January 2015: Children’s rights must be at the center of the post-2015 development agenda, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) argues in a set of issue briefs titled ‘A Post-2015 World Fit for Children.’ The briefs discuss a range of issues related to the post-2015 development agenda and children, and suggest relevant targets for the agenda.

One brief, titled ‘An Agenda for #EVERYChild 2015,’ outlines seven critical components for a child-centered agenda, including to: end violence, neglect, exploitation and abuse of children; place ending all dimensions of child poverty at the heart of poverty eradication efforts; renew global efforts to end preventable child and maternal deaths; and pay more attention to adolescence, including education and health services and protection from violence. The brief also recommends that the post-2015 development agenda: leverage the data revolution to support the rights of every child, stressing the importance of timely, credible and disaggregated data; increase investments in all children, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized; and break the cycle of chronic crises affecting children and build resilience.

The post-2015 development agenda is an opportunity to address the implementation gap between universal children’s rights and inequitable results, according to the brief on ‘Children’s’ Rights.’ It explains that linking the post-2015 agenda and the universal child rights agenda will contribute to increased accountability, strengthened coherence and alignment among stakeholders and an opportunity to address issues such as climate change, that are important to children but were not included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Issue briefs also address: the rights of children with disabilities; child poverty; maternal and child nutrition; breastfeeding; early childhood development; child survival and healthy development; achieving an AIDS-free generation; protecting children from violence, exploitation and abuse; equitable and inclusive quality education and life-long learning for all; water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); gender equality and women’s empowerment; strengthening resilience through disaster risk reduction (DRR); and environmental sustainability.

The ‘Environmental Sustainability’ brief identifies climate change and environmental degradation as equity issues that undermine children’s rights, arguing for the inclusion of children as stakeholders in environmental sustainability as agents of change and future decision-makers. The document recommends targets on, inter alia: universal access to energy services; integration of climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning; mechanisms for raising capacities for climate change planning and management; increased resilience and reduced exposure and vulnerability to climate-related events and other shocks and disasters; reduced deaths from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination; and improved water quality. [Publication: A Post-2015 World Fit for Children] [UNICEF Post-2015 Website]