When governments adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we committed to a world that invests in children, where all girls and boys grow up free from violence, exploitation and neglect. For the first time, we have set a global goal to end all forms of violence against children, based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Today, 10 years later, we must face a harsh reality. That means we are not on track to achieve these goals.
Every year, half of the world’s children are victims of violence. Frankly, we are failing to keep one billion girls and boys safe at home, at school, in our communities, in care settings and online.
We recognize the complexity of the problem and, as a result, we also recognize that it often lasts a lifetime and has an impact that spans generations. Violence erodes every investment that families, communities and governments make in children, from education and social inclusion to their mental and physical health. The violence that a billion children experience today is the same violence that will undermine the health, prosperity, and stability of our societies tomorrow.
As Ministers, we are driven by the interventions and investments that have the potential to most improve people’s lives. We are motivated by the fact that violence against children is completely preventable. And we believe that preventing violence strengthens public health outcomes, social protection systems, community resilience, and intergenerational mobility.
Decades of rigorous research, community mobilization, and country experience have given us a clear understanding of what works. The INSPIRE framework, coordinated by WHO and partners, provides a proven blueprint of seven strategies, from strengthening norms and laws to supporting parents and caregivers, scaling up response services and creating safe school environments. The recent largest-ever evidence review on the prevention of violence against children clearly confirmed that the INSPIRE strategy is working. We are now the first generation in history to have the knowledge and tools to sustainably reduce violence on a national scale. We have the opportunity and responsibility to act.
This is why we are launching the WHO Council of Champions to end violence against children. The first-ever global group of ministers committed to leveraging our nation’s political capital to place violence prevention at the center of national and global health, social development, justice, protection, and economic challenges. We are forced to act on the fact that children who grow up safely become healthier, better-learning, more socially protected adults who contribute to stronger and more just societies.
Together, our 10 ministers will create and demonstrate political leadership. From the outset, we must confront the dramatic disparity between the scale of the problem and the scale of investment. Whether you look at national budgets or look at funding streams, the power of violence prevention to contribute to child outcomes, from social development to mental health, remains unrecognized and under-resourced. We are committed to prioritizing this issue, increasing funding and stepping up action to unlock the potential to prevent violence against children.
This year is our year of proof. The second Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence against Children, to be hosted by the Philippine government in November 2026, will build on the shoulders of the influential first Global Ministerial Conference to be held in Colombia in 2024. That moment proved what was possible. Prioritizing the most promising and vulnerable populations, we are mobilizing Member States, civil society and citizens in an unprecedented commitment to action on behalf of children affected by violence.
As the SDGs deadline approaches, we need to do more and do better. The ministerial meeting in Manila must celebrate successes, consolidate progress, raise expectations and generate concrete commitments commensurate with the scale of the violence prevention challenge. This represents a moment to scale up our most proven INSPIRE strategy, tackle funding gaps head-on, strengthen health and social protection systems, and ensure that the lived experiences of children, young people, civil society and victims of violence help shape the solutions essential to realizing our shared SDG promise.
Let our next actions as Ministers demonstrate our resolve to redouble our efforts towards a world free of violence and exploitation, as we have promised and as each child deserves.
Signed by:
Mr. Evis Sala, Albanian Minister of Health and Social Protection
Her Excellency Anna Karapetyan, Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia
His Excellency Alexandre Pasilla, Minister of Health, Brazil
HE Stephanie Rist, French Minister of Health, Family, Autonomy and Persons with Disabilities
His Excellency Wafa Bani Mustafa, Jordanian Minister of Social Development
Ahmed Abdulwahab Ahmed Al Awadi, Minister of Health, Oman
His Excellency Teodoro J. Herbosa, Philippine Minister of Health
His Excellency Elia dos Reis Amaral, Minister of Health of Timor-Leste (East Timor)
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
