PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR 2001 SPECIAL SESSION ON CHILDREN'S SUMMIT BEGINS SUBSTANTIVE SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS

Press Release
HR/4475

PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR 2001 SPECIAL SESSION ON CHILDREN'S SUMMIT BEGINS SUBSTANTIVE SESSION AT HEADQUARTERS

UN Children's Fund Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, Says Remarkable Progress Achieved Since 1990 Summit -- but Not Enough

As the Preparatory Committee for the General Assembly's 2001 special session on that will follow up the 1990 World Summit for Children began its substantive session this morning at Headquarters, Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said for all the setbacks, disappointments and lowered expectations over the last 10 years, much had been achieved in fulfilling the goals of the Summit.

She noted that 191 countries, through their ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, had affirmed that every child had a whole galaxy of fundamental rights -– to health and nutrition, to quality basic education, to clean water and adequate sanitation, to gender equality, to freedom from violence and abuse and exploitation, and to participation in the process of realizing those rights.

“We now stand at the most opportune moment imaginable for reaching the remaining Summit goals and for mobilizing a global alliance dedicated to achieving a breakthrough in human development based on specific actions for children”, she said. There had been remarkable progress for children, but not enough. Action was needed to achieve the commitments made at the Summit and at the ensuing United Nations development conferences of the 1990s.

Introducing UNICEF’s report on emerging issues for children in the twenty- first century, Kul C. Gautam, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF, said the dream for creating a child-friendly world would require an enabling environment in which adults were committed to respect for child rights, gender equity, peaceful resolution of disputes, and progressive macroeconomic policies that were conducive to growth with equity. While not all the promises of the World Summit for Children had been kept, he noted that, of all the major United Nations conferences of the 1990s, none had been as systematically followed up and rigorously monitored as the Children’s Summit.

The representative of Portugal, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, said that never before had so much progress been achieved in

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single decade with regard to children’s rights. That progress, however, had at times fallen short of expectations. More resources allocated to basic social services were a prerequisite for significant gains. Furthermore, the denial of children’s right to education made them more prone to exploitation through child labour, prostitution and participation in armed conflict.

In his statement, the representative of South Africa drew attention to his country’s efforts to combat the AIDS virus, which had a devastating impact on children and was spreading rapidly and globally. His Government had mobilized financial resources for research, and work had been undertaken to find alternative care for children orphaned by the disease. The Government was also trying to protect children who were infected by AIDS from being discriminated against in schools.

M. Patricia Durrant (Jamaica), Preparatory Committee Chair, said a positive outcome to the special session would rely on the preparations undertaken at the national and regional levels, where most of what affected children took place. National governments and civil society organizations were expected to identify concrete ways of attaining global goals. She noted that high-level regional meetings were scheduled prior to the session to ensure that international cooperative action duly supplemented national efforts.

The representative of Norway said it was essential, in preparing for the session, that all Member States do their utmost to provide all relevant information to the Secretariat and that civil society, and children and youth themselves, provide input. Children’s participation needed to be addressed more directly, based on a holistic view of the child. Children must be recognized as a resource, rather than as a problem to be solved, he stressed.

At the outset of the meeting, a short video presentation by UNICEF on different aspects of children and childhood, including the questions of violence and AIDS, was shown.

Statements were also made this morning by representatives of Guyana, Algeria, Pakistan, Canada, New Zealand, India, Egypt, Romania, Ukraine and the United States.

The Preparatory Committee will meet again tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. to continue its general discussion.

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Committee Work Programme

The Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the General Assembly in 2001 for Follow-up to the World Summit for Children met this morning to begin its first substantive session.

The special session will review progress made with regard to the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for Implementing the Declaration in the 1990s, which were adopted at the 1990 World Summit for Children.

The Committee had before it a report of the Secretary-General providing an update on the preparatory process for the special session (document A/AC.256/5). The report was issued in response to Assembly resolution A/54/3, by which the Assembly decided to convene the special session and establish the Preparatory Committee.

The report states that the Secretary-General will submit to the special session, through the Committee, a review of the implementation and results of the Declaration and Plan of Action, including appropriate recommendations for future action. The review will also elaborate on the best practices and obstacles encountered in the implementation, as well as on the measures to overcome those obstacles. The Secretary-General has asked the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to coordinate the preparation of the review, which will encompass the work being done at national, regional and international levels.

