CHILD EXPLOITATION HAS BECOME HUGELY LUCRATIVE, THIRD COMMITTEE TOLD

Press Release
GA/SHC/3481

CHILD EXPLOITATION HAS BECOME HUGELY LUCRATIVE, THIRD COMMITTEE TOLD

As society increasingly gave priority to material wealth, and as traditional mores and social restraints gave way to profit, the ruthless exploitation of children had become hugely lucrative, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told this afternoon, as it continued its consideration of issues related to promotion and protection of the rights of the child.

The representative of Thailand said the institutions of family and community that traditionally nurtured children had weakened under the onslaught of materialism and consumerism, resulting in the trafficking of children, and child prostitution and pornography, the most heinous forms of sexual exploitation. Poverty, broken homes and income disparities between urban and rural areas, and between neighbouring countries, contributed to such crimes.

The global phenomena of sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution were amongst the gravest threats to children, said the representative of Iceland. He would support further consideration in the Third Committee of proposals to make commercial sexual exploitation of children a crime against humanity.

The representative of Zimbabwe said no country was immune from child abuse. While the commercial exploitation of children was largely a hidden activity, the number of child victims of the sex trade was alarming. The underlying problem causing such abuse was poverty. In addition to promoting children's rights, governments must educate families to prevent abuse, and educate the public about the illegality and harmful effects of such exploitation.

The common thread in the exploitation of children was poverty, said the representative of Côte d'Ivoire. Children who were victimized came from poor marginalized families. Poverty was the cause of the buying and selling of children, and of children dying from malnutrition. The AIDS epidemic was also

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destroying chances for children, confronting them with loss of family members, psychosocial distress, increased malnutrition, reduced opportunities for education, forced migration and exposure to HIV infection.

Jim Carmichael, representative of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said children infected with HIV and those living in the shadow of HIV infection continued to suffer serious discrimination, exploitation and abuse. Those were often the result of real or perceived HIV status. In December 1997, UNAIDS had estimated that the total number of AIDS orphans since the start of the epidemic had been at least 8.2 million.

Statements were also made by the representatives of the United Arab Emirates, Brunei Darussalam, Senegal, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Algeria, Sudan, New Zealand, Romania, Mongolia, Viet Nam, Mozambique, Guatemala, Tanzania, Niger, Eritrea and the Russian Federation. The representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also made a statement. Statements in right of reply were made by the representatives of Israel and Lebanon.

The Third Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow Thursday, 22 October, to continue consideration of issues related to promotion and protection of the rights of the child.

Committee Work Programme

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met this afternoon to continue its consideration of issues relating to the promotion and protection of the rights of children. It had before it reports of the Secretary-General on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and on the Committee on the Rights of the Child, as well as the reports of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. (For background on those documents, see Press Releases GA/SHC/3479 of 20 October and GA/SHC/3480 of 21 October.)

Statements NINA SIBAL, representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said her organization was a strong advocate of the right to education. Much of its work contributed directly to safeguarding and promoting children's rights, such as education for all initiatives, non- discrimination in education, programmes promoting the survival, protection and education of street children, and communication programmes to improve media standards. Special attention should be given to children from disadvantaged groups and to children in especially difficult circumstances.

The UNESCO was also vigorously promoting human rights training and research, she said. It was constantly assessing work for the Convention on the Rights of the Child undertaken by countries in the fields of education, culture and information. With the United Nations Centre for Human Rights, UNESCO had also played a leading role in the launch of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004), and in formulating its programme. To contribute to the Decade in the field of children's rights, UNESCO would establish training modules in universities and teacher manuals, as well as children's versions of the Convention.

She said UNESCO had hosted a well-prepared and highly successful World Ministerial Conference on Higher Education this month in Paris. One of its panels had been attended by students, some still under 18 years old, therefore, falling under the Convention's definition of a child.

ABBDULLAH AL SHAMSI (United Arab Emirates) said children suffered greatly in situations of armed conflicts. Whereas the Convention on the Rights of the Child set out a number of ways in which children could be helped, for example, with better nutrition and access to schooling, less advanced countries needed special assistance to improve their infrastructures. Children were dying from malnutrition, and millions were forced to work in exploitative conditions. International institutions should provide more assistance for developing countries so that social services could be extended to include schooling and basic care for children.

