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The Issues

All children have rights which guarantee them what they need to survive, grow, participate and fulfil their potential. Yet every day these rights are denied. In 2000 world leaders signed up to eight Millennium Development Goals to tackle poverty and hunger by 2015. But there's still a lot of work to be done to meet these goals. Millions of children are dying from preventable diseases. Millions more don't go to school, or don't have food, shelter and clean water. Children are suffering from violence, abuse and discrimination, and no-one is listening to them. This is wrong. Find out more about the issues facing the world's children.

    • A girl stands in the Nasirabad camp in Kech Valley in Balochistan Province, an areaone of the worst-affected areas. © UNICEF/NYHQ2007-0904/Sandra Bisin
    • Climate Change
    • Children in developing countries are among the hardest hit by climate change, despite being the least responsible for it. UNICEF works to put it right, helping communities adapt to the impacts of climate change now.
    • Sasha, 7, and Dima, 13 from the Russian Federation. Sasha's parents were both drug addicts and HIV positive. His father abandoned him, and his mother recently died of AIDS-related illness. They face one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the world. UNICEF/ HQ04-0680/Giacomo Pirozzi
    • HIV and AIDS
    • Almost every minute of every day, another two young people are infected with HIV. UNICEF works with communities and governments to provide care and support for children affected by HIV and AIDS.
    • A boy heads home with a container of water bought from a water seller, in the impoverished Cité l’Eternel neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, the capital. © UNICEF/NYHQ2010-2450/Marco Dormino
    • Water and Sanitation
    • Thousands of children die every day because they don’t have access to safe water and sanitation services. UNICEF works to improve water and sanitation in schools and communities.
    • UNICEF UK believes that making the Convention part of UK law would give powerful protection to children, ensuring that all children living in the UK, no matter who they are or where they’re from, have their rights realised. © UNICEF/NYHQ2001-0253/Justin Leighton
    • Making Child Rights Part of UK Law
    • UNICEF UK believes that making the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) part of UK law would give powerful protection to all children living in the UK.
    • Without urgent action, the number of children living in poverty in the UK will increase as more families struggle to cope with the recession.
    • UK Child Poverty
    • Today, 3.5 million children – one in three – live in poverty in the UK. Without urgent action this number will increase as more families struggle to cope with the recession.