The report states that a number of activities have already been undertaken at the regional and subregional level, and that others are in the process of being organized. In Africa, for example, a regional consultation on “A Vision for Children in West and Central Africa in the Beginning of the Twenty-first Century” was hosted by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire from 30 November to 3 December 1999. In October 1999, preparatory national consultations were organized by 10 UNICEF country offices in the region, and in February, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF organized a consultation in Libreville on child trafficking for exploitative labour purposes, bringing together 150 delegations from 20 West and Central African countries.

Such activities, the report states, will contribute to the review of achievements of the outcome of the World Summit, and help determine future action.

A preliminary organizational structure to support the Committee and related activities has been established at UNICEF, the report states. The Deputy Executive Director, Alliances and Resources, is responsible for leading the preparatory process and providing support to the special session, assisted by a small secretariat. In accordance with resolution 54/3, the General Assembly invited all relevant organizations and United Nations bodies to participate actively in the preparation process. The Assembly also stressed the need for the active involvement of all relevant actors, among them, non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Consequently, it was decided at the Committee’s organizational session -– held on 7 and 8 February -– that the work of the Committee should be open to participation of accredited NGOs, as well as organizations not accredited to the Economic and Social Council or UNICEF, but that have a collaborative relationship with UNICEF.

As resolution 54/3 deemed the participation of children and adolescents in the preparatory process essential, efforts have been made to assure it, the report notes. A trust fund to facilitate the participation in the special session and the preparatory process of representatives of least developed countries has been set up, the report adds.

Also before the Committee was a report prepared by UNICEF on emerging issues for children in the twenty-first century (document A/AC.256/3-E/ICEF/2000/13). The report reviews the progress for children since the World Summit and draws on lessons learned over the course of the decade. It examines major challenges facing children: deepening poverty and greater inequality; proliferating conflict and violence; the deadly spread of HIV/AIDS; and continuing discrimination, particularly against women and girls.

The report argues that major progress in human development is possible within a single generation if the global community will commit to three key areas: the best possible start for children in their early years; a good quality basic education for every child; and an enabling environment for adolescents as they develop their capacities.

Regarding progress made during the past decade, the report states that the situation of the world’s children and women has improved in remarkable ways. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified by 191 governments -– all but two. Immunization has been one of the major areas of progress, despite recent declines in some of the poorest countries. There is growing political will to acknowledge and address once-hidden forms of abuse and exploitation, including child labour; the sale and trafficking of children and women; and the militarization and prostitution of children.

Still, progress has been disappointing in a number of areas, the report states. While considerable advances have been made in reducing child mortality, only one third of developing countries have achieved the related World Summit goal. Much remains to be done to reduce child malnutrition -– nearly 160 million children under five years of age are moderately or severely malnourished. One half of the 10 million severely malnourished children die each year. Access to primary education, especially for girls and other excluded groups, has barely kept pace with increases in population. And at least 250 million children between five and 14 years of age are working under exploitative conditions.

The experience and analysis of the last 10 years have provided practical confirmation of the effectiveness of earlier development approaches, as well as new insights, the report states. One key lesson of the 1990s is that change is possible and that children’s rights are an effective rallying point for change. Enormous challenges face mankind at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The world is marked by deepening poverty and a widening gap between rich and poor; proliferating conflict and violence; the spread of HIV/AIDS; and continuing discrimination of many types. Profound changes are needed in societies everywhere if the vision for children’s rights and the establishment of a global ethic in favour of children and adolescents are to be realized. The report goes on to say that, at the World Summit for Children, which was held in New York on 30 September 1990, 71 heads of State or government signed the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and the Plan of Action for Implementing the Declaration in the 1990s, committing themselves to achieving a set of time-bound goals and mobilizing the human and financial resources to do so.

The Declaration and the Plan of Action have been endorsed by 181 countries, 155 of which prepared national programmes of action for children, the report states. These set forth a vision of a “first call” for children by establishing seven major and 20 supporting goals considered achievable by 2000. In addition, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most ratified human rights treaty in history, embodies the commitment of States parties and the international community to respect, fulfil, promote and protect the rights of children.

