Fifty-ninth General Assembly

Third Committee

16^th & 17^th Meetings (AM & PM)

Practical approach focusing on concrete actions to protect children needed,

 

third committee told, as it begins discussion of children’s rights

Children and Armed Conflict, Violence

Against Children, Activities of UNICEF among Topics Discussed

A practical approach focusing on concrete actions to protect children was critical for advancing their rights, Olara Otunnu, Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it began its review of issues related to the promotion and protection of children’s rights.

It was time to embark on an “era of application”, Mr. Otunnu said, stressing the need to focus on implementation of the extensive set of norms that had been developed.  He highlighted the critical role of community leaders and local institutions, including religious organizations, teachers, parents, and local non-governmental organizations, saying only they could provide long-term protection for their children.  It was therefore necessary to work through local actors -- to support them and give them the capacity to implement actions -- in order for there to be further progress in protecting and promoting children’s rights.

He pointed out that much time had been spent discussing different views on what constituted armed conflict, saying such discussions did nothing to help children who were suffering from armed conflict.  He called on delegations to focus on improving conditions on the ground and to work in a cooperative spirit to ameliorate conditions in order to provide greater protection to children suffering as a result of armed conflict.

Addressing the findings of the assessment conducted by the Office of Internal Oversight Services on the effectiveness of the United Nations system response to the issue of children and armed conflict, Dileep Nair, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, said the assessment had found that significant progress had been achieved in efforts to strengthen international norms and standards.  Focus had now shifted to ensuring consistent applications of the norms and standards thus elaborated.

Regarding mainstreaming, however, he said the assessment had found that progress on child protection remained inadequate.  United Nations entities had mainstreamed child protection to varying degrees, and part of the problem was that the conceptual and operational dimensions of child protection in situations of armed conflict had continued to evolve.

Kul Gautam, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that among its priority areas for action, UNICEF had continued to seek commitments from parties to conflict to refrain from recruiting and using children.  Efforts must continue to protect children, he said, by stemming the flow of small arms and light weapons, and by advocating against the use of indiscriminate weapons such as landmines.

He observed that actual progress on the priorities of the “World Fit for Children” Declaration remained mixed.  The goals would only be achieved given a major acceleration in efforts for disadvantaged children and their families across all regions.  Among recommendations to strengthen action, national councils for children should be established, and close collaboration with parliamentarians, civil society and the media could generate additional capacity for better planning, implementation and monitoring.

Presenting the report of the Secretary-General on the status of the Convention of the Rights of the Child and the report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on its thirtieth to thirty-fifth sessions, Waly N’Diaye, Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that as part of its strategy to improve working methods and address the backlog of reports, the Committee had adopted at its thirty-fourth session in October 2003 a decision that would allow the Committee to consider a further 21 reports annually.

In a question-and-answer session following the presentations, the representatives of Malaysia, Senegal, Netherlands, Syria, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Philippines, Colombia, and Canada, as well as the Observer from Palestine, requested additional information on the recommendations related to the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children in armed conflict.  Representatives posed questions related to the funding of the office of the Special Representative and to recommendations in the Secretary-General’s report concerning the establishment of a monitoring and reporting mechanism.  Concerns were also raised about the particular conditions faced by children in Colombia, Uganda and the Palestinian occupied territories.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Independent Expert directing the Secretary-General’s in-depth study on violence against children, said he had sought to lay the groundwork to provide a global picture of violence against children, documenting its magnitude, incidence and consequences.  He said his objective was to heighten attention at the national, regional and international levels to the issue of violence against children and to put forward clear recommendations for the improvement of national legislation, policy and programmes.

In its general discussion the Committee heard statements from representatives of the Netherlands (on behalf of the European Union), Namibia (on behalf of the Southern African Development Community), Switzerland, Norway, Pakistan, Iceland, Japan, San Marino, Qatar, China, the Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Nepal, Mongolia, Tunisia, and Ethiopia.

The Third Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, 19 October, to continue its consideration of issues related to the promotion and protection of the rights of children.

Background

The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met today to begin its consideration of the rights of the child.

Among the reports before the Committee, there was a report of the Secretary-General on the Comprehensive assessment of the United Nations system response to children affected by armed conflict (document A/59/331), which was introduced by Dileep Nair, Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services.  Please see the following introductory statement for a summary of the report’s conclusions.

There was also a Letter dated 26 July 2004 from the representatives of Colombia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, the Sudan and Uganda to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (document A/59/184-S/2004/602), which welcomed the strides made by the United Nations on the issue of protecting children, especially in conflict situations.  Having carefully considered the report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, these States wished to express concern regarding the corrigenda to the report and regarding the Secretariat’s use of the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols to indicate a definition of “armed conflict”, when those instruments did not provide for an internationally-agreed definition of armed conflict.  Those States indicated that the above mentioned corrigenda showed a double standard in relation to the Organization’s work for protection of children, undermining the credibility, accuracy and sincerity of the report.

There was also a report of the Secretary-General on the follow-up to the United Nations special session on children (document A/59/274), which was to be introduced by Kul Gautam, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).  Please see the following introductory statement for a summary of the report’s conclusions.

Among other reports before the Committee, the Report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (document A/59/41 and Corr.1) provides information on the activities of the Committee during its thirtieth, thirty-first, thirty-second, thirty-third, thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth sessions.  The report requests the General Assembly’s approval of three recommendations related to the periodic reports submitted to the Committee by States party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Those recommendations address the format and content of periodic reports, combining periodic reports and the process of consideration by the Committee.

