Young students take part in activities to celebrate the World Children's Day in the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov. 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)
Over 200 children and young people on Monday "took over" the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the UN's Geneva Headquarters, to mark the World Children's Day which falls on Nov. 20.
Those joined the event include the French music band and UNICEF Ambassadors Kids United, the youth group Step Into Action, and Michael Moller, director-general of the United Nations Office in Geneva, so as to "highlight the importance of youth engagement to achieve progress for children".
A source with the UNICEF's Geneva office said that on Monday, from Geneva to N'Djamena and from Auckland to Amman, children across the world "are taking over in media, politics, sport, business, and entrainment to shine a light on the most pressing challenges faced by their generation".
"We hope the World Children's Day celebrations will inspire governments, businesses and communities across the world to listen to children and incorporate their opinions in decision-making processes that affect them," the UNICEF's office said in a statement.
Nov. 20 is the day when the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), was adopted in 1989.
In the context of its 70th anniversary, celebrated from December 2016 to December 2017, UNICEF said it wants to focus on Article 12 of the CRC that guarantees to all children the right to freely express their views on all matters affecting them.
