To the Editor:

Re “Our Children Deserve Better,” by Nicholas Kristof (column, Sept. 12):

It is on all of us to make the best decisions we can for the next generation. This includes listening to the voices and opinions of young people and not speaking for them.

Youth leaders, like G reta Thunberg and Malala Y ousafzai, have been tackling some of the most pressing issues of our time and changing national conversations. Whether it’s addressing climate change or the importance of education for all, young people are speaking for themselves and know what’s at stake.

Across the world, an estimated 1 24 million children are unable to attend school; there are more children forcibly displaced by conflict now than at any moment since World War II; and inequity is so severe that 167 million of them are at risk of living in extreme poverty by 2030.

We have major challenges ahead, but to collectively address these problems, champion children’s rights and empower children in the United States and around the globe, we just have to listen and follow their lead.

Caryl Stern

New York

The writer is president and chief executive of Unicef USA.

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