Protect a Generation Petition

Today, nearly one-fifth of children worldwide are caught up in conflict — more than double what it was 30 years ago.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, children were already facing a triple-threat to their rights from conflict, climate change and food insecurity. The pandemic is now reversing decades of hard-won progress advancing children’s access to food, education, healthcare, vaccinations, and protection. It’s the most marginalized and deprived children living in war zones, remote communities and refugee camps who are being hit the hardest. We must act now to reverse this backslide.

It is estimated that some 235 million people will need humanitarian aid this year- a 40% increase since 2020– and an estimated half of them are children. This increase is truly shocking, and yet humanitarian responses are severely under-resourced, with large funding gaps in countries like Syria and Yemen – two countries where children need our support the most.

We are deeply concerned about the numbers of children at risk of acute and severe malnutrition. We can’t ignore the clear warning signs of dangerous food shortages and a risk of famine in many countries, including Yemen, DRC, South Sudan, and parts of Nigeria.

The education of more than 300 million pupils continues to be affected by the pandemic, as many schools had to close to curb the virus. Loss of learning can have life-long impacts and being out of school significantly increases the risk of child abuse, exploitation, child marriage or children dropping out of school permanently. Girls in crisis, including refugee and internally displaced girls are especially at-risk of gender-based violence and consistently face barriers to accessing protection services.

Canadian leadership is needed now more than ever.

We call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to boost Canada’s international assistance spending, including humanitarian aid, in order to address the needs of children in crisis. We also call on Canada to speak up for the rights of children in crisis by including their unique needs in upcoming global forums like the G7 and G20.

By increasing Canada’s global spending to just 1% of what we spend at home to battle the pandemic, we can help #ProtectAGeneration of children from the consequences of conflict, COVID-19 and climate change.

Children cannot wait. Act now for children everywhere by signing this petition.