Ministers meet for discussions with children and youth at Children’s Rights Week session

This week, 17–23 November 2025, is Children’s Rights Week. As in previous years, the Children’s Rights Week session was held at the Government Banquet Hall. Children and youth from various parts of Finland were invited to the session to discuss matters important to them with members of the Government.

The theme of this year’s Children’s Rights Week is the right to belong. The theme highlights children’s right to be part of their community and society and to be seen and heard as they are. 

The children and youth invited to this year’s session were from Jyväskylä, Ristijärvi, Turku, Porvoo, Tuusula and Helsinki. The session gave the ministers an opportunity to hear the children’s thoughts directly from them. At the session, the children asked questions about the use of digital devices, bullying, school safety, poverty among families with children, youth employment and the role of adults in looking after children’s wellbeing.  

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen, Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz, Minister of Social Affairs and Health Kaisa Juuso, Minister of Local and Regional Government Anna-Kaisa Ikonen, Minister of Employment Matias Marttinen and Minister of Youth, Sport and Physical Activity Mika Poutala attended the session.

The Children’s Rights Week session was held for the first time in 2019. This year’s session was the fourth one held in its current form. A recording of this year's session will be released on Thursday 20 November 2025 on YLE Areena with interpretation into Finnish and Finland-Swedish sign language and subtitles in Finnish and Swedish. The recording will be available for 30 days.

The session was organised by the Prime Minister’s Office in cooperation with the National Child Strategy and the Ombudsman for Children.

Children’s Rights Week is held annually in connection with World Children’s Day, which aims to increase awareness of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and promote the realisation of children’s rights worldwide. World Children’s Day is celebrated every year on 20 November. The UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of the Child on 20 November 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the same date in 1989. The Convention entered into force in Finland in 1991.

Inquiries: Laura Kuusio, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 160 300, National Child Strategy and Tiina-Kaisa Laakso-Liukkonen, Chief Specialist, tel. +358 295 160 220, Prime Minister’s Office
 
The email addresses of the Finnish Government are in the format [email protected]