PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND

Considerable progress had been made in several areas of children's conditions and rights, but setbacks in other areas were raising concern, correspondents were told this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing given on the tenth anniversary of the 1990 World Summit for Children.

Kul Gautam, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said the Summit had elaborated a very ambitious programme of action with many specific and measurable goals, which had been systematically followed up and rigorously monitored in the past 10 years.

The UNICEF's review of the past decade found that among the major achievements were an increase in immunizations, with the higher levels being sustained in many countries; a decrease in infant mortality rates and in fertility rates; and, more children than ever before were in school.

The UNICEF felt confident that there would be success in eradicating polio in the next four or five years, he continued. Ten years ago, there had been nearly 300,000 cases of polio; last year there were only 7,000. In 1990, 125 countries were polio-endemic. Last year, only 25 were.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child was now the most universally ratified human rights instrument and many countries were making a serious effort to implement it, he said. Also, children were now much more a part of the political agenda. Children's issues were factored into constitutions and political platforms, and had risen to discussion at the highest levels of the United Nations system.

On the other side of the review, UNICEF found setbacks in certain areas, he continued. HIV/AIDS was having a catastrophic effect on children, which had not been anticipated. Many of the gains in reducing mortality were being reversed. The proliferation of conflicts, in Africa and elsewhere, had victimized children. Also, the lack of resources and political commitment was hampering the achievement of goals of the Summit. Many donor countries and developing countries had failed to honour their commitment to find the adequate resources.

The special summit on children next September would focus on those areas, he said. "We have quite an outpouring of interest and support for this special event, not just from governments, but also from civil society organizations and many individuals, including Nelson Mandela (who has joined the campaign for the special session to promote a global movement for children) and Bill Gates", he said.

When asked what UNICEF hoped to achieve, Mr. Gautam said the United Nations would try to use the session to regenerate political commitment which was essential and yet flagging in some circles. There would be an effort to reach out not just to political leaders but also to those in the legislatures and judicial branches of governments, and figures like Nelson Mandela who had the ability to start groundswells within civil societies. The United Nations also intended to demonstrate that the goals of the 1990 Summit were affordable.

"In a world where we spend $700 billion a year on the military, the cost of addressing the needs we are talking about -- health, education and nutrition -- are very small and very modest. Just letting people know that a lot more can be done with very minimal amounts of resources, hopefully will put pressure on governments, donors and international banks", he said.

Responding to a question on commitments to refrain from using child soldier, Mr. Gautam said the review had shown that it was an area in which there was an actual regression rather than improvement in the past decade. Not only many governments, but also rebel groups, were recruiting children as soldiers. However, momentum was building against their use. There was now a Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and an Optional Protocol banning the use of child soldiers had received the largest number of signatures among the various treaties available for signing at the Millennium Summit. There was a lot of pressure being put on governments and rebel groups and the voices were being heard.

Asked if there would be special emphasis at the session on child trafficking, Mr. Gautam replied that child prostitution was another area which had curiously become worse in the last decade. There were efforts under way to try to combat the phenomenon. The UNICEF was actively involved in many creative programmes in many countries. He cited the work of an organization that targets prostitution in the tourism industry.

A number of countries from which tourists came had passed legislation whereby those engaging in sexual exploitation of minors could be prosecuted when they returned home. The UNICEF would like to see a similar development in all countries. He also noted that the Optional Protocol on sexual exploitation of children had also received a large number of signatures at the Summit.

* *** *