The one thing all children have in common is their rights. Every child has the right to su

rvive and thrive, to be educated, to be free from violence and abuse, to participate and to be heard. These are innate human rights, as inalienable as those held by adults. But until 1989, these rights were not formally articulated in a legally binding instrument, nor were governments fully accountable to advance these rights for every child. This all changed 25 years ago, on Universal Children s Day, when the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It rapidly became the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history.