COVID-19 is the greatest threat to child rights in a lifetime. The future of a generation of children is at risk – Generation Covid. Their rights and opportunities hang in the balance as the world adjusts to, and plans its recovery from, the pandemic. Will we settle for a setback in progress or seize the opportunity to build a stronger tomorrow?
Children’s access to education and essential health services are critical to realising their full potential, enabling them to live a happy and opportunity-rich life. These two rights are inextricably linked, and neither can be progressed in isolation from the other. Yet right now both are under immense strain that could hold back a generation. Unless each, taken hand in hand, are at the forefront of global action, we could see years of progress reversed.