Every day, many millions of children around the world experience violence in their homes and communities, schools and conflict-affected areas. It doesn’t have to be this way. Every child has the right to live in a world where they are respected, protected and safe, and it is our responsibility to make this a reality.

As co-hosts of the first ever Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, we’re urging leaders to imagine, and then act, with the confidence that achieving this Sustainable Development Goal is not just aspirational but also attainable.

Through Agenda 2030, leaders committed to creating a world in which every child grows up free from violence. In line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, governments set the first global targets for ending all forms of violence against children. Unless we rapidly accelerate progress, we will fail to reach these targets, and we will fail the world’s children.

Each year, more than half the world’s children are victims of violence – more than a billion boys and girls – a statistic that signifies our collective failure to protect our most vulnerable citizens. This violence manifests itself in many forms. A hard slap in the........

© Al Jazeera