Universal Children’s Day  

This year Universal Children’s Day, celebrated on 20 November, commemorates that the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) turns18 years. Every person turning 18 this year belongs to the first generation to go from birth to adulthood protected by the CRC.

The Universal Children’s Day was introduced in 1954 by the United Nations to be a day of promoting the welfare of the world’s children. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted on 20 November 1989, lays out the fundamental human rights of children. It is the most widely ratified human rights agreement in history. The Convention consists of 54 articles and among other things states that all children have the right to good quality education and should be encouraged to go to school to the highest level possible.

Stora Enso supports the well-being of children
Stora Enso promotes the well-being of children around the world through its global partnership in basic education with UNICEF. This year, Stora Enso is supporting five different basic education projects. The projects are in Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Russia and Tanzania.

In China and Nepal the focus is on getting children into school through expanding and creating child friendly schools. In both countries the lack of education especially affects girls. In Bangladesh again, UNICEF is working in urban areas to provide working children with non-formal education.

The aim of the project in Tanzania is to give basic education to children that have not been able to attend school due to poverty, gender or cultural reason. Ideally these children would be able to go on to formal education and secondary school or vocational training in a couple of years.

In Russia Stora Enso is co-operating with UNICEF on a project to be determined.

Read more
Convention on the Rights of the Child: www.unicef.org/knowyourrights/
Stora Enso UNICEF partnership: www.storaenso.com/unicef