UNICEF’s Child Friendly City 2019 title has been awarded to Tata, in western Hungary, and Jászboldogháza, in the country’s central-east.
UNICEF Hungary announced the award on Wednesday at a roundtable marking the 30th anniversary of the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child. Each year, the award goes to a municipality which treats the rights of children as a top priority.
Antónia Mészáros, the managing director of UNICEF Hungary, said that 41 million children in the world were in need of urgent assistance. She said that 400 million children did not have access to clean drinking water and 200 million were seriously under-nourished.
At the roundtable, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony said that air pollution, traffic safety and housing were issues that most affected children in Hungary’s capital, and he pledged improvements in all three areas.
Featured photo illustration by Péter Komka/MTI