The Forward and Backward City

Young Diwa Boateng’s book The Forward and Backward City , although set in a fictional city, tells a story that is all too real in our contemporary world. It is about two children of the same age growing up in the same city in starkly different social and economic circumstances. It reminds us of the important promises that are contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the road we still have to travel to deliver on those promises. Achieving a world in which the rights of all children are protected and fulfilled is a task for this and future generations. Diwa Boateng’s story reminds all his readers that we cannot shirk this task. These upcoming years are crucial as world leaders will agree on a new sustainable development framework for the next 15 years. The proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals include targets to end poverty, to ensure healthy lives and quality education and to combat climate change, among others. The decisions taken will undoubtedly have a huge impact on children’s lives and rights today as well as the lives and rights of future generations.