Summit calls for protection of children’s rights
Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TdH NL), through its project, Creating a safer Online Environment for Every Child (Conec), and Project Safety for Children and their Rights OnLine (SCROL), held the “Konek+Syon: Kabataan,” the 2024 Children and Youth Summit, last week in Quezon City in celebration of National Children’s Month.
The event was supported by the European Union and the Dutch Postcode Lottery (Nationale Postcode Loterij), and was organized in partnership with various child and youth-led groups, government agencies, civil society organizations and private institutions.
The period toward the 2025 Philippine midterm elections is a significant opportunity for children and youth to amplify their voices and urge political candidates, incumbent leaders and lawmakers to prioritize their issues and concerns, contributing to the development of laws, policies and programs that will impact the lives and futures of millions of Filipino children.
During the summit, over a hundred children and youth delegates developed a National Children’s Agenda containing their key asks and recommendations to electoral candidates and duty-bearers to respond to urgent issues affecting children and youth nationwide, such as violence against children, child trafficking, child labor, offline and online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, discrimination faced by LGBTI children, child marriage, disasters and the climate crisis.
This momentous event also facilitated the formation of a unified network of child and youth-led organizations that will advocate for this agenda, ensuring that it will reach electoral candidates and decision-makers.
This network will support TdH NL as one of its partners in promoting children’s rights, and lobbying for inclusive and gender-responsive legislations, policies and programs to protect children from exploitation, and appropriately support victims and their families.