Also before the Committee were its provisional agenda (document A/AC.256/4) and its provisional annotated agenda (document A/AC.256/4/Add.1), according to which it was expected to consider the date and duration of further substantive sessions; the provisional agenda for the second substantive session; and the participation of NGOs in the special session. It was also expected to take up its consideration of the proposed outline of the outcome of the special session: identification of key issues and trends.

Statements

Following a short video presentation by UNICEF on different aspects of children and childhood, including the questions of violence and AIDS, M. PATRICIA DURRANT (Jamaica), Chair of the Preparatory Committee, said the task facing the Committee was to ensure that the substantive process was built on three pillars: sound technical practices; pragmatism in the organization of work; and political consensus. As had been the case 10 years ago, she trusted the three pillars would spring from the bedrock of mutual commitment to the principles of the United Nations and a shared devotion to the well-being of all children.

Two primary inputs would inform the work of the Committee, she said. The first was the report of the Secretary-General on “Emerging Issues for Children in the 21st Century”. The document analysed the impact on children of the major economic and cultural changes observed during the last decade. The other primary input would be the panel discussions that had been scheduled as an informal but essential component of the session.

It was important to note, she said, that a positive outcome relied on the preparations undertaken at the national and regional levels, where most of what affected children took place. National governments and civil society organizations were expected to identify concrete ways to attain global goals. High-level regional meetings were scheduled prior to the special session to ensure that international cooperative action duly supplemented national efforts.

The Executive Director of UNICEF, CAROL BALLAMY, said a decade ago the first truly global Summit meeting in history was held -- about the rights and needs of children. For all the setbacks, disappointments and lowered expectations over the last 10 years, much had been achieved. One hundred ninety-one countries had affirmed that every child had a whole galaxy of fundamental rights -– to health and nutrition, to quality basic education, to clean water and adequate sanitation, to gender equality, to freedom from violence and abuse and exploitation, and to participation in the process of realizing those rights.

However, she said, the obstacles to fulfilling those promises had become more daunting over the years, presenting an increasing number of new challenges: deepening poverty; gender discrimination and violence; environmental degradation; terrorism; natural disasters; the explosive spread of HIV/AID; land mines; the spread of small arms; and the recruitment of child soldiers.

“We now stand at the most opportune moment imaginable for reaching the remaining Summit goals and for mobilizing a global alliance dedicated to achieving a breakthrough in human development based on specific actions for children,” she said. There had been remarkable progress for children, but not enough. Action was needed to achieve the commitments that were made at the World Summit and at the ensuing United Nations development conferences of the 1990s. But action required leadership. The substantive session of the Preparatory Committee was the first and most important opportunity to ensure that the process leading to the special session on children both accelerated progress towards the Summit goals and greatly broadened the alliance of those working for the realization of child rights.

Children’s rights to health and development were central to preventing not only a whole range of immediate threats like HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and violence, but also to combating a host of problems that could threaten not only their lives, but their children’s lives. The potential impact of children’s participation had grown during the decade, she said. Rapid advances in information technology had empowered young people with the means to participate and express their views to other young people, to the media, to governments and to other leaders everywhere. Some of the practical aspects of child participation could pose a challenge to the United Nations, but it was obvious that ways had to be found to draw on the energy and the fresh perspectives of young people.

Non-governmental organizations and countless others in civil society had key roles to play in mobilizing groups and encouraging action locally, she said. Governments, however, remained the primary actors in development, and it was they who must lead. The multilateral agencies were comprised of governments, and it was governments who had development ministries and foreign ministries that fashioned the world’s humanitarian and political agendas. It was governments that declared, on 30 September 30 1990, that there was no task nobler than to give every child a better future.

The Committee then adopted its provisional agenda.

The Committee then took up its draft programme of work (document A/AC.256/CRP1), which contains a description of the Committee’s work on a day-by- day basis.

Ms. DURRANT (Jamaica), noted that at the February organizational session of the Committee, decision 2, containing recommendations to the current session on participation of NGOs, had been adopted. It had been decided that the Committee should be open to the participation of NGOs accredited with the Economic and Social Council and UNICEF. It would also be open to those NGOs which had a close collaborative relationship and partnership with UNICEF. The decision had encouraged governments to include representatives of civil society in their national and regional preparatory processes.

