UNICEF Ambassadors and members of the Sony World Photography Awards Academy have united to support children’s rights with photo-pledges.

The images and statements contributed by celebrities like David Beckham, Ewan McGregor and Jemima Khan and photographers such as Bruce Davison, Mary Ellen Mark and Jonathan Torgovnik highlight the need to improve children’s living conditions all over the world. They document UNICEF Ambassadors and leading photographers’ encounters with children suffering from war and crime, the effects of poverty, disease and neglect, showing scenes from the lives of HIV orphans in Malawi, child soldiers in Sudan, and homeless children in the Philippines and the USA.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham visited Sierra Leone in 2008 to draw attention to the country's high child mortality rate. © David Turnley UNICEF courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009

With the release of the photo collection today, on the 20h anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF and the World Photography Awards have launched a campaign asking photographers to contribute their own photo-pledges to support children’s rights.

For more information and to submit your pledge, visit www.worldphotographyawards.org.