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Millions of deprived children all over the world were exploited on a daily basis, forced into exploitative labour and often into participating in armed conflict, he said. The international community must have the political will to protect children and to avoid armed conflicts altogether, where possible. The United Nations family of agencies should work together to help children, especially those who had been disabled as a result of armed conflict.

The rights of the child were among the primary interests and priorities of his Government, he said. It had implemented mandatory primary education for all, had created crèches, nurseries, and health-care centres. It had also developed a number of programmes for children, especially for those who were disabled or orphaned. All policies regarding children were based on the provisions of Islam. Responding to criticisms about the dangers of using children in camel races, he said camel racing was a traditional sport, governed by legal and moral sanctions. His country condemned any efforts to make children work in dangerous conditions, and had legislation to penalize forcing children to work.

PENGIRAN MAIDIN HASHIM (Brunei Darussalam) said the standard of living that his country had achieved was largely attributable to the substantial budget allocated to social programmes. Long before his Government had acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, education and health programmes had ensured that all children had access to free schooling from primary to tertiary levels and free health, including a full range of preventive and curative services. It had also provided housing resettlement schemes. Brunei Darussalam had met most of the goals stated in the Plan of Action for implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s.

For developing and least developed countries, particularly those with external debts, there had been an increase in poverty, human rights abuses and violent social unrest, he said. Further, the number of disabled children had increased owing to war, child labour, violence and abuse. The employment of boy soldiers in time of war was a serious violation of the Convention. His Government, therefore, welcomed the proposal to establish a small, independent informal working group with the aim of bringing together existing expertise and resources to ensure better protection of the rights of children with disabilities. It did not see any difficulties with the recommendation made by the seventeenth session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child that special attention should be paid to the rights of child in defining war crimes, age of criminal responsibility, aggravating and mitigating circumstances of crimes and protection of the rights of the child within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

IBRA DEGUENE KA (Senegal) said the rights of the child could not be analysed in terms of half rights or lesser rights. There was still much to be done to implement the Plan of Action that had been adopted at the World Summit for Children. He stressed concerns shared by the international community, including the need to strengthen basic education and training of children, the

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protection of children and child refugees, and the recruitment of children into armed conflict. He called for the rapid implementation of the Ottawa Convention banning landmines, and for international laws to protect children from sale and trafficking. He also called for universal access to basic education, for relief from hunger and for better provision of health services for children.

Senegal had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and, since 1991, had undertaken a national plan of action for the improvement of conditions for children, he said. That plan had included vaccinations programmes, vitamin and rehydration programmes, the transformation of hospitals into baby-friendly institutions, improvement in access to education, access to drinking water and the overall improvement of living conditions.

FESSEHA TESSEMA (Ethiopia) said that his Government had established committees from national to district levels to monitor the implementation of the Convention. The Convention had been translated into eight Ethiopian languages. Measures to popularize the Convention had been made nationwide. Even though the employment of children under the age of 14 was illegal, the 1994 census showed that, out of about 7 million children between the ages of 10 to 14, 50.1 per cent were economically active. Child labour was particularly high in rural areas. Poverty, limited educational facilities, and the long civil war had also created street children, mainly in urban areas. Studies showed that about 100,000 street children lived in the country's cities.

To bring about a sustainable solution, there was a need to address the root causes of the problems, he said. Of those, poverty and social development were two main causes, and his Government had recently adopted social policies aimed at addressing them. The Ministry of Health had prepared a 20-year plan to improve the quality of reproductive health care, immunization, the treatment of basic infectious diseases, and the control of epidemic and sexually transmitted diseases. The Education Policy had made primary schooling free to raise the enrolment rate from 30.1 per cent to 50 per cent by the year 2000. Schooling was possible in various different Ethiopian languages to address the rights of minority groups -- as stipulated in the Convention. Ethiopia had suffered from internal conflict for about three decades, with children most affected. The overthrow of the military regime had made the horrors of the past a distant memory, even though the Eritrean Government had launched attacks targeting civilians, including children.

SUTJIPTOHARDJO DONOKUSUMO (Indonesia) said the importance that the international community attached to the issue, and which Indonesia fully shared, was fully reflected in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The serious concern over the alarming trend of children used as participants in, and as victims of, armed conflicts had reached such proportions as to prompt deliberations within the Security Council last June. He endorsed the efforts

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of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and expressed concern at the continuing delays in the optional protocol on children in armed conflict to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Ultimately, the international community must undertake a serious and sustained commitment to address the social and economic factors which all too often contributed to armed conflict and exacerbated ethnic and other social divisions, he said. Indonesia continued to move forward in its national efforts to protect and promote the rights of the child. The Department of Social Affairs had been designated as the national focal point for child protection, and worked in close cooperation with various international funds and agencies. Among the important initiatives in the past year had been the Declaration of the National Movement for Child Protection and the establishment of the National Child Protection Institute, which would be followed by the establishment of similar institutes at the provisional and district levels.

