(ANS – Madrid) – Augusto left the streets of Angola and today wants to become a teacher; Artem had to leave his home in Ukraine and lives as a refugee in Poland, accompanied by the Salesians; while Agani was given a second chance at the Magone Centre in the Philippines after being imprisoned for stealing a telephone… Like them, there are millions of minors in the world for whom violence, poverty, insecurity, and abandonment are the order of the day and threaten their well-being and their lives: children whose rights are violated on a daily basis.

On occasions such as November 20, when the Day for the Rights of the Child is celebrated all over the world, the Salesian Mission Office, Misiones Salesianas in Madrid, raises its voice for children all over the world.

Despite legislative and technological advances, child welfare indicators have not improved sufficiently in recent years, and millions of children around the world still live in situations of severe vulnerability.

The data is chilling: one in six children worldwide live in extreme poverty; over 160 million work to help their families or to survive; 426 million live in armed conflict; over 270 million do not attend school; one billion suffer some form of violence; 50 million suffer from severe malnutrition; 37 million have left their homes to become displaced persons, migrants or refugees; 12 million children are forced into forced marriages each year; one million girls end up in prostitution networks each year; 24. 000 boys and girls die every day for lack of basic care…

“We at Misiones Salesianas work, together with Salesian missionaries in 137 countries around the world, to protect the rights of minors and offer them a quality education, accompany them, support them and instil hope in them, making them chief architects of their own lives,” explains Fr. Luis Manuel Moral, Director of the Salesian Mission Office.

Over the past five years, the Salesian organization has developed 264 projects in 71 countries on five continents, which, with an investment of €10.6 million, have directly benefited more than 300,000 children.

“To achieve this, we have shelters to assist, protect and take care of children rescued from the streets or from trafficking, centers for children involved in armed conflicts, spaces to host and offer education to refugees fleeing war, schools from kindergartens to universities, vocational training centers, literacy centers, agricultural centers, youth centers and safe recreational spaces,” adds Fr Moral.

For this reason, Misiones Salesianas is launching an appeal for the rights of children to be respected and for boys and girls to become chief architects of their own lives.

For more information, please visit: https://misionessalesianas.org/