The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization celebrates the “Arab Children’s Day”, proclaimed by the League of Arab States to be commemorated on October 1st of each year, the day on which the twelve-year-old Palestinian child, Muhammad Al-Durrah, was martyred by the Israeli occupying forces on the second day Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000.
The Arab Children’s Day offers a renewed opportunity to draw attention to the sufferings endured by Palestinian children under the Israeli occupation which has placed various barriers to restrict their right to education.
ALECSO condemns the Israeli repressive practices that target the rights of Palestinian children. It also recalls the sufferings of Arab children in conflict areas, being deprived of their rights to healthcare, social protection, and educational upbringing guaranteed by national and international legislations, foremost of which is the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 20, 1989.
ALECSO reaffirms, on this occasion, its commitment to work for supporting the realization of the rights of Arab children, as an integral part of human rights, by offering them wide prospects for the future, through adequate learning opportunities that ensure the enhancement of their abilities and talents and the balanced development of their personality.
To that end, ALECSO calls for strengthening policies aimed at protecting children from neglect, abuse and violence, supporting investment in projects that prepare them to engage in the development of their society, and providing remedial education opportunities for school dropouts to protect them from falling into delinquency and relapsing into illiteracy.
Promoting childhood development and care is a constant theme in ALECSO’s programs and activities, proceeding from a comprehensive vision that seeks to promote educational environments supportive of children’s rights.
In its Action Plan for the coming period 2023-2028, ALECSO has included a number of projects related to the basic rights of children, including the promotion of early childhood education, and the development of policies and programs that help incorporate pre-school education into the stages of general education in the Arab countries and offer all 3-to-6 year-old children, female and male, access to adequate psychological care and quality education before entering school to develop their abilities and their passion for learning.