ABDALLAH BAALI (Algeria) said that despite much progress, 250 million children were compelled to work, half of that number in inhumane conditions. More than 200 million children under five years old suffered from malnutrition. More than 20 million children were refugees, and 40 million children lived on the street, exposed and vulnerable. Economic and social dimensions were the reason. With the persistence of poverty, illiteracy and a lack of basic amenities, the international community could not show a passive attitude regarding the exploitation of children. Mechanisms had to be put in place to prevent the scandalous exploitation of children.

Children in the developing countries had paid a high price for globalization, he said. Education was decisive and essential in providing children conditions for their development. Algeria supported the report of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) devoted to the right of children to education. If there was a particular situation where the international community had to be vigilant, it should be around the girl child, a group subjected to particular threats. Girls would one day be women and mothers who would raise future children. Since its independence, Algeria had placed children at the centre of its policies and had confirmed its commitment to provide children with free education and medical services. It had also provided special care for disabled children. Medical assistance was provided in schools, and dispensaries were free. The legal age for working children was 16, and girls and boys were given equal opportunities. The mortality rate for children under five had dropped immensely because of vaccination programmes. Similarly, in education, there was a high rate of primary school enrolment. Parents could be prosecuted for not sending children to primary school.

MOHAMED SEGHAIROON (Sudan) said that when some countries were awash with prosperity and technological advances, while others languished in poverty and conflict, children were inevitably the victims. International cooperation could effectively contribute to improving the rights of children through

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providing support to developing countries. The Sudan had been one of the first countries to sign and ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The importance attached to children also emanated from the holy religion of Islam, which advocated the healthy emotional and physical development of children.

The Government had created a national council for the rights of the child, he said. Schooling was mandatory from the age of four onwards, and the number of cultural centres had also been increased in order to sharpen and stimulate the intellects of children. He was concerned about the children who lived in the south of the country, in regions occupied by rebels who forced them to participate in the conflict and used them as living shields. In order to put an end to the bloodletting in the south, the peace conference in Khartoum had been signed by all parties to the conflict, except one. He called on other African countries to counsel that faction to listen to the voice of reason.

American aggression in August had demolished a pharmaceutical factory in his country, he said. He called on the United States to apologize for that action and to contribute to the rebuilding of the factory. The bombing of the factory had seriously affected the health-care situation in the Sudan.

THORSTEINN INGOLFSSON (Iceland) said that despite almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, an increasing number of children were subject to new dangers and threats. Implementing the Convention was important for the international fight against child abuse, and a logical step for States parties to protect children. The global phenomena of sale of children, child pornography and child prostitution were among the gravest threats to children. All child victims of sexual abuse had the right to full reintegration into society. He commended the Special Rapporteur for her report, which underlined the positive role played by media and education in preventing commercial sexual exploitation of children. Education was a key to prevention and to rehabilitation.

His Government had increased resources for child protection services in Iceland, he said. An Office of Ombudsman for children had also been established to scrutinize laws and make recommendations. Iceland would support further consideration in the Third Committee of proposals to make commercial sexual exploitation of children a crime against humanity. Child labour, another risk factor for children, was caused by poverty, and therefore policies and interventions to address it should look at links between macroeconomic trends and the micro-impact on children. Despite the need to analyse cultural, economic and social contexts, hazardous and exploitative forms of child labour were unacceptable and must be eradicated.

It was vital to involve children and youth in discussions and actions that aimed to change their milieu, he said. Human rights education and

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cooperative learning in intercultural education projects were a good means of empowering children.

DEBORAH GEELS (New Zealand) said that the Convention on the Rights of the Child was "our moral and legal commitment to the world's children", and yet children's rights continued to be systematically violated. One area of particular concern to New Zealand was continued widespread commercial sexual exploitation of children. Action to protect children was not keeping pace with technological developments. The magnitude and availability of child pornography on the Internet emphasized the urgent need for international action.