The report of the Secretary-General on the Status of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (document A/59/190) notes that, as of 22 June 2004, the Convention had been ratified or acceded to by 192 States, while the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the involvement of children in armed conflict had been ratified by 73 States and signed by 115 States, and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography had been ratified by 73 States and signed by 108 States.

Statements on Rights of the Child

DILEEP NAIR, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, presented the report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations system response to children affected by armed conflict (document A/59/331), noting that the comprehensive assessment of the scope and effectiveness of the United Nations system response to the issue of children and armed conflict, requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 57/190, had been conducted by the Office of Internal Oversight Services, with the help of two external consultants with substantial experience in that area.

The assessment had focused on three key issues, he said, including the development and application of international norms and standards for children and armed conflict; the degree of mainstreaming of those issues within relevant United Nations entities; and the effectiveness of coordination of related concerns with the Organization.  It found that significant progress had been achieved in efforts to strengthen international norms and standards.  Concerns on the issue had been addressed through political, economic and judicial initiatives, as well as humanitarian actions.  Focus had now shifted to ensuring consistent applications of the norms and standards thus elaborated.

Regarding mainstreaming, however, he observed, the assessment had found that progress on child protection remained inadequate.  United Nations entities had mainstreamed child protection to varying degrees; part of the problem was that the conceptual and operational dimensions of child protection in situations of armed conflict continued to evolve.  Managers found child protection more difficult to understand and translate into programmatic action than child survival.  The prevailing mindset among United Nations actors –- that it was not their role or obligation to develop internal capacities and mechanisms enabling an effective response to protection concerns –- was also problematic.

The report made a number of recommendations for relevant United Nations entities to incorporate children and armed conflict concerns into their activity planning and implementation, he concluded.  Those included, among others, the creation of focal points on the issue and enhancement of existing protection capacities.  Particular attention should also be given to developing and implementing an effective monitoring and reporting system.  There must be greater follow-up on reported violations.  The assessment also confirmed the benefit of the establishment of a post of independent advocate of children and armed conflict.

OLARA OTUNNU, Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said much had been achieved in setting into motion an agenda for action to protect and promote the rights of children.  A comprehensive set of norms had been put in place.  The level of global awareness on the issue had become extensive, and he was very impressed by the scope and sophistication of Security Council engagement with this issue.  The non-governmental organization community too had developed an enthusiastic engagement with this issue that was heart warming.  Children themselves had become actively engaged in this issue at local and international levels.  However, he stressed, unless there were investments made in post-conflict rehabilitation, there could be no progress in advancing this agenda.

While there had been extensive gains on the international level, there was still a need to embark on an “era of application” in the evolution of this agenda.  Although an impressive set of norms had been developed, it remained unknown still where they must be implemented.  He emphasized that without the involvement of community leaders and institutions on the front line -- religious organizations, teachers, parents, and local non-governmental organizations -- there would be no impact on this agenda.  Only those leaders could protect their children in the long term.  Therefore the work must be done through them, and it was critical to support them and give them the capacity to implement actions required to promote and protect the rights of children.

Another key challenge was mainstreaming and integrating the issue in the different United Nations institutions.  It was critical to devote resources in budgetary terms, to train personnel and develop programmes.  Those required commitment at the highest levels, at management levels.

Lastly, he said, another core issue was the need to develop and establish a monitoring and reporting system.  In order to have concrete dialogue on this issue, key questions must be identified.  His Office continued to conduct discussions with all stakeholders on how to proceed.

While much time had been spent discussing what exactly constituted armed conflict, he said such discussions did nothing to help children who were suffering from armed conflict.  He called on delegations to focus on a practical approach, to evaluate conditions on the ground and to work in a cooperative spirit to ameliorate conditions and provide protection for children.

He said the role of the United Nations field teams on the ground was critical in those efforts.  Security Council resolution 1539 had taken the important step of placing responsibility for coordinating and following up on United Nations field representatives on the ground.  He had been doing a lot of work with United Nations teams to help them establish systems on the ground to fulfil the requirements of the resolution.

However, he pointed out, his office staff had been working with their hands tied behind their backs, without the necessary resources and with no staff capacity.  He said the General Assembly one year ago had adopted a resolution calling for that activities to be funded out of the regular budget, but thus far no step whatsoever had been taken to implement this resolution.

KUL C. GAUTAM, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), presented the report of the Secretary-General on follow up to the United Nations special session on children (document A/59/274).  Noting that the report provided an update of progress in implementing time-bound goals for children and young people, he said it focused on four key areas:  promoting healthy lives; providing quality education; protecting children against abuse, exploitation and violence; and combating HIV/AIDS.  That agenda strongly reinforced the Millennium Development Goals.

Two years on, Governments in all regions had taken substantive measures to pursue the goals of “A World Fit for Children”, he said.  Some 170 countries had taken, or intended to take, action to implement the goals of the special session, with more than 25 countries adopting national plans of action for children and 53 using poverty eradication strategies as the primary instrument for pursuit of their commitments to children, while others used their normal national development plans or sectoral-based approaches.  The consultative process to develop such plans had been impressively broad in many cases, fostering a wide sense of ownership.

Unfortunately, actual progress on the priorities of the “world fit for children” remained mixed, he observed.  The goals would only be achieved if there were a major acceleration in efforts for disadvantaged children and their families across all regions.  Thus, while there were many instances of rapid process in certain areas –- immunization, micronutrient supplementation, clean water provisions in emergencies, “back to school” initiatives, prevention of HIV transmission from parent to child and legal reform for juvenile justice -– such actions must urgently be broadened in scale.  Among recommendations to strengthen action, national councils for children should be established, and close collaboration with parliamentarians, civil society and the media could generate additional capacity for better planning, implementation and monitoring.

