Children's rights

A hundred years ago, Save the Children was founded by remarkable sisters Eglantyne Jebb and Dorothy Buxton. In 1924, Jebb wrote the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, the first inter-governmental human rights treaty, informing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

Almost every country in the world has signed up to the UNCRC - and real progress has been made in areas such as under‐5 child mortality, access to education and absolute poverty.

But many countries still fail to prioritise and promote children’s rights - especially the rights of children living in the worst forms of poverty and deprivation or affected by conflict.

We've been fighting for children's rights every day since our founding, inspired by the sisters' vision of a better future. 

Fouad, six, lost his mum at nine months old, leaving him with his unwell grandparents and father, who has mental disabilities. As bombs fell on their home town of Aleppo, they had no option but to flee.

Fouad's birth was never registered and, without documentation, he was turned away from school - at the age of six, Fouad hadn't learnt to speak.

We supported Fouad's family, now in North Lebanon, covering the costs of enrolling him in nursery.

Now Fouad can speak and is even learning the alphabet. He says, "I like to go to school. I learn to write, I have a notebook. I can scribble."