(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 20 - Girls and boys have the right to peace said President Sergio Mattarella in a message for World Children's Day on Monday.
    "Girls and boys have the right to equal opportunities in life, they have the right to be listened to, accepted and to live their age," said Mattarella.
    "They have the right to peace," he added.
    "Concretely recognising and promoting these rights, providing the tools for them to become aware adults, means giving us all hope for a better future," he added.
    "Every day, in every corner of the planet, children continue to die under bombs, they are brutalised and exploited, in body and mind, they are abducted and discriminated against, continued Mattarella in his message.
    "The tragedies of which they are the innocent victims will mark their lives forever. "The world robs itself of its future. Year by year, war, the climate crisis, poverty increase the number of children and adolescents fleeing their condition, their land, in search of salvation and emancipation from an inhuman destiny," he said.
    Efforts to effectively protect children have so far been insufficient, despite the signing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, continued Mattarella.
    "The gap between needs and results is too wide," he said.
    "The commitment required for effective protection of children's rights is far from exhausted," concluded Mattarella. (ANSA).