KUL C. GAUTAM, Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF, then introduced the report on "Emerging Issues for Children in the Twenty-first Century". He said the ideas and proposals contained in the report reflected lessons learned from many years of work and experience at the country and community levels in all regions of the world. He also cited the importance of extensive consultations with experts and specialists from many organizations and the latest knowledge about the survival, development and well-being of children and adolescents.

The report outlined an evolving consensus around three specific outcomes for children that would enable them to grow up to the full human potential, he said. Those included: that all children would have a good start in life in a safe and nurturing family environment enabling them to be physically healthy, mentally alert, emotionally secure and socially competent; and that all children would have an opportunity to acquire a good basic education. He noted that the Executive Board of UNICEF had last week stressed the need to identify specific actions with measurable goals to be achieved within a given time frame.

He said the dream for creating a child-friendly world would require an enabling environment in which adults were committed to respect for child rights, gender equity, peaceful resolution of disputes, and progressive macroeconomic policies that were conducive to growth with equity.

Although not all of the promises of the World Summit for Children had been kept, he noted that, of all the major United Nations conferences of the 1990s, none had been as systematically followed up and rigorously monitored as the Children’s Summit. What had been achieved was indeed commendable. Thanks to the political will generated by the Summit and the legal and moral force of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children today were very much on the world’s agenda. While much had been achieved, however, there was still much to do. Hence, the importance of the work of the Preparatory Committee and of the upcoming special session.

DUMISANI S. KUMALO (South Africa) said his Government had inherited a legacy of neglect and poverty resulting from decades of apartheid rule. It had, therefore, introduced a National Programme of Action for Children, which had been integrated into the entire government system at the national, provincial and local levels. Through the Action Programme, government planning and budgeting were required to take into consideration the conditions of children. To signal its commitment, the Government had placed a special Office on the Rights of the Child directly in the Presidency. He added that the Department of Water Affairs had contributed to the health and welfare of children by making sure that clean water was available in over 80 per cent of the country, especially in rural areas.

Despite the Government’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and various other conventions and treaties supporting its implementation, many challenges remained, he said. Among them was combating AIDS, which had a devastating impact on children and was spreading rapidly and globally. His Government had mobilized financial resources for research, and work had been undertaken to find alternative care for children orphaned by the disease. The Government was also trying to protect children who were infected by AIDS from being discriminated against in schools.

While the South African Government had put in place concrete programmes to address the needs of children, it continued to call upon the international community and donors for help in entrenching the reconstruction and development process. He took the opportunity to thank those who had helped his country up to now.

JANET JAGAN (Guyana) said that in terms of increased attention to human rights, including children’s rights, and to the link between women’s rights and the realization of children’s right, much progress had been achieved. Special mention must be made of the immunization projects. The conclusion this year of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child would undoubtedly have a positive impact on the millions of children affected by war and conflict. The 1999 ILO Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour was an important step towards protecting children.

She welcomed the fact that the Convention against landmines was in place and proposed that, in various geographic areas, summits would be held, and each nation would agree to a time and place for a simultaneous demolition of all landmines. The scourge of poverty called for energetic action by both national governments and the international community. Despite high debt-servicing commitments, her Government had placed great emphasis on improving the standard of living of all, particularly the poor and the young.

Nevertheless, international cooperation remained a key factor contributing to success. There was concern that the current international economic, financial and technological environment had steadily militated against the sustainability of the development efforts of most developing countries. The continued decline of official development assistance (ODA) by donor countries, inadequate access to markets of developed countries, declining terms of trade, volatility of international commodity prices, and the unequal distribution of global capital flows had severely constrained resources needed for national development.

In recent years, there had been progress throughout the world towards good governance, which had had a positive impact on the promotion of human rights. Nevertheless, that progress was daily undermined by the blight of poverty both within and between countries. In light of the fact that less than a third of 1 per cent of global income –- approximately $80 billion yearly -- was needed to address the multifaceted dimensions of poverty, it was perplexing. The search for a long- term solution to poverty in order to better promote the rights of children had to continue, she said.

ABDALLAH BAALI (Algeria) said the current session was being held at a good moment for measuring the achievements made since the Summit. In that regard, he noted the significant progress made for children in the areas of health and education. Much, however, remained to be done, and this should be taken up during the session. The Convention on the Rights of the Child constituted a reference standard for strategies for children. The recent adoption of two optional protocols to the Convention by the General Assembly was a further step in promoting the rights of children, he added.