New Zealand supported the International Labour Organization's (ILO) work to draft a new convention to eliminate exploitative child labour, and would work to ensure it was a convention States would be able to ratify and implement, she said. It was important to ensure that international standards to respond to child exploitation were complementary and built on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She expressed support for the Special Representative's specified objectives for action, and called the Security Council's stated intention to pay serious attention to children in conflict an important step.

Last year New Zealand had presented its initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, she said -- a process viewed as an opportunity for ongoing review on children's rights in New Zealand. Another recent development in New Zealand was the establishment of a Prime Minister's Advisory Forum to allow young people the opportunity to speak and be heard by government ministers. She urged all States to make their best effort to protect and promote children's rights. The words of the 1924 Declaration on the Rights of the Child -- that "mankind owes to the child the best it has to give" were still true today.

MACHIVENYIKA T. MAPURANGA (Zimbabwe) said that nowhere in the United Nations Charter did it stipulate that certain segments of communities had lesser rights. Human rights must be jealously guarded and universally applied. Zimbabwe had learned that no country was immune from child abuse. Sexual exploitation occurred everywhere. The number of child victims of the commercial sex trade was alarming and commercial exploitation of children was largely a hidden activity. The underlying problem causing commercial child abuse was poverty. In addition to promoting children's rights, governments must educate families to enable parents to prevent abuse, and use campaigns to educate the public about rights and the illegality and harmful effects of commercial exploitation. Zimbabwe continued to review its laws, policies and programmes to ensure they protected children. Efforts were now focused on mobilizing the business sector, including the tourism industry, to uproot commercial sexual exploitation.

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Despite setbacks, Zimbabwe had heavily invested in rural schools, teacher training, rural hospitals and meeting water needs, he said. Lack of crucial tools for students, such as books, libraries and computers, remained a concern and he urged those able to help, particularly with computers and with assistance for rural disabled children, to do so. Economic structural adjustment programmes, which many African governments had been compelled to undertake, unravelled gains that had been made in addressing problems. Cuts in projects designed to cushion the poor meant school enrolments shrunk. Those circumstances did not foster an atmosphere conducive to happy childhood in Zimbabwe.

Nurturing, educating and helping the development of children was a collective responsibility, he said. Violence against children must be strongly condemned, and female genital mutilation and the conscription of boys into armies must end. He urged stakeholders to invest requisite resources to those noble ends.

CRISTINA GOSU (Romania) said she hoped the draft optional protocol relating to pornography and the sale of children for sexual exploitation would soon be finalized. Her Government had advanced a plan for the promotion and protection of the child. The national committee on adoptions was responsible for monitoring mechanisms of adoption. The principle guiding such efforts was the global recognition of the rights of the child. The first legislation adopted had been to address children in difficulty. That category covered all kinds of situations. Another had concerned the decentralization of work on the protection of the rights of the child. The collective bodies had the prime responsibility concerning the rights of the child and the identification of children requiring special protection.

To make the civilian social protagonist responsible to protect the rights of the child, tripartite agreements had been established between local and central authorities, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), she said. Romanian authorities were demonstrating political will in all those efforts to protect the rights of the child. Without the assistance of the European Union or UNICEF, Romania would not have been able to reach its present level. Thus, it welcomed seeing increased efforts to promote the rights of the child, who remained the most vulnerable human beings and yet represented the future.

TSOGT NYAMSUREN (Mongolia) said that, as noted in the welcome reports before the Committee, the disabilities caused by war, poverty, child labour, violence and abuse, pollution and lack of health care were not inevitable. They could and must be tackled. In Mongolia, the law established that children under 16 were not permitted to work, and that those under 18 were not permitted to perform arduous or dangerous work. Yet, child labour was becoming an issue in Mongolia that needed State policy and control, and an appropriate legal framework. Children's rights in the work environment were yet to be clearly defined and protected.

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Following the recommendations of the 1990 World Summit on Children, Mongolia had adopted a National Programme of Action for the Development of Children in 1993, and a national law on the protection of the rights of the child in 1996, she said. The National Programme had been implemented in close cooperation with the programmes adopted following the Rio, Copenhagen and Beijing conferences. In partnership with United Nations bodies and NGOs, the Mongolian Government was launching a "One World Conference Series" project aimed at ensuring integrated follow-up to the world conferences and summits of the 1990s. A One World Conference on Children, scheduled for November 1998, would empower Mongolia's children, youth, citizens and leaders to change the situation of Mongolian children, and to review the World Summit and the National Plan of Action. Children and youth constituted an overwhelming majority of Mongolia's population. She welcomed 30 years of cooperation with UNICEF. Continued cooperation would address the challenges now being faced in protecting the most vulnerable segments of society.

