On the Needs of Children

In an address to the U.N. General Assembly this past week, Archbishop Celestino Migliore lamented the fact that that “chronic poverty remains the single biggest obstacle to meeting the needs of children,” and that education is key “to empowering them to break the cycle of extreme poverty.” The Archbishop, the permanent observer of the Holy Sea to the United Nations, also expressed concern about the lack of access of children and their mothers to basic health care and sanitation, suggesting that sanitation is “one of the most overlooked and underserved basic human needs.” The address was to the plenary session of the U.N. General Assembly, which was a follow-up of the 2002 Special Session on children, which made a commitment to create a world “fit for children.” Read the address.