Many of the objectives of the Summit had yet to be met, he said, noting that throughout the world there were millions of children without care or protection. In the face of the daily tragedy faced by such children, the international community could not stand by indifferent. The existing legal standards and conventions must be put into effect.

He said that African children were perhaps most affected by the scourges of violence and poverty. That was why Africa had always given particular importance to addressing their plight. In many cases, Africa had been a pioneer in that regard.

He then listed measures his Government had taken following the World Summit, including: the establishment of a centre for mothers and children’s rights; the preparation of a children’s guide to publicize the Convention and children’s rights; and a draft model law on the protection of children. The current session should make it possible to measure progress achieved and to assess difficulties encountered, he stressed.

ZOBAIDA JALAL, Minister for Education, Women’s Development, Social Welfare and Special Education of Pakistan, said that following the World Summit, Pakistan had formulated a National Programme of Action with goals for the year 2000. Advances had been made in the realization of those goals. Immunization coverage had increased, infant mortality rates had gone down, and other indicators had also improved. However, limited progress had been made towards the goals established for better nutrition, basic education and education for the girl child.

The current Government was deeply committed not only to the realization of the goals of the Summit, but also to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in its letter and spirit, she said. The juvenile justice system was being revamped to safeguard the rights and privileges of children, and the age of juvenile delinquents had recently been raised to 18. Other measures had also been undertaken to bring the system in line with the standards set forth in the Convention.

The large and ever-increasing debt burden and debt servicing faced by developing countries had an adverse impact on the achievement of the goals set by the Summit, she noted. Debt servicing made it hard for many governments to restructure their budgets towards more child-oriented priorities, even if they genuinely wanted to do so. Without the alleviation of the debt burden, there was little likelihood that national policies could be fully implemented and the goals of the Summit achieved any time soon. Large-scale debt relief and debt cancellation would release resources to launch a war against poverty and direct much-needed resources to the problems being faced by children.

LANDON PEARSON (Canada) emphasized the fundamental importance of a rights- based approach to the special session preparations. Safeguarding and advancing the rights of all children and youth remained as compelling a task as at the World Summit. Too many children continued to suffer from discrimination. The international community must find ways to reach out to children with disabilities, indigenous children, refugee and internally displaced children and children of ethnic minorities. It was through respect for children that the cycles of poverty and ongoing violations of human rights could be broken.

He reiterated the priority his country attached to the safety and security of children in situations of armed conflict, exploitation and abuse. His country had co-sponsored the West African Conference on War-Affected Children in April. The Accra Declaration on War-Affected Children in West Africa provided the impetus for action in the region. In September, Canada would host an International Conference on War-Affected Children to assess the past efforts of the international community to assist war-affected children, examine new ways to make support more effective and to launch a framework for action. A number of children and adolescents from both Canada and abroad, some of whom had been affected by war, would be full delegates at the Conference, he said.

A fundamental priority for Canada was the active participation of civil society, and particularly children and youth, as recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, he continued. The participation of children was fundamental to the realization of their rights. Two young people under the age of 18 years were included in his delegation, and she was committed to include young people, as well as other members of civil society, in all future delegations.

ANTONIO MONTEIRO (Portugal) spoke on behalf of the European Union, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Turkey, Iceland and Liechtenstein. He said the most significant development since the Summit had been the near-universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention had taken a rights-based approach, which the Union supported, and held that all the rights of the child were equally important.

One of the objectives of the session was to take stock of what had been accomplished since 1990, he said. He, therefore, drew attention to the questionnaire sent to Member States as an important tool for measuring progress achieved and determining the remaining obstacles. The results of national reviews should play a central role in the identification of new strategies and actions.

Never before had so much progress been achieved in single decade with regard to children’s rights, he said. Progress achieved had, however, been uneven and had at times fallen short of expectations. More resources allocated to basic social services were a prerequisite for significant gains. National governments had an important role in that respect. Despite the gains of globalization, the number of people living in poverty in some parts of the globe had increased, he added. The Union had integrated poverty eradication into the mainstream of its bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

He said the denial of the right to education made it virtually impossible for children to develop. It also made them more prone to exploitation through child labour, prostitution and participation in armed conflict, and perpetuated the cycle of poverty and ignorance. He added that the Union attached special importance to the rights of the girl child. The momentum created by the upcoming special session must be seized upon to actively fight systematic discrimination against girls and to continue to support their rights.