Addressing the Committee on child rights in general, he said that the past year had been one of tragedy for children the world over.  Dedicating his statement to the hundreds of children who had died from bullets and bombs while at school, walking the street or playing outside, he stressed that schools must be honoured as zones of peace, as safe havens, in which children could enjoy their childhood, feel secure and gain a sense of normalcy.

The rights set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child were not mere aspirations, he continued, but fundamental human rights to which all children were entitled.  The fifteenth anniversary of the Convention’s adoption should prompt States to reflect on progress in realizing children’s rights and reaffirm their commitment through concrete actions.

Among priority areas for action, UNICEF continued to seek commitments from parties to conflict to refrain from recruiting and using children, he said.  Efforts must continue to protect children by stemming the flow of small arms and light weapons, and by advocating against the use of indiscriminate weapons such as landmines.  Also of concern was the particularly harmful effect that extreme weather had upon children -– costing them their homes, separating them from their families and exposing them to life-threatening infection.  More resources were needed to respond to the various needs that had arisen as a result of the 2004 hurricane season.

Also welcoming the elaboration of a Convention on persons with disabilities, he welcomed the work being done by Special Rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro on violence against children and called upon donors to provide sufficient funding to ensure that the study he had undertaken could be prepared thoroughly.  Finally, he emphasized the importance of sport, recreation and play to promotion of the physical and mental well-being of children and called on all Governments to mobilize resources for projects such as UNICEF’s efforts to develop partnerships with all sectors of society to get girls and boys on to sports fields and playgrounds, and to educate them and their families about the benefits of physical activity.

WALY N’DIAYE, Director, New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, presented the report of the Secretary-General on the status of the Convention of the Rights of the Child and the report of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on its thirtieth to thirty-fifth sessions (document A/59/41, Corr.1 and Add.1).  He said that, as part of its strategy to improve working methods and address the backlog of reports, the Committee had adopted a decision on working methods at its thirty-fourth session in October 2003.  Implementation of that decision would allow the Committee to consider a further 21 reports annually.

He noted that the total costs associated with implementation of the Committee’s decision, which were provided to it at the time it made its decision in accordance with its rules of procedure, were contained in the addendum to the Committee’s report and amounted to $3,470,221.  He pointed out that the Committee had requested the fifty-eighth General Assembly session to approve this recommendation, but the Assembly had not taken action on this matter during that session.

Discussion

Participating in the subsequent question-and-answer session were the representatives of Malaysia, Senegal, Netherlands, Syria, Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Philippines, Colombia, and Canada, as well as the Observer from Palestine.

In response to requests for additional information on the recommendations related to the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children in armed conflict contained in the report of the Secretary-General, Under-Secretary-General NAIR explained that there was no need to change the Special Representative’s mandate, only to clarify it.  The terms of reference of the Special Representative had not been clear, in particular regarding the strong emphasis his mandate should place on advocacy.  Issues related to the mainstreaming of children and armed conflicts issues, monitoring and reporting should be addressed by other agencies, primarily UNICEF.  The lack of clarification had led to many issues falling between the cracks, with follow-up suffering as a result.

On funding the office of the Special Representative, he observed that the Secretary-General had not made any recommendations on the source of funding for the future work of the Special Representative, but had noted that voluntary funding would come to an end this year, and that the General Assembly would have to consider what it felt was the best manner of funding the future operations of the office.

Voluntary funding was coming to an end, he said, as donors had ceased to be forthcoming, and explanations for the evaporation of such funding should be posed to donor countries themselves.  He also suggested inviting the Comptroller to address the Committee if his answers concerning funding the office of the Special Representative were insufficient for delegations.  The Committee Chairperson subsequently announced his intention to extend an invitation to the Comptroller to address the Committee.

As for the report’s recommendations concerning establishment of a monitoring and reporting mechanism, the idea had been to ensure that a working system was put in place.  The first step in that process would be to establish a task force to see how a time-bound plan could be implemented.  That effort would primarily be led by UNICEF and the Special Representative and would require the creation of networks in the field, established in conjunction with interested non-governmental organizations that specialized in children’s rights.

Agreeing that there was a need to clarify how the various initiatives for children’s rights were to work together, Special Representative OTUNNU recalled that a key role in establishing a monitoring and reporting mechanism on children and armed conflict, and coordinating review of that process, had been given to his office by the Security Council.  His office could not be involved in the actual conduct of monitoring and reporting on the ground, but its role was to promote the idea and help to shape the system that developed therefrom.

Agencies such as UNICEF must retain primary responsibility for implementation of monitoring and reporting on the ground, he added.  Currently, there were not many examples of United Nations country teams being able to engage in dialogue with parties to conflicts, in follow-up the Security Council’s request for additional monitoring and reporting.  This reflected the lack of a cohesive, organized system on the ground to perform such tasks.

Overall, the goal of his office was to work towards a situation, in which every government had the capacity and commitment to protect children, he said.  The United Nations system and partner non-governmental organizations should only play a supporting, not a principle, role in such efforts to protect children.  This was the only way to make child protection sustainable in the long-term.  Thus, while recognizing that conflict often led to capacity collapse, and that governments were capable of abusing children themselves, including through their armed forces, thus necessitating a larger role for international and non-governmental organizations, nothing changed the need for long-term responsibility for child protection to be in the hands of local actors.