NGUYEN THI THANH HA (Viet Nam) said that great effort had been exerted to protect children's rights, but children still faced increasingly serious problems. Not only strong commitments were needed, but also formulation of specific legislation and policies, concrete action by entire societies, and strong effective participation and coordination by United Nations specialized agencies. Viet Nam commended efforts by UNICEF and the Committee on the Rights of the Child and encouraged their further cooperation.

Despite socio-economic difficulties, Viet Nam was committed to the Convention, she said. Following the 1991 promulgation of the Law on Protection, Care and Education for Children, provisions protecting children's rights had been included in other laws and codes and regulations. In 1991, a National Plan of Action defining tasks and targets for ministries and local authorities had been created, and, to support this, social programmes had been launched, including eight focused on the most disadvantaged children. The Government had cooperated to promote awareness through "children's days" such as the Day of Vaccination. Children and women were a priority of Viet Nam's foreign aid use policy, and the current Agreement on Cooperation with UNICEF was one of the largest UNICEF assistance programmes.

By 1996, more than 95 per cent of children had been immunized, 97 per cent of villages had child-oriented health programmes, death by malnutrition had fallen to less than 10 per cent and about 90 per cent of children between six and ten years of age completed primary school, she said. However, Viet Nam still faced many development-related problems. Until Viet Nam could provide good enough conditions for their comprehensive development, it could not say it had met its commitments to children.

BERTA COSSA (Mozambique) said there was an overriding need to protect children throughout the world. Her Government believed the Security Council had made it clear that there was no room in the international community for

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those who committed atrocities against children. Children continued to be the target of all sorts of aggression. Joint efforts were needed to ensure that children were not exposed to landmines, famines and abuses. Children made up half of Mozambique's population, so their well-being was vital. Efforts were needed to disseminate the rights of the child. In a survey, when children were asked which rights were most important, they cited the right to education, to family, and to shelter. This year, the Government had organized an event to celebrate an Africa free of landmines. It had been aimed at reintegrating children affected by armed conflict. Those activities were ongoing, and needed the support of the international community.

As a consequence of war and economic difficulties, the sexual exploitation of children continued, she said. The main causes of prostitution and abuses of children were poverty, degrading family structures, and the large size of families, as well as the action of profiteers. The Government had revised legislation related to the sexual exploitation of children and had introduced provisions to help victims. One of the biggest challenges was the rehabilitation of a large number of orphans as a result of war. However, 1,500 children had been reunited with their families, and 5,000 with foster families. Her Government was also addressing the problem of street children and their reintegration into society. Vaccinations had reduced infant mortality rates. Those efforts had been helped by United Nations agencies such as UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which had cooperated closely with the Government. The goal was a better world for children.

LUIS RAUL ESTEVEZ LOPEZ (Guatemala) said the conflict that had affected countries in his region during the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s had contributed to the lack of development of children in the area. Resources had had to be diverted after the conflict to efforts towards rehabilitation, including the removal of landmines. Landmines took child victims every day, and Guatemala was pursuing a programme of removal of landmines, and raising awareness of their dangers. There was also a concerted policy to clearly post areas where landmines had been laid.

Armed conflict, poverty and social inequity led to serious problems, such as the sale and trafficking of children and the sexual exploitation of children, he said. The problem of babies being adopted illegally from developing countries by people from developed countries was of global magnitude. Along with the biological parents of the children, the practice also affected social structures in the country of origin, where officials were corrupted. There should be tighter controls on such practices, including in the destination countries.

KABA CAMARA (Côte d'Ivoire) said the law should govern conflicts between States. Children were being used as cooks, spies and, increasingly, as soldiers. Children paid a high price in conflicts. Children were also being

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sold into prostitution and trafficked. Millions died as a result of hunger, malnutrition and from diseases. The common thread was poverty, since children who were victimized came from poor, marginalized families. Poverty was the cause of the buying and selling of children and of those dying from malnutrition. Those problems represented a denial of human rights of children.

The Special Rapporteur had reported on children in armed conflict and on the sale of children for prostitution and pornography, she said. Often, it was the victims who knew their own stories. Experts should not only consult governments and NGOs, but have direct contacts with children as far as possible. Reports by media could help, but they could only provide limited help and guidance. Her Government supported the addition of a draft optional protocol to the Convention requirements.

