We call for urgent reform of the international financial architecture so that debt does not come at the expense of children and their future. Debt becomes a children’s rights issue when interest payments crowd out investment in classrooms, healthcare, nutrition and social protection. Fiscal responsibility must protect these foundations of future prosperity. Kenya is pursuing responsible fiscal management and stronger domestic resource mobilisation while continuing to invest in our people. But national action must be matched by a global financing system that expands affordable and concessional finance, deploys guarantees and risk-sharing instruments to mobilise capital, resolves unsustainable debt faster and reduces dependence on debt. Addressed the UNICEF-convened High-Level Dialogue on Debt, Development and the Next Generation on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.