Regarding questions about the quality and quantity of consideration devoted to the situation of children in the occupied territories, the Special Representative stressed that, in preparing the report, he had received information from a wide variety of sources.  All information was submitted to the same crosschecking.  In the event of contested or contradictory information, the decision had been taken to rely on the official United Nations presence on the ground to confirm the accuracy of information.  His office had done everything possible to ensure that all situations of armed conflict, and all children affected thereby, were addressed properly.

Regarding his office’s reporting obligations, Mr. OTUNNU stressed that his mandate was to conduct advocacy activities based on specific standards and how they were being violated on the ground.  Thus, the listing process had been undertaken in fulfilment of that mandate to assess progress achieved and difficulties encountered.

In reporting to the General Assembly, he noted the various kinds of reports that could be submitted, as well as the resources needed to complete them.  Throughout any report, the goal should be concrete.  He saw his office’s report as an advocacy tool, through which to tell the General Assembly about activities undertaken over the past year, but not as a comprehensive analytical tool, as the office did not have the capacity nor the resources to complete such a report.  If the Assembly wished to see a different format to the report, it needed to give greater clarity on the kind of report that was expected and provide for sufficient resources to finalize it.

At the present time, he continued, the report of his office was being processed by General Assembly conference services.  The report had not been distributed earlier, as his office had suffered from an acute lack of resources and capacity.  His office had not had the capacity to deliver on the many demands placed upon it by the General Assembly and Security Council over the past year.

Mr. GAUTAM of UNICEF reaffirmed that his organization’s role in child protection was well-known and well-established.  UNICEF had been established after the Second World War to help children affected by that conflict, and it had fulfilled the same role in all armed conflicts since.  However, UNICEF required increased financial resources to fulfil this central role in the United Nations system and to implement new mandates, such as that related to a new monitoring and reporting mechanism.

His organization would bring its full experience to bear in its preparations for next year’s review of the Millennium Development Goals, and for the review related to the fifteenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, he added.

Responding to a specific question regarding UNICEF activities in Uganda, he said the plight of children in northern Uganda was one of the most horrific in the world.  UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy had recently visited the country and had returned with reports of a shocking situation in which some 40,000 children “night-commuters” were regularly sent away from their home by families to protect them from abduction.  UNICEF had intensified its activities in northern Uganda, yet the international community’s response remained inadequate to the scale of the problem.

UNICEF always provided for some psycho-social counselling for children facing reintegration after involvement in conflict, he added.  It also sponsored back-to-school initiatives in order to bring normalcy back to children’ lives.

On the situation in Colombia, Mr. GAUTAM reaffirmed that, whenever and wherever conflict and war had occurred in modern times, women, children and other vulnerable groups had more often fallen victim than soldiers.  This was a general phenomenon of warfare in modern times; children were disproportionately the victims of warfare.  In the specific case of Colombia, he expressed a desire to discuss the situation with the delegation on a bilateral basis to provide information on the reintegration of demobilized children.  Yet, he wished to emphasize that Colombia represented one of best examples of a children’s peace movement; young people had mobilized to try to combat violence and had even been considered for a Nobel Peace Prize a couple years back.

For his part, Mr. N’DIAYE of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that, given its universal nature, the workload entailed by the periodic review of State parties’ report to the Committee on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child was enormous, hence the recommendations that had been approved by the Committee and submitted to the General Assembly.  He also detailed how reinforcement of the capacities of United Nations country teams, in conjunction with the a new mechanism for monitoring and reporting on children in armed conflict, would enable them to assist each country in protecting and promoting human rights, including children’s rights.

PAULO SERGIO PINHEIRO, the Independent Expert directing the Secretary-General’s in-depth study on violence against children, said that he had sought to lay the groundwork to provide a global picture of violence against children, documenting its magnitude, incidence and consequences.  He had focused on gathering information on what could be done to prevent violence against children and how to respond to it when it happened.  His objective was to heighten attention at the national, regional and international levels to the disturbing and often neglected issue of violence against children and to put forward clear recommendations for the improvement of national legislation, policy and programmes.

He said his study focused on children as victims of violence, but would also touch on children as perpetrators of violence against other children.  He had sought to provide an understanding of the nature, extent, causes and consequences of different forms of violence against children by considering the settings, in which violence had taken place.  He was particularly concerned with violence against children which was less visible, such as that in the family and in schools, care and residential institutions.  He was also addressing violence in detention facilities and prisons and in the administration of justice.  He had considered the experience of both urban and rural communities with respect to this issue, as well as factors that may compound the risk of violence, such as disabilities, poverty and the vulnerability of migrant, indigenous and minority children.

He added that among his objectives in directing the study was to provoke comprehensive national consideration of violence against children by as many Member States as possible.  He called on delegations to send in their responses to a questionnaire he had circulated.  His early impression from the responses of the 65 governments that had so far responded was that much was being done to prevent and respond to violence against children and that there were many good practices that could be shared.  Still, significant challenges remained, especially in the private sphere.  He said the participation of children in the study was one of the most challenging aspects of his work.  Ethical considerations, including confidentiality, safety, and parent/community acceptance, had to be taken into account.

The Secretary-General’s study on violence against children provided an opportunity to bring violence against children to the forefront, particularly at the international level, and to identify approaches that could be successful in preventing and reacting to this disturbing reality.  He noted that no provision had been made in the regular budget for the study, and it was reliant on voluntary contributions.  He hoped the study would provide concrete tools to prevent and combat all forms of violence against children.  He was confident it would be a dynamic force for change, not only during its preparation, but after its completion when local, regional and international bodies established follow-up mechanisms to track the implementation of the study’s recommendations.

Discussion

Following Mr. Pinheiro’s presentation, a representative of the Netherlands posed questions on how his study was linked to other United Nations studies and reports, in particular those related to violence against young girls.  The representative also requested more information on funding considerations for the study, and to what extent human rights considerations would be included in the report.

