October 1 was world children’s day:

How’s the world treating you?

The world is awaiting the birth of the seven billionth baby this October...but what has the world got to offer the new born? Strife, pain, abuse, crime, violence, poverty, hunger, disease, pollution or a place where a child could live happily in peace and grow up protected from the vices of the world?

The children born into this world today are indeed less fortunate than those born a few decades ago simply because of the numerous social evils and environmental threats they have to face now.

Crimes against innocent children are on the increase throughout the world today and the environmental hazards too are unprecedented. Perhaps, the root cause of all evil is the booming population... Everyone, everywhere is striving to fulfill his own needs even at the cost of another’s life.

Who really cares about the dwindling natural resources, poverty and hunger or global warming as long as his needs are fulfilled? Very few indeed and even their plea for a better world end up as voices in the wilderness; no one hears, no one cares.

With most people concerned only about ensuring their own welfare, with the greed for wealth and power taking precedence, very few have time to really even raise an eyebrow when it comes to children dying of hunger, being molested and abused or lured into crime.

Even though many shout themselves hoarse and use the quote, “Children are the wealth of a nation” on various platforms, very little is actually done to really treat them as the wealth of a nation.

If we strictly adhere to this famous quote, we readily latch onto, should we not treasure all the innocent and hapless children of the world? What actually are the privileges most of the children enjoy today with many being deprived of even their basic rights?

Children of the world, unite to fight for your basic rights. Let no one rob you of your childhood and what is rightfully yours.It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words and we hope the ones featured on this page speak volumes for the real world scenario.

Miru

The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn’t been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.

Pablo Casals

A torn jacket is soon mended, but hard words bruise the heart of a child.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Child abuse casts a shadow the lenght of a lifetime.

-Dr Harim Ginott

A lot of people in our community don’t want to believe that child abuse happens in our neighbourhodds - but it does.

-Shari Pulliam

Education ‘n’ child labour

He who opens a school door, closes a prison.

- Victor Hugo

No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.

-Emma Goldman

Child labour and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labour of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labour to the end of time. - Grace Abbott

Poverty ‘n’ hunger

Hungry people cannot be good at learning or producing anything, except perhaps violence.

- Pearl Bailey

When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed.

- Mother Teresa

Health ‘n’ nutrition

Let us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child dies every three seconds simply because he does not have the drugs you and I have. Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right to life. Let us be outraged, let us be loud, let us be bold. - Brad Pitt

If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for much.. - Marian Wright Edelman

In serving the best interests of children, we serve the best interests of all humanity. - Carol Bellamy

Healthy environment

The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Creating a world that is truly fit for children does not imply simply the absence of war. It means having the confidence that our children would not die of measles or malaria. It means having access to clean water and proper sanitation. It means having primary schools nearby that educate children, free of charge. It means changing the world with children, ensuring their right to participate, and that their views are heard and considered. It means building a world fit for children, where every child can grow to adulthood in health, peace and dignity.

Carol Bellamy

War ‘n’ conflict

The impact of armed conflict on children is everyone’s responsibility. And it must be everyone’s concern. - Graça Machel-Mandela

If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children . -Mohandas Gandhi

Children are the seed for peace or violence in the future, depending on how they are cared for and stimulated. Thus, their family and community environment must be sown to grow a fairer and more fraternal world, a world to serve life and hope. - Zilda Arns Neumann

There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace. - Kofi Annan

The greatest gift we can give to our children is to raise them in a culture of peace. - Louise Diamond