnappings,” she
said.
Speaking via videolink, Joyce addressed world
leaders directly, asking them to understand that for
children to live happily and safely, “you need to stop the
wars”.
She added: “We need to go to
school, to play, to have food and water and most
importantly, not to live in
fear.”
Admitting that one can’t really
argue with Joyce’s statements, Mr. Philip Jaffé, Member
of the Committee on the Rights of the Child said, that it
wasn’t needed to be verbose, “when what is being said,
is essential.”
The Convention on the Rights of the
Child calls on all countries “to ensure to the maximum
extent possible the survival and development of the
child”.
Speaking on behalf of the Committee on the
Rights of the Child which assesses the progress that
countries make in adhering to the Convention, Philip Jaffé
insisted that for children to thrive in their early years,
governments should implement comprehensive and rights-based,
coordinated strategies and across departments and at central
and local levels.
In addition, “there must be
special consideration and social support given to the early
childhood needs of children with disabilities and their
families,” Mr. Jaffé
said.