Noting concerns regarding the impact of globalization on children, a representative of Cuba asked Mr. Pinheiro to what extent his study would address the role played by communications media, which transmitted images of violence against children.  Would the report address possibilities for encouraging communications media to promote tolerance and respect for human rights with respect to protection for rights of children?

Responding to questions posed by the representative of the Netherlands, Mr. PINHEIRO said he had met with the expert responsible for the report on violence against women.  Preparation for his study had involved consultations with the Office of the High commissioner for Human Rights, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO).  As a result, the report reflected the perspective of those agencies, and included rights-based, child-protection and public-health approaches.  He said the study would as much as possible be linked to other studies, and gender would be a main consideration in its preparation.

He noted that he had devoted a lot of attention to violence inside the family, which had been a most difficult area for research.  Efforts to break up the privacy barrier had included collaborations with the WHO and with the Innocenti Research in Florence.  He added that he was aware that the study must address community attitudes to children, and that could affect changes inside the family.

Regarding the study’s financial situation, he said it was a very modest operation with a small secretariat.  He noted that the Governments of Switzerland and Canada had been very cooperative, and there were funds for this year, but no funds at all for the next two years.  There was a critical need for support for the secretariat.  Moreover, planning was under way for nine regional consultations, which would cost $1 million.  It was extremely expensive to have children participating in regional conferences, but it was undoubtedly worthwhile and very important, as witnessed previously in the special session when children were active participants.

Responding to the question regarding the role of the media, he said he intended to tackle the issue of the relationship between media and violence further in his study.  He also planned to engage with media representatives to participate in future consultations.

Statements

HÉLÈNE BAKKER (Netherlands), on behalf of the European Union, said the almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child had led to significant progress in a number of areas during the past decade.  However, new threats had emerged that had created additional obstacles for the full realization of children’s rights.  The HIV/AIDS pandemic had left millions of children orphaned and neglected.  A report produced jointly by UNICEF, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID) had found that from 2001 to 2003, the global number of children orphaned by AIDS had increased from 11.5 million to 15 million, with about 30,000 children a day dying before they reached their fifth birthday.  Millions lived in abject poverty and lacked access to health care, safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and education.

She said the European Union believed there was a need to accelerate efforts to develop initiatives that would truly have an impact on children.  The participation of children was vital, and children had the right to be taken into account in matters affecting their own lives.  She noted that the European Union attached particular importance to improving the situation of children affected by armed conflict.  To illustrate its commitment to this issue, the European Union last year adopted guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict with the aim of addressing the impact of armed conflict on children.  Action had also been taken by the European Commission in the field of humanitarian aid, through its humanitarian aid office, ECHO.

The European Union welcomed the efforts undertaken by the United Nations to mainstream the focus on children’s rights throughout its system, she continued.  It welcomed Resolution 1539 adopted by the Security Council in April of this year and looked forward to the action plan for a monitoring and reporting system requested by the resolution.  The European Union also looked forward to the early appointment of focal points to engage with parties to armed conflict on compliance with resolutions calling for an end to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict.

She added that the European Union remained committed to working towards the abolition of the death penalty.  Both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention of the Rights of the Child prohibited the death sentence for crimes committed by persons below the age of 18.  The European Union repeated its call to States to act accordingly.

MARTIN ANDJABA (Namibia), on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), said that despite the considerable progress made by SADC member States in improving the lives of children, the general situation in Sub-Saharan Africa remained grave.  Projections by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) indicated that 42 per cent of children who died before the age of five were from the 18 countries of sub-Saharan Africa.  Many of the SADC member States thus still fell short of meeting the targets contained in the Programme of Action adopted at the special session on children.

Noting that the region was at the epicentre of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, he said the SADC had continued to implement national and regional policies on HIV/AIDS, focusing on prevention, care and mitigating the socio-economic impact of this epidemic.  The impact of the epidemic was posing an extraordinary threat for children in sub-Saharan Africa, and the fight against HIV/AIDS was a top priority for the SADC region.  A key challenge facing SADC member States was to design sustainable programmes that would reach a significant proportion of orphans.

He said that the SADC was particularly concerned about children affected by armed conflict, many of whom suffered from disabilities as a result of violence.  The SADC was working hard at national levels to ensure that the rights of children with disabilities would not be violated on the grounds of their disabilities.  The SADC considered the posting of Child Protection Advisors in peacekeeping missions, such as the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), as a positive development that ensured that the protection of children’s rights were a priority in peace processes.  The SADC was also gravely concerned about the allegations of sexual exploitation by military and civilian personnel of MONUC and urged the Department of Peacekeeping and other United Nations agencies to fully investigate these allegations and take appropriate actions to end such behaviour.

SABINA VIGANI (Switzerland) welcomed the reports of the Secretary-General on the rights of the child, but expressed regret that the reports on follow-up to the General Assembly special session and on children and armed conflict had not been made available prior to the Committee’s discussion.  There was a need to pursue avenues of advocacy with the United Nations, MemberStates and armed groups.  The Special Representative should pursue his mandate for advocacy work as a priority.

The evaluation of United Nations system responses to children and armed conflict also highlighted the need to develop a unified system of monitoring and reporting on children and armed conflict, she stressed.  Achieving that objective required the establishment of an inter-agency task force, as had been proposed.  Switzerland offered its support to the proposal for creation of an inclusive and participatory mechanism for unified monitoring and reporting; all parties should contribute, according to their experiences, to this process.