She said her Government was committed to peacekeeping in the region, particularly in restoring peace in Guinea-Bissau. Peace was a prerequisite for the development of human rights and protection. The report on the rights of the child and the intervention of the Executive Director of UNICEF had provided ideas for development agencies in their role in promoting and protecting the rights of the child. The UNICEF had been successful in the field in promoting ratification of the Convention, she added. Moreover, that agency was found wherever children were at risk.

CHRISTINE KAPALATA (United Republic of Tanzania) said when the General Assembly had adopted the 1989 landmark Convention on the Rights of the Child, there had been optimism that at last the international community had come up with a comprehensive instrument on the rights of children. Governments had looked to the year 2000 as the year when they would have succeeded in providing universal access to basic education and health, as well as in providing safe drinking water. But on the threshold of the new millennium, the situation on the ground was far from what was expected. What had gone wrong? she asked.

The single most important factor was structural adjustment programmes, she said. The prescription of such programmes for developing countries invariably had to be accompanied by reallocation of resources and priorities; essential resources were diverted from basic social services to other programmes dictated by those programmes. Servicing external debt had taken precedence over the provision of basic social services. The twin processes of globalization and liberalization had also hit, and the situation was aggravated by dwindling resources from developed partners. Its inability to live up to the principle that children should have first call on the country's resources was a grave concern for her Government.

Deteriorating health services combined with the spreading HIV/AIDS pandemic, she said. At a time when governments had succeeded in convincing

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mothers of the benefits of breast-feeding, the risk of HIV infection from mother to child undermined that modest achievement. For poor mothers, the choices for alternate means of feeding were also limited. Her Government had taken concrete steps to educate the population on the pandemic and on means of prevention, but the cooperation of the international community was needed to complement its efforts.

JOSEPH DIATTA (Niger) said the rights of the child should hold the international community's full attention. His Government had taken several actions to that end. It had initiated measures to take better account of the fundamental rights of children. Thus, to respond to the issue of children at risk, centres had been established to take care of disabled children. His Government had laid down special jurisdiction for minors. Its current financial difficulties had delayed action, but much was being done to raise awareness of the rights of the child. In that regard, partners such as UNICEF had been immensely helpful.

The International Convention against the use of anti-personnel mines was at an advanced stage of ratification, he said. Concrete action was needed. What was the meaning of the protection of children when their situation was the result of poverty, famine, ill-health, hard labour, and sexual exploitation, he asked. It was the duty of the international community to eradicate poverty in the world to help poor countries find solutions. The safeguarding of all children was necessary -- the future of humanity depended on it.

APIRATH VIENRAVI (Thailand) said that with the rapid economic and social changes brought on by globalization and heightened interdependence, children had become more vulnerable than ever before. The institutions of family and community that traditionally nurtured children had weakened under the onslaught of materialism and consumerism. As society increasingly gave priority to material wealth, and as traditional mores and social restraints gave way to profit, the ruthless exploitation of children had become hugely lucrative. Child trafficking, prostitution and pornography -- the most heinous forms of sexual exploitation -- were particularly outrageous. Poverty, broken homes and income disparities between urban and rural areas, and between neighbouring countries, contributed to such crimes.

Because the roots of the problem were complex, every effort must be made at all levels to end those crimes, he said. Thailand was undertaking a sustained and concerted effort to address both the demand and supply sides of the problem. Public consciousness had been stirred on the horrors of child trafficking and prostitution. There had been successes in reaching those most at risk and educating them on the sordid realities of the commercial sex sector. Tough penalties had been imposed on the exploiters, be they parents, procurers, or others involved in such networks. Thailand was also dispelling the misguided beliefs that sex with children was somehow safer and better.

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However, domestic efforts were not enough. They would have to be complemented by regional and international cooperation.

ELSA HAILE (Eritrea) said that because of the long struggle for liberation in her country, children were facing harsh conditions, such as separation from their families, and a lack of proper education, health care, and nutrition. Many had lost their parents during the conflict, and many were refugees living under deplorable conditions. Her Government was taking concrete and urgent measures to improve educational opportunities for all children of school age and to create a health care system, with special attention given to the needs of the family. Orphanages had also been eliminated in favour of relocating children to live with families.

