Your Royal Highness Queen Mathilde,
Fellow heads of UN agencies, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
A warm welcome to all our guests this evening.
I am grateful that such an impressive group of leaders from health, government, business, philanthropy, and the arts are joining us tonight.
A week ago, I was on the Chad-Sudan border, which more than 640,000 people have crossed seeking safety and food.
I met mothers, holding young children, who had walked for days after their homes were burned, their crops destroyed and their animals stolen.
Day by day, the children I met are losing their futures, even as their lives are only just beginning.
They have seen violence that no child should see, let alone experience.
And yet globally, more than half of all children have been affected by violence - most of it behind closed doors.
The impacts may last lifetimes and span generations.
Violence damages the childhoods of today and the societies of tomorrow.
We have policies and interventions that we know can help stop violence.
With that in mind, governments committed in the Sustainable Development Goals to end violence against children by 2030.
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And yet, so far, progress is piecemeal, and coverage is patchy. We can do better.
In six weeks' time, the government of Colombia - in partnership with the government of Sweden, WHO, UNICEF, and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General - will host the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children.
At the launch of the first WHO Report on violence against children 20 years ago, Nelson Mandela said that 'Safety and security don't just happen; they are the result of collective consensus and investment'.
So we have a choice to make.
Protecting our most promising and vulnerable citizens requires leadership.
Tonight, I ask you to listen, learn and take action. Call your Minister. Mobilise your countries and your regions. Meet with fellow leaders.
Urge them to attend the Ministerial Conference, commit to concrete action for children affected by violence and then invest to drive progress through 2030 and beyond.
I thank you.