Finally, she stressed the importance of integrating issues related to children and armed conflict, and in particular child protection.  Unfortunately, it seemed that the majority of United Nations actors had abdicated their responsibility in this regard to UNICEF and the Special Representative.  No entity alone could face the many challenges involved.  All actors should build the dimension of child protection into their activities and devote the necessary resources to that end.

JOHAN L. LØVALD (Norway) said the protection and promotion of children’s human rights was of paramount importance; all must do their utmost to ensure children the right to live in security, protected from the horrors of armed conflict, sexual exploitation and other forms of violence.  A strong focus on the girl child was required in that regard.  Welcoming the in-depth study on violence against children to be undertaken by Special Rapporteur Pinheiro, he reaffirmed that violence against children must never be considered a private matter; it should constantly be of concern to all.

Children’s rights to basic needs like health services and education must also be honoured, he said.  Thus, while the progress detailed in the report of the Secretary-General was welcomed, he urged States to scale up and better support current efforts.  Chronic poverty remained the single biggest global obstacle to meeting the needs of children; moreover, poverty served as the breeding ground for human rights violations and conflict, which in turn exacerbated poverty.

Investing in children should be the priority of all, he concluded.  Education remained the prerequisite for economic, social and cultural development, promoted health and played a major role in combating HIV/AIDS.  Children’s rights should, therefore, serve as a transversal topic in next year’s review of the Millennium Development Goals.  Sustainable policies for the family in all its forms must be adopted, as conducive to a safer environment and a sound upbringing for children.  Children’s perspectives should also be included at the United Nations Summit on the Information Society in 2005.

DONYA AZIZ, Member of Parliament of Pakistan, said that, despite the focus on children during the Millennium Summit, of the eight major goals, six related directly to the health and well-being of children.  Children continued to be passed over by economic progress in many regions, as poverty continued to distort their childhood.  Millions of children remained too poor to attend school; and an estimated 1.2 million were trafficked each year.  One million were sexually exploited, 246 million engaged in exploitative labour; and 300,000 were involved in conflict as child soldiers.  More than 2 million children had died as a direct result of armed conflict over the last decade, while 6 million had been seriously injured or permanently disabled.  More than 30 million children went without immunizations, with the result that nearly 11 million died before their fifth birthdays –- most from preventable diseases.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, he noted, had recognized the importance of a family environment to a child’s development; the institution of natural family must be strengthened at the national and international levels.  Thus, the child had been recognized as a fundamental element in Pakistan’s human development agenda.  At the federal level, the Ministry of Women’s Development, Social Welfare and Special Education retained responsibility for the rights of women, children, special persons and the destitute, while the focal agency for implementation of child rights was the National Commission for Child Welfare and Development.  That Commission worked closely with United Nations agencies, including UNICEF and the International Labour Organization (ILO), as well as national and international non-governmental organizations.

Pakistan had undertaken a number of initiatives for the development and protection of children, he concluded, including in the areas of health, education and juvenile justice.  Among other initiatives, girl students in 29 of the poorest districts had begun receiving cooked meals along with micronutrients and de-worming tablets, while the death penalty, hard labour and handcuffing had been abolished for juveniles, whose right to legal assistance had also been ensured.  The issue of child labour had also received serious attention, as comprehensive programmes had been launched to retrieve and rehabilitate working children in collaboration with the ILO and other international organizations.

HJALMAR W. HANNESSON (Iceland) said violence constituted one of the most direct assaults on human rights, be it physical or emotional.  By effectively protecting children from violence –- whether armed conflict, interpersonal violence, violence with the family or offenders outside the family –- the international community made important steps towards securing human rights in the future.  Thus, his country had incorporated an explicit duty of parents to safeguard children from violence that entailed a ban on parental corporal punishment.  Iceland also remained particularly concerned about the severe impact of armed conflict upon children and urged all States to ensure the safety and security of children living in conflict areas, and to observe the relevant commitments of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Iceland also held that improving the quality of care for children in all out-of-home placements was an important responsibility, as those children constituted a vulnerable group, all too often subjected to violence and ill-treatment.  The country had taken active steps towards formulating a policy to address the plight of unaccompanied children since last year, and remained committed to bilateral and multilateral cooperation in that regard.  Furthermore, a UNICEF National Committee had been established in March, and had received a good amount of publicity in conjunction with the launch of the UNICEF Global Parent Project.

ATSUKO HESHIKI (Japan) said there was an urgent need to protect all children from conflict, so that all children, like those of Japan, considered war to be something that could only be experienced in a computer game.  Owing to the instrumental role played by Special Representative Otunnu, the issue of children and armed conflict had gained a much higher profile, which had in turn led to the establishment of an international normative framework on the issue.  The time had now come to implement those norms.  Among other initiatives, Japan had extended an emergency grant of $3.64 million to UNICEF for a disarmament, demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration programme in Liberia focused on the 15,000 children that had been forced to fight or who had been mobilized to work for combatants.

On trafficking in children, he noted that an estimated 1.2 million children were trafficked each year.  Determined to enhance the fight against this scourge, Japan had established a Coordination Mechanism on Trafficking in Persons within the office of the Prime Minister in April.  Also convinced that countries of origin, transit and destination must collectively devise and implement serious and concrete measures to eradicate human trafficking and to save the victims, Japan had dispatched a mission to neighbouring countries and had worked closely with concerned governments and international and civil society organizations.  Japan had also hosted the second World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.  He also welcomed the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children.

