Participants at the World Summit on Investing in Children’s Wellbeing adopted the Samarkand Declaration on Thursday, laying out a framework for governments to put more money and effort into kids’ health, education, protection and overall development.
The two-day summit, held October 21–22 at the Silk Road Complex, was organized by Uzbekistan along with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Violence Against Children, UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the World Bank. It brought together first ladies, ministers of social protection, health, education and finance, plus representatives from governments, international organizations, civil society, academia, the private sector, and children and young people themselves. More than 600 people from over 100 countries took part.
In the Declaration, participants reaffirmed their commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the principle that the best interests of the child come first. They noted that kids make up one-third of the world’s population and that investing in them pays off in better health, education, productivity, social cohesion and peace.
Countries said they would, depending on their own situations and resources, work in several areas: building stronger social protection systems and expanding benefits for children and families, including during crises; strengthening systems that protect kids from violence, abuse and exploitation, including online; supporting early childhood development, inclusive education and health care, including efforts against childhood cancer; helping parents and caregivers so kids don’t get separated from their families unnecessarily; and preparing young people for the future economy through green and digital skills and decent work, including for young people with disabilities.
A separate section deals with money. Participants stressed the need to steadily increase public spending on children and make national budgets more transparent and focused on kids. They also called on international financial institutions, development partners, philanthropies and the private sector to put up more funding, especially for low- and middle-income countries and places hit by conflict, climate change and natural disasters.
Children and teenagers were recognized as rights holders and “agents of change.” Participants said they were ready to make sure kids can safely and meaningfully take part in decision-making, including when it comes to putting the Declaration into practice. Implementation is supposed to happen through national policies and budgets, with each country setting its own timelines and reporting regularly. They also agreed to meet again later to check on progress, and the co-hosting organizations were asked to help countries carry the Declaration out.
Shakhnoza Mirziyoyeva, First Deputy Director of Uzbekistan’s National Agency for Social Protection, closed the summit. She said any talk about children’s wellbeing has to start not with laws or numbers but with a basic human question: what happens to a kid when there’s no adult around who can protect them. Speaking as both an official and a mom, she said that for a parent a child isn’t just “the future” — a child is the present. She called for a culture of zero tolerance for violence and real respect for every child. “Today, their happiness, their health and their safety are in our hands,” she said. “And tomorrow, the future of our countries — and of our entire planet — will be in theirs.”
The summit’s outcomes were summed up by Academy Award-winning actor Adrien Brody, who also gave Ms. Mirziyoyeva a painting he had made himself.
Participants thanked the people and government of Uzbekistan for hosting the summit in Samarkand, calling the city “a crossroads of civilizations.” Once a major hub on the Silk Road and the capital of Timur’s empire, the UNESCO World Heritage city has hosted a string of high-level meetings in recent days, including a C5+1 ministerial gathering with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The children’s summit added to that activity, with first ladies, ministers and experts moving between modern conference halls at the Silk Road Complex while the turquoise-tiled madrasahs of Registan Square and the Gur-e Amir mausoleum stayed the constant backdrop. Hosting these meetings has further raised the profile of both the city and Uzbekistan as a place for international talks.