MICHAEL POWLES (New Zealand) said that he considered a number of objectives for the special session as central. The international community must take stock of what had been achieved in the last 10 years to implement the outcomes of the World Summit. At the national, regional and global level, those achievements had to be examined to determine what had worked and what had not.

On the basis of the lessons learned, further actions must be identified to fully realize the goals and vision of the 1990 Summit, he continued. He acknowledged in that regard the role of development assistance in fully achieving those goals, including through poverty alleviation, and the necessity to take into account the rights of children in ODA policies and programmes. The agenda for action in respect of children could not remain static. New threats to their well- being had to be tackled. A key objective for the special session was, therefore, to identify concrete further actions to address emerging issues for children.

The underlying framework for future actions must be the Convention on the Rights of the Child, he said. The near-universal ratification of that Convention was one of the major accomplishments of the last 10 years. Future actions to achieve the vision and goals of the World Summit must complement and be fully consistent with implementation of the Convention and its optional protocols. Cutting across each of those objectives for the special session was the need to involve children and young people in matters that affected them.

He was particularly concerned that the needs of indigenous children and youth be addressed. The outcomes of the special session would also do less than full justice to all the world’s children if a gender perspective that took into account factors specific to the well-being of the girl child and realization of her human rights was not fully incorporated, he said.

VEENA S. RAO, Joint Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development of India, stressed that the central feature of future actions should be the breaking of the vicious cycle of poverty. Her country’s achievement of the World Summit Goals had been positive, if not total. Certain areas were dependent on resources and provision of services, whereas other goals were more complex and required attitudinal changes of processes at the community level and convergence from several sectors and other society partners. Democratic and open processes of decision-making and implementation required time for consensus building and motivation of people. Understandably, such processes took a longer time and were more difficult to achieve, but gains achieved could be more permanent and easier to sustain.

She was fully cognizant of the difficulties encountered in the fight against malnutrition, which remained a major challenge, she said. Reduction in infant and maternal mortality rates, as well as ensuring proper physical growth and cognitive development of children, could only be realized by concerted action through a life-cycle approach. She also drew attention to the importance of full immunization coverage and to the need to expand access to safe drinking water.

Her delegation agreed with the idea that child development was culturally specific and that programme strategies must respect diversity and cultural patterns, she said. They should also be tailored to take fully into account varying socio-economic conditions. While noting the need to focus on combating HIV/AIDS, she stressed that illnesses which took a higher toll on children, such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and measles, should not be relegated to the background.

MOUSHIRA KHATTAB (Egypt) said that her country had been one of the six countries that initiated action and solicited support for the convening of the World Summit. In 1988, the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood had been established, which signalled a strong political commitment to put children at the centre of Egypt’s development agenda. Egypt’s Parliament had been among the first to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood was an inter-ministerial mechanism for ensuring that children were at the centre of Egypt’s policies, she said. Mandates included, among others, setting the general policy dealing with childhood and motherhood and formulating a comprehensive national plan for childhood and motherhood in the different areas, specifically in the field of social and family care, health, education, culture, mass media and social protection.

Every child in Egypt had the right to primary health care, regardless of whether or not he or she had a birth certificate, she continued. Her country provided every child with vaccines free of charge and infant mortality and maternal mortality had dropped significantly. The problem of child labour was handled in a way that provided them in the short run with education. The long- term objective was to eliminate child labour.

Egypt’s political leadership was committed to providing free quality basic education for every single child, she continued. Ensuring that girls attended school had been a priority, which had resulted in closing the gender gap in secondary education. One-classroom schools, especially tailored for the needs of older girls and illiterate women, had generated great demand.

She said that Egypt was proud of the achievements and was fully aware of the magnitude of the challenges. Through sustained political commitment and, hopefully, stronger international cooperation, and in a climate of democracy peace and security, her country would be able to provide its children with the quality of life that they deserved as citizens of the twenty-first century.

ION GORITA (Romania) said the preparatory process should be base don the results of the national review processes concerning progress and obstacles in the realization of the goals of the World Summit for Children. Institutional coherence and adequate and efficiently utilized resources allocated for the protection of children, as well as partnership with the civil society, were crucial for the full realization of the rights of all children.