Japan’s second periodic report had been presented to the Committee on the Rights of the Child during its thirty-fifth session, he noted.  The Committee had recognized the importance of Japan’s official development assistance (ODA), a large portion of which had been allocated to social development, including health and education.  Human security remained the underlying principle of the country’s ODA programme.  Furthermore, contributions to UNICEF from both the Government and the private sector had increased in 2003.

ELENA MOLARONI (San Marino) said her delegation agreed with the Secretary-General that education was a human right.  This belief was at the base of an advanced society.  Youth needed good and sound education upon which to build their lives.  Her Government fully supported the education targets of the Millennium Development Goals.  An educated child would be less exposed to disease.  There were 12 million people between the ages of 15 and 24 living with AIDS.  Education on how to avoid AIDS infection was one of most effective ways of combating the pandemic, as was education about the use of condoms and abstinence.

She said education was also critical in combating the destructive effects of landmines.  San Marino had financed a programme on mine awareness.  Furthermore, an educated child would be less likely to discriminate and to be discriminated against.  Achieving gender equality by 2005, a target put forth by the Millennium Development Goals, demanded equal access to education for girls.  Free education for all was a priority goal of her country.  Making education accessible to all was critical for the success of any development strategy.

SHOROUK IBRAHIM AL-MALKI (Qatar) said children’s affairs remained a focal point for policymakers and planners in his country due to the faith that each person should enjoy a dignified and secure life.  That dedication to children and youth had been enshrined in the Constitution, and caring for children remained the first priority of the State.  Thus, Qatar remained committed to children’s rights as outlined in international, Arabic and Islamic conventions, including attention to the person and provision of appropriate circumstances for a healthy upbringing –- socially, psychologically and educationally.

Qatar had presented its first report under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, he said.  It would also prepare a national plan for the child based on the objectives of “A World Fit for Children” -– the twenty-seventh special session of the General Assembly.

A number of steps had already been taken, he concluded, to encourage the construction of civil society institutions for women’s and children’s affairs, including the Qatari Foundation for the Protection of Women and Children, the Qatari Orphan Foundation and the Cultural Centre for Motherhood and Childhood.  The Government also remained committed to ending all kinds of violence against children to ensure that their education was not interrupted by instability and war.

SUN JIN (China) said that while the United Nations and national governments had made enormous efforts and had achieved remarkable results in promotion and protection of the rights of the child, acts in violations of children’s rights, such as war and armed conflict, poverty, disease and sexual abuse and exploitation remained prevalent.  Additionally, terrorism and other factors had raised new challenges to protection of the rights of the child; China strongly condemned all terrorist acts aimed against children.

Children remained the future, he affirmed.  The international community should strengthen cooperation and take effective measures to eliminate the root causes of the above problems in order to create a more favourable environment for children’s healthy growth the world over.

China’s Government remained committed to the promotion and protection of children’s rights, he said, and had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as its two Optional Protocols.  In implementation of the Convention, a series of legislative and administrative measures had been taken.  These included the formulation of the Guideline for the Development of Chinese Children, and the subsequent Guideline for Children’s Development, which elucidated goals in four priority areas:  children and health, children and education, children and legal protection, and children and the environment.

SEOUNG-HYUN MOON (Republic of Korea) said his Government had established a national coordination committee on children’s policies, in which the Government and civil society participated together.  For the first time there was a law that explicitly included coordination of the implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child as one of its mandates.  This reflected progress in children’s policies in the Republic of Korea by integrating a rights-based approach with the traditional focus on the healthy development of children.  There was also a newly introduced protective measure for children victims of sexual abuse, which spared children the agony of repeated testimony during criminal investigations and court proceedings.

He said the Republic of Korea welcomed the fact that the issue of protecting children from abuse, exploitation and violence was gaining wider recognition at the international level.  It was particularly concerned with the issue of children in armed conflicts.  Child protection issues in the context of armed conflicts had not received adequate attention.  His Government hoped the Secretary-General’s report on the comprehensive assessment of the United Nations system response to children affected by armed conflict would provide renewed impetus for improving and strengthening the efforts of the United Nations system for the protection of children in armed conflicts.

ABDULLATIF H. SALLAM (Saudi Arabia) said his Government had striven to promote the rights of children, in accordance with the Koran and national tradition.  Great importance was attached to children from an early age.  Reaffirming the importance of the family as the nucleus of society and fundamental to development of the child also remained a Government priority.  The Government had acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1997, and children had been assured of their rights thereunder, which were not in conflict with Sharia.

Saudi Arabia had striven to ensure that every child could exercise his or her human rights in their entirety, he said.  National development plans contained policies and programmes devoted to children, and were being implemented by relevant agencies.  All children had been assured the right to education, including those with special needs.  Children had also been provided with meals and housing where necessary, and their physical and psychological health had been assured.

When speaking of children’s rights, the suffering of children in the Palestinian territories could not be overlooked, he concluded.  The international community was called upon to ensure respect of Palestinian children’s rights under the Convention and other international instruments.

LEYSA FAYE SOW (Senegal) said her Government had developed a new programme of cooperation that aimed to better identify problems facing Senegalese children.  Among its main objectives were to reduce infant mortality by 20 per cent, reduce malnutrition by 25 per cent, create an integrated approach to development, strengthen the capacity of parents to assure the harmonious development of children, and guarantee access to quality education for children 7 to 12 years of age.  It also aimed to eliminate the sexual exploitation of children.

She said that given that the children of today would be the adults of tomorrow, they warranted more attention and concern from their elders.  The follow-up and implementation of the Convention of the Rights of the Child must be complied with by all States.  Senegal had used national professionals to analyse the implementation of the Convention.

