Children Builders of Peace: the Marist World Celebrates the Rights of the Child

On 20 November 2026, the Marist world will come together for “Children Builders of Peace: Our voices matter, our rights count, let us participate!” — the global online event marking World Children’s Day, coordinated by the Secretariat of Solidarity – CMI together with FMSI (Marist International Solidarity Foundation ETS), with the support of: Marist District of Asia, Provincia America Central, Provincia Mediterranea, USA Province, Provincia Brasil Sul-Amazzonia, Provincia Norandina, Star of the Sea.

Every Marist Province names and shapes its own celebration — because exposing the inequalities, injustice, and poverty that deny children their rights is not someone else’s task. It is ours, and it starts where children actually live.

This year’s celebration builds on a simple conviction: children and young people are not simply beneficiaries of protection, but active builders of peace in their own families, schools, and communities. It is also an occasion to recognise, with the weight it deserves, the work Marist missions carry out on the ground — every day, often unseen — to answer these challenges, local and global.

Children have been invited to take part — through drawing, testimony, and dialogue — in a shared reflection on what it means to grow up with rights that are recognised, respected, and lived.

At the heart of the initiative is the Marist CRC, a collaborative visual collection in which children from Marist schools and social works around the world are illustrating the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child through drawing. Each Province has been entrusted with a set of articles — from the definition of the child to protection from exploitation — so that, article by article, the Convention takes shape through the eyes and hands of the children themselves. The result will be a living, illustrated document, carried forward by the very communities it speaks to.

The event will also give space to direct testimony. Children and young people who have previously delivered oral statements at the United Nations together with the Secretariat of Solidarity – CMI and FMSI — from Lebanon, Australia, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Portugal — will share what it meant to bring their voice into international spaces, even when they themselves could not be physically present in the room. Alongside these testimonies, Youth Empowerment Clubs and Marist Youth Ministries from Provinces across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe will join a live conversation on a single guiding question: “how are you building peace in your community?” Young moderators will lead the English and Spanish language sessions, a further sign of the leadership Provinces are entrusting to their own young people.

The event will open with words from Br. Peter Carroll and close with words from Br. Hipólito Pérez, framing the day within the broader Marist mission of accompanying children and young people, particularly those in vulnerable conditions, and of standing alongside them rather than speaking on their behalf. Awards will also recognise some of the initiatives already underway across the network.

Every Province has been invited to name a contact person to help identify participants and to circulate registration among Brothers, schools, and social works, so that the event reflects the full breadth of the Marist world rather than any single voice. 

All children and young people taking part will receive a certificate of participation — a small but concrete recognition of their contribution to a document, and a mission, still being written.

Registration is open to Brothers, schools, and social works across all Provinces.

Registration link https://forms.gle/CH4McoPKfq5d7a5B8