Sustainable Development Starts and Ends with Safe, Healthy, Well-Educated Children

"Children’s rights and well-being should remain at the centre of the post-2015 agenda...." Anthony Lake

This paper explores the interplay between the realisation of children’s rights and sustainable development. The evidence presented is intended to make a case for why and how these issues must be directly addressed in the discussions towards a Post-2015 Development Agenda and the eventual framework that will emerge. It is a call to action, presented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for decisionmakers to invest in children’s rights and well-being as an integral means to achieving sustainable development.

The paper complements UNICEF's 10 Key Messages on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and is organised in three main sections [Footnotes are removed by the editor]: The first section sets the context: how and why children are central to the concept, principles, and future progress of sustainable development - and why sustainable development, in turn, is crucial for children. The second section introduces three key messages for the attention of decisionmakers on the Post-2015 Development Agenda on the centrality of children and young people to sustainable development:

1. "Sustainable development starts with safe, healthy, and well-educated children;
2. Safe and sustainable societies are, in turn, essential for children; and
3. Children’s voices, choices, and participation are critical for the sustainable future we want."

The third and final section makes the case to support these key messages by providing supporting evidence and recommendations on how to integrate consideration of children’s rights and wellbeing into the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Some recommendations include:

• Give children and young people tools to document, analyse, and understand the challenges they face, so they may come up with appropriate solutions for themselves and their communities.
• Give children a chance to be heard in order to propose and engage in solutions at the local, national, and international level. Children and young people contribute to sustainable development by raising awareness of issues that matter to them with their governments, schools, and communities.
• Ensure that all children have access to education. "Inclusive, rights-based quality education, both formal and non-formal, is a primary driver of both development progress and societal transformation to sustainable development pathways."
• Give children safe physical environments free from pollution. Empower them by, for example, adapting social services (e.g. safe water points and environmental education) and promoting their participation in managing risks.
• Give them access to peace and security and to water to support the creation of safe and sustainable societies in fragile contexts.
• Invest in children’s rights, such as nutrition, health, and education.