Global Faith Leaders Issue Unified Call to Protect the Rights and Dignity of Children

Global faith leaders issued a powerful call for unified, concrete action to protect children’s rights and dignity during the first of three special interfaith dialogues supported by Arigatou International, World Council of Churches and Religions for Peace.

“Conflict, various forms of violence, persistent poverty, forced displacement, and the worsening impact of climate change continue to devastate communities around the world,” said Rev. Keishi Miyamoto, the President of Arigatou International. “In all of these, children are the most affected. Their rights and dignity – sacred and non-negotiable – are the first to be denied and the last to be restored.

“May our shared wisdom, rooted in the richness of our diverse tradition, guide us in building a world where the dignity of every child is not only protected, but nurtured, and where every child can grow up safe and sound through our shared commitment and collaboration.”

Under the theme “Advancing the Responsibility to Protect the Rights and Dignity of the Child,” the inaugural dialogue, moderated by Rabbi Diana Gerson, religious leaders from around the world underscored that protecting children is an urgent ethical and spiritual responsibility.

Speakers — including Dr. Vinu Aram, President, Shanti Ashram and Co-Moderator of Religions for Peace, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew — highlighted the need to make childhood protection a central topic of interfaith collaboration, stressing that efforts must go beyond scale to emphasize ethics and real-world impact.

Imam Yahya Pallavicini, Chairman of EULEMA, the European Council of Muslim Leaders, Vice President of COREIS (the Islamic Religious Community of Italy), and the President of the Muslim Jewish Leaders Council also participated. EULEMA includes representatives from 22 European countries, focusing on interfaith dialogue and promoting religious freedom in Europe.

“Through the innocence and the purity of a young child, you find not only the relation with prophecy, but also the way to approach true sacred knowledge,” Imam Pallavicini said. Children represent “a symbol of purity, of innocence, and as such contributing to knowledge, to the defense of sacredness, into a counter narrative… to tyranny, to injustice.”

Participants discussed specific issues in break-out groups. The meeting concluded with leaders advocating for deeper cooperation across faiths to shield children from conflict, poverty, exploitation, and climate crises.

The three-part series seeks to facilitate reflection on what faith communities and religious leaders are doing — and could do — to advance children’s wellbeing and preserve their dignity. The next two will take place in 2026.