His Government had recently adopted the strategy concerning child welfare for the period 2000-2003, setting up not only general principles for conducting the policies in that field -- such as non-discrimination, the principle of the child's best interest, decentralization and partnership -- but also concrete objectives, activities envisaged and results expected. The National Agency for the Protection of Children's Rights was created as the central authority, in charge of the elaboration, coordination and monitoring of policies for the protection of children.

Concrete actions and proposals should be further explored and supported by all actors involved in the preparations for the special session, he said. He encouraged an open and constructive dialogue on good practices for the protection of children among delegations, representatives of United Nations organizations, specialized agencies and NGOs, with a view to identifying common objectives. He supported a concise, action-oriented and innovative outcome document for the special session, focused on future initiatives for children.

VOLODYMYR KROKHMAL (Ukraine) agreed that there was no course that merited higher priority than the protection of children. The report on emerging issues provided a thorough analysis of achievements in that area. The momentum reflected in the early 1990s in various conferences had gained further ground this year in the development of international standards. Thanks to the international community’s efforts, the past year had been very impressive -- the ILO had adopted the Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour; and two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child had been recently adopted.

One of the main future goals should be the eradication of poverty, he said. The achievement of child-related goals would be more possible when poverty had been dealt with. Access to basic social services would be essential in that regard. He also stressed the need to effectively combat the AIDS epidemic, which remained one of greatest challenges for children in the new century.

MAUREEN WHITE (United States) said her delegation agreed with UNICEF’s report on emerging issues that the process of preparing for the special session was an opportunity to update the international community’s vision and framework for action, and to commit to concrete actions for the coming decade. It was an opportunity that should not be missed.

The report drew attention to issues at two levels, she said. At the first level were global issues affecting children and families, such as poverty, discrimination and the impact of conflict and disaster. At the other level were important programme areas where investment for children was likely to produce major changes within a generation -– health, nutrition and development in early childhood. An important part of the preparatory process must be the recognition of the major constraints that had hampered action for children. It must be understood which families had not been reached, and successful approaches that had overcome those constraints must be identified.

Country and regional reviews could provide important input to such an analysis of experience and identification of future actions, she said. Her delegation had communicated with all United States Agency for International Development missions worldwide, encouraging them to participate in and support those reviews. She also welcomed UNICEF’s commitment to support a series of expert consultations in key areas of programme action, with strong representation of experts from developing countries.

She stressed the importance of approaching the special session with an ambitious vision that could be linked to effective action. In that way, the work of the original Summit could be completed and the progress extended to all children.

INGE NORDANG (Norway) said that the adoption of Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ratification by all but two nations could be seen as one of the most significant events impacting children, and that was further strengthened by

the adoption of the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and its Plan of Action, including its quantifiable goals. It was now clear that those goals would not be achieved within the envisioned time.

It was essential that the experiences that were documented were systematized, categorized and analysed, so that one could easily use them to guide future action, he said. It was also essential that all Member States did their utmost to provide all relevant information to the Secretariat and that civil society and children and youth themselves provided input. Children’s participation needed to be addressed more directly, based on a holistic view of the child. The child must be recognized as the resource she or he was, rather than a problem to be solved.

In its report, UNICEF had made the bold statement that it was possible to break the cycle of poverty in one generation, if global society committed itself to three important interventions for children: ensuring that children got a good start to life, providing quality basic education for all children; and providing an enabling environment for adolescents. He would, however, appreciate a clearer explanation of why it was particularly those three interventions that should be prioritized and how, specifically, they would result in breaking the poverty cycle.

The Secretariat had come far in conceptualizing the global agenda for children, he said. Work must now be done to make it more action-oriented. It was also necessary to outline the role of the various actors in its implementation, including United Nations agencies, the Bretton Wood institutions, governments, NGOs, children and youth, and other partners.

Ms. DURRANT (Jamaica), Committee Chair, gave a summary of points made during the morning’s discussion. She noted that the importance of giving children the opportunity to achieve their full potential, as well as the importance of national reviews, had been stressed. The importance of the legal framework relating to children and the need to ratify the recently adopted optional protocols had also been stressed. The unfinished business of the World Summit had been addressed, as had the importance of supporting the rights of the girl child.

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