North Macedonia's kids help spread awareness about children's rights

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child turned 30 this year, however, it is no time for celebration. Even though the world has come a long way since its inception, children's rights are still being violated on a daily basis.

For this reason, UNICEF and the EU joined forces and launched #TheRealChallenge campaign, which allowed kids and adolescents to express their views on their own rights and in their own language. This campaign, triggered by four short videos (in the links below), lasted from 25 October until 20 November, which was the anniversary of the Convention. With an emotional and personal style, the videos conveyed the message that while children's rights are universal, they cannot be taken for granted.

Child labour:
Millions of children are trapped in child labour: #therealchallenge is to have a childhood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkzT0BlozOs&feature=emb_title

Equality:
Not all girls get the same chances as boys: #therealchallenge is to be treated equally
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep7YC3cCIVk&feature=emb_title

Family unity:
Millions of children are being separated from their family: #therealchallenge is staying with my family
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiDs03LUQOA&feature=emb_title

Bullying:
Millions of children are being bullied every day: #therealchallenge is to stop bullying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuT33KlUT30&feature=emb_title

The Convention on the Rights of the Child remains the most ratified UN Treaty and has played a vital role in improving the lives of children all over the world. However, real challenges for children across the planet continue and awareness needs to be raised that these are indeed real and unacceptable: children are refugees, children are being recruited as soldiers, inequalities persist in many forms, children are at risk of child labour, they are victims of bullying, online and offline; and children are being torn apart from their families against their will and best interest and are losing their homes.

Bullying is the topic of this video created as part of the challenge by Aleksandar Dinev from North Macedonia.
https://vm.tiktok.com/upM2Bc/

Ambassador Samuel Žbogar's address on World Children's Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-aHPrqMRWg&feature=emb_title

https://twitter.com/AmbassadorEU/status/1197136862260977666