Protecting Childhood: Lessons from Global Crises for Our Shared Future

We are witnessing examples of blatant disregard for child protection around the world that could significantly shape our future if left unchecked. With the Summit of the Future fast approaching, a global re-commitment to the protection of children everywhere is of paramount importance for present and future generations.?

Every now and then, we cross paths with someone who makes us connect emotionally with what we do, who we are, and what the future may hold for us, our children and our children’s children. That is what happened to me during a presentation by Paul Weiss, a Professor of Child Health and Society and a Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University. It took place in person in April 2024 at the UNICEF Innocenti office in Florence, Italy, in a building commissioned in 1419 to provide shelter and care for orphans and abandoned children. Though I was joining online, the experience was no less profound.?

The title of the talk was gripping: ‘The Future of Child Protection: Lessons from History, Gaza, Ukraine, and the US/Mexico Border.’ Paul got started by doing away with the usual academic formalities, "I was gonna provide slides and give a talk" he began - “I'm a professor, I do a lot of talks - but I have great respect for the experience, the intellect, and the commitment of all the people sitting in this room and online, and so rather than giving a lecture, I would really rather have a conversation." True to his word, Paul began storytelling, sharing three vastly different stories from the field, starting with Ukraine.

Paul has been working with a network responsible for evacuating children with catastrophic illness in the Ukraine. In no time, a network of oncologists spanning Europe, the US, and Canada shifted their focus from education and research to the evacuation effort, evacuating around 1400 kids with life threatening diseases, ensuring their safe transport, medical care, and housing—all financed by the EU, where these children were given a warm welcome and special status. Many of these children continue to live in the EU, the US and Canada for follow-up care.

"I want to turn to Gaza," he paused. "On October 7th, and every day since, we have witnessed catastrophic attacks on children in violation of their fundamental rights." The network that made such a difference in Ukraine had turned their attention to Gaza, and out of 200-250 children in need of cancer treatment, only 100 could be evacuated to Egypt, Turkiye, and other medical centres in the Middle East. A grim disparity in the ability to protect children had been laid bare. He did not need to tell us the number of children who had lost their homes, their families, and their lives.?

"The difference between the ability to evacuate children from Gaza and Ukraine?couldn't have been starker."

The final case was on the US/Mexico border. With 150,000 unaccompanied children and another 600,000 with families detained annually, child migrants were caught in the "vice-grip of an intensely divisive political moment". The most notable example of this came during the Trump administration and the zero-tolerance policy that saw parents arrested, jailed, and separated from their children, who were then labelled as unaccompanied before being placed in the shelter system.

"When children are identified as the other, they become extremely vulnerable. Child rights cannot stand up to such assaults."

These stories lay bare the striking variability in how child protection is seen and practiced around the world. This variability, and the fluidity of societal norms it reveals, should challenge us to think beyond the present, to consider futures that might require us to protect children in ways we've yet to imagine.?

This is not easy to do. Most of us think about the future as a linear extension of the present. We struggle to imagine scenarios radically different to our current reality. It's hard to imagine a future where children would be expected to work or fight in wars. But for the vast majority of human history, child protections that we take for granted today would have been seen as utopian fantasy.?

To illustrate this, Paul shared the example of a child who won a medal of honour during the American Civil War. What is startling is the societal acceptance and normalisation of such extraordinary circumstances. Indeed, upon researching the case of 11-year-old drummer and medal of honour recipient Willie Johnston on the US Department of Defense website, I was taken aback to read the following:?

“Pretty cool, right? After all, what were you doing when you were 11?”?

In the context of Paul’s talk, reading these words felt like an eerie foreshadowing of an alternative future where children who did not fight in wars were seen as lazy and unpatriotic, while child soldiers were celebrated as heroes. This should be a stark reminder to us that our rights are fragile, that they were once fought for, and that the battle is never won.?

That day, we were confronted with an alarming reality: the emergence of a blatant disregard for child rights that could significantly shape our future if left unchecked. Feeling overwhelmed is a natural reaction to hearing stories of vulnerable children, not only in the Ukraine and Gaza but in Myanmar, Sudan, and the many other conflict zones around the world. UNICEF estimates 400m children globally are living in conflict. The number is dizzying.?

Thinking about the future can be paralysing, but it can also give us agency. A look at the grand patterns of history can help us anticipate how the world will change, and even provide rays of hope. Paul shared how the Save the Children fund arose from the embers of World War 2 due to the plight of children starving in Germany and Austria; how the 600-year-old Ospedale degli Innocenti orphanage in Florence, now home to UNICEF Innocenti, sprang from a crisis of child poverty in the city. These examples showcase the resilience and capacity for change within societies, and how critical moments in history can redefine child protection in the world. We are living through a similar historical moment, although it is hard to see it in first person. We must dare to dream of a better future, and encourage our children to do the same, no matter how bleak our nightmares are.

It is equally incumbent upon us to emotionally engage with the situation facing hundreds of millions of children around the world, and to change appropriately in response. Implicatory denial is often used within the context of the climate crisis where?people do not contest the facts, or how they are interpreted?- what is denied or minimised are the psychological, political, and moral implications of the facts. We pontificate, using language like the polycrisis or metacrisis that render the situation generically worrying. Truthfully, what we are bargaining with here is the death of our worldview: that children are vulnerable and must be protected, that children are the future, and that our work makes a difference.?

This is not the only worldview that is dying. In a world where we are failing to deliver on a single goal and indicator of the SDGs, trust in our institutions is at an all-time low.?

The UN will host the Summit of the Future in September this year, a key pillar in the UN Secretary General’s strategy to reaffirm our commitment to the?Sustainable Development Goals?(SDGs) and the?United Nations Charter, and to move the UN and nation states from short-term reactive governance to long-term sustainable governance for present and future generations.?

In my mind, three commitments will be fundamental at the Summit:?

Beyond the performative: Creating tangible change

We must go beyond the performative to create change that is felt by citizens of all generations. "The goal here is not to create interesting social science," Paul shared. "It's to make a difference in the real world." These words felt like a provocation, or perhaps a wake-up call. They should challenge us to critically evaluate our current strategies and whether we can survive, let alone protect children's rights, in a business-as-usual future. They should encourage us as individuals and teams to connect emotionally with the work we do and the children we serve, and to question what the future is beckoning us to become.

Re-Commit to the protection of children globally

We must re-commit to the protection of children all over the world. We have an opportunity in September to come together to co-create and advocate for a new era in child protection where compassion for children and an unwavering commitment to every child's rights are integral. A key message at the Summit must be that we cannot expect to govern in the interests of future generations if we cannot protect our children today. As Emile Durkheim once wrote:?

“Each new generation is reared by its predecessor: the latter must therefore improve in order to improve its successor. The movement is circular.”

Meaningful youth engagement in decision-making

Today, too few opportunities exist for children and young people to actively contribute to resolving global challenges in a world in which they will be expected to lead. Half of the world’s population are under 30, yet only 2.6% of parliamentarians are under 30 years old. 2/3 of people agree the age balance in politics is wrong. When young people disengage from civic life, decision makers have even less reason to try and meet their needs. This is a negative feedback loop. At the Summit, it's crucial we model this by providing platforms for youth voices to be heard and incorporate their insights into our policies and programs for the future.?

If we make these commitments, perhaps one day we will look back on this moment in history and know that we made a difference. Thank you to Paul and to all those who work to work so hard to protect children around the world.?

The opinions and views in this article are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of UNICEF or UNICEF Innocenti