Protecting children's rights has become global challenge: Türkiye's first lady

By Serdar Dincel

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye's first lady Emine Erdogan on Friday said that "protecting children's rights has become a global challenge."

"Sadly, in the world we live in today, protecting the right to life of children and ensuring that they grow up in a safe and peaceful environment has become a global challenge. However, the future of humanity sprouts with children," said Erdogan in a video message to the fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen.

Referring to the former South African President Nelson Mandela's words that "there can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children," Emine Erdogan highlighted the need to look at the current situation of the world's children.

"The fact that babies are wrapped in shrouds without even being registered in the population, that child deaths are considered as casualties of war, reveals how dark the soul of today's humanity is," Erdogan stated.

Stressing the plight of the children in Syria, Ukraine and Gaza as well as other war and conflict zones, she noted: "We feel in our hearts the responsibility to restore every color taken from our children’s lives by the dark shadow of war."

Noting Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska's efforts to protect Ukrainian children, Emine Erdogan said: “The initiative to host Ukrainian children who are victims of war in Türkiye in 2022 is one of them. Today, we are still hosting nearly 1,500 Ukrainian children and their companions in our country.”

Expressing once again solidarity with the Ukrainian people defending their homeland, the Turkish first lady said: “I sincerely hope that the war will end with a just and lasting peace as soon as possible.”

- Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen

The Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen was initiated by Olena Zelenska in 2021 with the aim of creating an international platform for dialogue to help solve humanitarian problems and implement joint projects for the well-being of people.

The first summit was held in 2021, the second in 2022, and the third in 2023. All these summits took place in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

This year's summit themed "Protecting Childhood: Ensuring a Safe Future" also took place in Kyiv.