"When we protect their rights, we are not only preventing their suffering. We are not only safeguarding their lives. We are protecting our common future," said the UNICEF Executive Director, Anthony Lake, in his message on Universal Children's Day.

Established on 20 November 1954, UN Universal Children's Day promotes international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare.

Today also marks the day in 1989 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a human rights treaty that changed the way children are viewed and treated as human beings with a distinct set of rights instead of as passive objects of care and charity.

Further in his message today, Lake called on the world to confront the "uncomfortable truth" that around the planet, the rights of millions of children are being violated every day.