The Mainz Alliance for Children’s Rights has been advocating for children’s rights in various areas for many years. Jana Schmöller, Head of the Department for Children and Youth, has agreed to serve as patron of the day of action and will open the event at 11:00 a.m. 

“Children’s rights are not abstract principles, but rather an important foundation for the upbringing of children and young people. We must all uphold children’s rights—every day. Children have the right to be heard and taken seriously, to protection, safety, and the prospect of a future worth living. For us adults, this entails the responsibility to respect these rights and to give children real opportunities to have a say,” emphasizes Jana Schmöller. “The World Children’s Day celebration brings these issues right into the heart of the city and shows how diverse the commitment to children’s rights can be. I am very pleased that the Mainz Alliance for Children’s Rights is organizing this day with such passion and invites us all to celebrate together and take new ideas home with us.”

“Our goal is to bring the topic of children’s rights to life,” says Dr. Sabine Gresch, coordinator of the Mainz Alliance for Children’s Rights and a representative of the Agenda Office of the State Capital of Mainz, describing the event. “We want to reach as many residents of Mainz as possible with this vital issue of children’s rights.” 

Program and Booths at the World Children’s Day Festival

All visitors, young and old alike, can look forward to a varied program in front of the theater steps. The well-known and popular Frauenlob Concert Band “Fabulous League of Gentlemen” will kick off the event with a lively and rhythmic performance. The Mombach Gymnastics Club will be there with the “Wusels” (ages 3–4) and the “Lollipops” (ages 6–7), presenting a fun, interactive dance and a movement story for all the children. There will also be hip-hop with Leandra and Alicia and a parent-child dance. There’s plenty to look forward to and be curious about. At 2:00 p.m., this year’s award ceremony for the ABC e.V. children’s and youth competition “Wir sind Vielfalt” will take place. This year’s competition is themed “Courage Has Many Faces” and invites young people to express their own ideas about courage, solidarity, and diversity through creative entries. Conversations with members of the Mainz Alliance for Children’s Rights promise to be informative.

At the booths of the Mainz Alliance for Children’s Rights, there will be games and activities to ensure a varied, interesting, and very special day in celebration of children’s rights: 

• At the Ambulant Children’s Hospice Service booth, people of all ages can paint memorial stones for a loved one who has passed away.
• Flüsterpost e.V.—which supports children of parents with cancer—will offer a cancer quiz and the opportunity to draw heart-shaped postcards for children of parents with cancer or for themselves. 
• The MädchenHaus Mainz is offering wooden wind chimes that children can paint.
• A special experience is the listening station at the TheaterRaumMainz booth. 
• Sports scientists from the University of Mainz are offering a varied exercise program at the Kinder.Gesundheit.Mainz Foundation’s booth, and there will be an accompanying sports program in front of the theater steps throughout the entire event.
• The Tagwerk Foundation has brought its SDG Twister, which allows children to discover the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in a playful way. 
• In addition, HUMAN HELP NETWORK e.V. will present its child protection projects, which are supported, among other things, by the development policy school campaign “Aktion Tagwerk.”
• The Mainz UNICEF groups (Working Group, University Group, Junior Team) are providing information this year on “80 Years of UNICEF.” This ranges from the story of UNICEF’s founding, to a look back at past years, to an overview of current and future UNICEF projects worldwide.  Children can look forward to small hands-on activities, and those interested can also learn about children’s rights, regional initiatives, and opportunities to get involved with the Mainz UNICEF groups.  
• The association Trauernde Eltern und Kinder Rhein-Main e.V. (Grieving Parents and Children of the Rhine-Main Region) highlights children’s right to grieve. This includes ensuring that their feelings are taken seriously, that they receive honest answers, and that they find reliable support in times of crisis. This right is brought to life at the association’s booth, where everyone can experience it firsthand.
• Scattered across Gutenbergplatz, visitors can admire an art project by the Alliance for Equal Opportunity titled “Rich in Ideas, Poor in Opportunities.” 
• All children and young people, as well as their families from Mainz and the surrounding area, are invited to experience children’s rights with curiosity, fun, and good ideas. 

Motto: Together for Tomorrow! Secure Children’s Rights, Protect the Environment!

This year’s Rhineland-Palatinate motto for World Children’s Day is “Together for Tomorrow! Secure Children’s Rights, Protect the Environment!” Sabine Gresch from the Agenda Office explains: “With the 2030 Agenda, the state capital of Mainz has committed to taking responsibility for future generations and leaving our children and grandchildren a world in which every person can live with dignity. And without the realization of children’s rights, the global sustainability goals of the 2030 Agenda will not be achieved—neither in Mainz, nor in Germany, nor worldwide.” 

Children make up nearly one-third of the world’s population; in some African countries, as many as half the population is under 15 years of age. For these young people, all 17 Sustainable Development Goals have an impact on their lives, their development, and their future. Conversely, children’s rights establish the fundamental prerequisites for improving children’s living conditions—without which sustainable development is inconceivable.