At the World Summit “Investing in Children’s Wellbeing” in Samarkand, Shakhnoza Mirziyoyeva, First Deputy Director of the National Agency for Social Protection, spoke about protecting children, their safety and their wellbeing.
“We often say that ‘children are our future’. But after I became a mother, I began to understand these words differently. For parents, a child is not the future. A child is today. Today we care about their health, their safety and whether they feel loved,” said Shakhnoza Mirziyoyeva.
She stressed that any conversation about protecting children must begin with a simple but important question: what happens to a child if there are no adults beside them to protect them?
Every child has the right to ask for help and must feel that they are not alone. To achieve this, it is important for society to take a zero-tolerance stance on violence against children and to respect their rights and dignity unconditionally.
Today, the digital environment, global instability and other emerging risks are setting new challenges for children and families. No country can solve these problems alone. Cooperation between governments, business, civil society and international organisations is essential.
“Today their happiness, health and safety are in our hands. Tomorrow, the future of our countries and of the whole planet will be in theirs,” Shakhnoza Mirziyoyeva emphasised.
Before we talk about children’s future, we must protect their present, because every child has the right to live today with love, attention and safety.