“Girls and boys have the right to equal opportunities in life, they have the right to be listened to, accepted and to live their age,” said Mattarella.
“They have the right to peace,” he added.
“Concretely recognising and promoting these rights, providing the tools for them to become aware adults, means giving us all hope for a better future.”
“Every day, in every corner of the planet, children continue to die under bombs, they are brutalised and exploited, in body and mind, they are abducted and discriminated against,” continued Mattarella in his message.
“The tragedies of which they are the innocent victims will mark their lives forever.
“The world robs itself of its future.”
Meanwhile, centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) Senator Sandra Zampa called for full implementation of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“Today is the day the world celebrates childhood and adolescence. It serves to remind us of all that girls, boys and young adults give us and all that we continue to deny them,” Zampa wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child must be implemented to respect and protect them,” she added.
ANSA
