News - USA, New York, Permanent Representation of the Republic of Bulgaria to the UN

Ambassador Gergana Karadjova Chaired the meeting of the Group of Friends of Children and the SDGs. The event was opened by Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, and the President of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, delivered guest remarks.

The Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the United Nations said that the past year demonstrated how children’s perspectives have been meaningfully reflected in major global processes, including the High-Level Political Forum, the Financing for Development process, the World Social Summit. Ambassador Karadjova emphasized that in many of these fora, children were not treated as symbolic participants, but as rights-holders with concrete policy demands. She underlined that this progress was the result of sustained advocacy, coordination, and political will, including the collective efforts of this Group.

Ambassador Karadjova also drew attention to the intensified conflicts, the climate crisis, and the growing resistance to established norms throughout 2025, stressing that these developments have shown that visibility alone is not sufficient. “Children’s rights must be sustainably embedded in political decisions, budgets, and accountability mechanisms,” the senior Bulgarian diplomat stated firmly.

Looking ahead to 2026, the question is not whether children’s rights have a place in marking the 80th anniversary of the United Nations and UNICEF, but how to ensure that they are meaningfully integrated across all key processes. As governments, we must purposefully use our political voice and negotiating role to make children and their rights more visible and consistently protected,” Ambassador Karadjova concluded.