Mogadishu – The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG), Nicholas Kay, welcomed Somalia becoming party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at a ceremony led by the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, at a local School in Mogadishu. Hundreds of schoolchildren witnessed the ceremony. The Convention sets out the measures states need to take to protect and promote the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of all children.
 

“I welcome the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by Somalia. This is an important step forward in the protection and promotion of the rights of all children in Somalia,” said SRSG Kay.
 

“As the nation recovers from decades of conflict, the Federal Government and its international partners have a duty to protect and serve Somalia’s most vulnerable communities,” said SRSG Kay. “I hope Somalia will now also begin the process of becoming party to the Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United Nations stands ready to support the Somali authorities in that regard.”