Child labour was another major concern of her Government, she said. It had focused efforts on the repression of illegal child labour practices and on preventative measures to eliminate the root causes of the problems. Concrete alternatives were, and continued to be, offered to families and children for whom child labour might be a matter of living. Her Government was also committed to the elimination of traditional, cultural, legal and other obstacles which promoted or condoned discrimination against the girl child. Generally, the low status accorded to girl children meant that parents gave priority to the education of boys. The Government was taking energetic steps to discourage the practice of female genital mutilation, which was still practised extensively on girls at an early age. More time was needed to completely eliminate the practice.

JIM CARMICHAEL, representative of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), said that, despite the near-universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, many children still lacked access to food, shelter and medical care. In addition, children infected with HIV and those living in the shadow of HIV infection continued to suffer serious discrimination, exploitation and abuse. Those were often the result of real or perceived HIV status or that of members of their families. In December 1997, UNAIDS estimated that the total number of AIDS orphans -- defined as children who had lost their mother or both parents to AIDS -- since the start of the epidemic was at least 8.2 million.

In many developing countries, extended family systems had traditionally provided support for orphans, he said. The AIDS epidemic, combined with other social and economic pressures, was pushing the extended family system to the breaking point in the worst-affected communities. Children in households affected by HIV/AIDS faced loss of their family, psychosocial distress, increased malnutrition, reduced opportunities for education, forced migration, and exposure to HIV infection. In line with the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNAIDS and its sponsors and partners would continue to assist governments in strengthening their information and prevention programmes to combat HIV/AIDS. Two major aims would be to prevent

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HIV in children and young people and to eliminate discriminatory attitudes towards children and young people affected by or infected with HIV/AIDS. A radical reorientation of the approach to the AIDS epidemic was called for, which would put young people at the centre of the response, because of their high vulnerability to HIV infection and because of their proven potential for making a strong impact on prevention efforts.

OLEG YU SEPELEV (Russian Federation) said his Government welcomed the various international conferences and instruments on behalf of the protection of children. Among them, the Convention on the Rights of the Child had a special place. It was the first Convention entirely devoted to the situation of children. Particular attention was given to children at risk, to children compelled to participate in military activities. In many regions of the world, there was a whole generation which did not know what schools and books were, but were perfectly familiar with weapons. In recent years, that issue had been considered in human rights deliberations. The task ahead was serious and deserved mainstreaming. In June, the Security Council had devoted a special meeting to the question. The Council had condemned actions against children, including humiliation of children, sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping, forced displacement of children and children's involvement in military activities.

There was no doubt that the United Nations was determined to save that generation, and it was capable of reinforcing national actions, he said. It was necessary to work out special provisions to alleviate children's fate, such as removing them from dangerous areas, and reintegrating them into normal civilian life. The Criminal Court had also seriously condemned such acts. But there was much to be done to develop effective instruments, among them adopting the special optional protocol. It was time to look at prevention. It would require training, dissemination of knowledge about treatment of children, their rights and interests, and the effective implementation of legal standards. According to the Russian Constitution, the State was required to protect the rights and interests of children. Of particular significance was the Family Code, which addressed minors' right to grow up in a family, to express opinion, to property, to defend him or herself when abused. Governments must find resources to bring up children, for it would be up to children to achieve and further the human civilization.

Right of Reply

In responding to the statement made during this morning's meeting by Lebanon, the representative of Israel said she wished to clarify, once again, her country's stated goals of restoring peace and security. She had been surprised to hear the representative of Lebanon say that children in southern Lebanon were exposed to the dangers of shelling. Children on the other side of the border, in northern Israel, were exposed to just the same dangers. She warmly encouraged Lebanon to cooperate with Israel in creating satisfactory

Third Committee - 15 - Press Release GA/SHC/3481 20th Meeting (PM) 21 October 1998

security arrangements that would enable it to fulfil the terms of Security Council resolution 425 (1978). Until then, Israel would have to continue to exercise its right of self-defence.

The representative of Lebanon said that the representative of the occupying forces had said things that were not true. What she had referred to as acts of aggression on the part of Lebanon were the efforts of combatants who did not want to accept the occupation by Israel. Did the representative of Israel think that the world did not know what it was doing, and that it possessed weapons of mass destruction? she asked. What would history say when it saw that a Member State of the United Nations felt that it was above the others, and above the legitimacy of international law? The killing of more than 600 women and children was terrorism. Lebanon hoped for the implementation of Council resolution 425 (1978) as it had been adopted, without conditions.

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