Amina Mohammed Visits Center for Street Children in Beirut

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed paid a visit this week to a centre for street children in Beirut, Lebanon, to explore, first-hand, challenges faced by the most vulnerable groups in the afflicted country.

During her visit, she said: “Children should be allowed to be children. They should enjoy their rights to education, to health, to a safe environment and to not feeling the pressures of an adult at a child’s age.”

Mohammed continued: “We want to make sure that street children are an issue of the past. That’s what we will be working for day-in and day-out.”

On the sidelines of the forum, Mohammed is on a two-day official visit to Lebanon for the opening of the Arab Forum for Sustainable Development, organized by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA).

Lebanon’s crisis is affecting every aspect of children’s lives. Investing in children’s protection, development, and well-being is essential to ensure their rights are met under any circumstance. Lebanon cannot afford for children to be nutritionally deprived, out of school, in poor health, and at risk of abuse, violence, and exploitation. Children are an investment, the ultimate investment, in a nation’s future, according to UNICEF.