Among other positive developments, she said 40 per cent of the national budget was earmarked for education.  The enrolment of girls in school had reached 72 per cent in 2003, and the goal was to reach 90 per cent in the near future.  She added that there had not been a single case of polio for three years.  The Government was trying to eliminate child beggars, genital mutilation, HIV/AIDS and violence of all forms against children.  Senegal appealed to the international community to continue its efforts to build a world fit for children.

SAEED AL-HEBSI (United Arab Emirates) said his country remained concerned about the situation of children in developing countries.  These children lived in tragic conditions, in which their basic human rights were violated by armed conflict, violence, foreign occupation and extreme poverty.  Many had been displaced, deprived of education and suffered from diseases such as HIV/AIDS.  Many others had fallen victim to sexual exploitation, trafficking and recruitment as child soldiers.  Realization of the goals of “A World Fit for Children” required increased international efforts to reach just and permanent solutions to the causes that aggravated the conditions of those children, including provision of the resources necessary for development, application of political solutions to disputes, the end of foreign occupation and implementation of the resolutions and recommendations of international conferences on development.

His Government attached great importance to children’s welfare and protection of their rights, he stressed.  The provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child had been implemented in accordance with Islamic tradition and cultural heritage.  Legislation had been adopted to ensure the safety of children and to protect them from all forms of exploitation.  The Government had also established the Higher Council for Childhood and Maternity in recognition that a child’s welfare could not be ensured without also ensuring the mother’s.

Programmes and plans for children’s welfare had been merged with those devoted to advancement of women and the family, he said.  Among national accomplishments, he cited the provision of free and mandatory primary education to all, reduction of the infant mortality rate to 6.57 per 1,000, eradication of polio, establishment of specialized centres for care of the physically and mentally disabled, and adoption of legislation on juveniles that was in accordance with the Convention.  His country also remained deeply concerned about the situation of Palestinian children.

Mr. ATIA (Libya) said some gains had been made in promotion and protection of the rights of the child, but progress had been uneven.  Efforts must remain ongoing to redress threats to children’s rights, particularly violence against children, which took the form of trafficking, sexual exploitation and war and armed conflict.  For example, the situation of Palestinian children continued to be of concern.  The international community must shoulder its responsibility to end the suffering of Palestinian children, as well as the suffering of African children due to poverty, disease and conflict.  The situation in sub-Saharan Africa remained serious; the international community must provide adequate assistance to enable effective initiatives to redress that situation.

Libya had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its first Optional Protocol on children in armed conflict, he said.  Primary education had been made compulsory in his country and had been provided with free health care.  Also expressing concern about the wanton destruction caused by weapons such as landmines, which continued to affect Libyan children as a legacy of the colonial era, he called for the international community to do more to confront such threats to children’s safety.

RAM BABU DHAKAL (Nepal) said that while there had been some progress in advancing the rights of children around the world, the problems remained as daunting as ever.  The international community needed to redouble its efforts to improve the status of children, and the United Nations had a pivotal role to play in these efforts.  Special attention to children’s issues could not be divorced from larger development challenges that had direct bearings on children.  Achieving the international goals of halving poverty and providing universal access to primary education by 2015 remained a great challenge to the international community.  Developing countries, particularly the least developed nations like Nepal, needed additional international financial and technical assistance to achieve the goals of their national action plans for children.

He said Nepal’s Constitution guaranteed the protection of the rights and interests of children and prohibited trafficking in human beings, slavery, or forced labour.  There were laws to provide for measures to safeguard children’s rights consistent with the Convention of the Rights of the Child, including a law prohibiting the employment of children under the age of 16.  Nepal was a party to the ILO Conventions concerning minimum age for employment and the worst forms of child labour.  A master plan had been prepared to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2007 and all forms of child labour by 2010.

Noting that Nepal had achieved some progress in recent years, he said rates of infant mortality had decreased; enrolment of girls in school had increased; and national child immunization had covered more than 90 per cent of Nepalese children.  The current five year plan aimed at poverty reduction through broad-based economic growth, infrastructure development and social inclusion.

P. GANSUKH (Mongolia) said that his Government had, in December 2002, adopted its second National Programme for the Development and Protection of Children, which covered all aspects of children’s development and protection.  Its mission was to create an enabling environment for protection of children’s rights and well-being, to promote their self-development and participation and to improve their access to education and health care.  The Programme consisted of six main parts, and included performance indicators and estimated funding requirements and sources.  At the initial stage, the Government had been able to provide about 60 per cent of the funding needed.

In recent years, he continued, particular attention had been dedicated to formulating and implementing child-centred and child-friendly policies and programmes, including with respect to juvenile crime and juvenile justice, education, health and the family.  The latter, in particular, had been reaffirmed as the fundamental unit of society and primary environment for development of children, and Mongolia had proclaimed 2004 as the Year for Promotion of Family Development.

Among the legal reforms undertaken to create an enabling legal environment for respect of children’s rights, he cited accession to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990), the Law on the Protection of Child Rights (1996) and the Law on Domestic Violence (2004) as important steps.  Promotion of children’s self-development and active participation in shaping their own world had also been accorded importance; a significant source for the review of the first national development programme had come from a series of “One World Conferences”, which had been organized with children’s active participation.  Mongolia had also been the first country to organize a National Summit on Children with the participation of children.  More than 600 representatives from children’s organizations had taken part, as well as non-governmental organizations, Government institutions and the Parliament, and the United Nations.

SAMIR KOUBAA (Tunisia) said the international community had many times decried the gap that existed between international norms on the rights of the child and their violation in situations of armed conflict.  He expressed concern about the precariousness of the situation of many children worldwide –- particularly in Africa -– due to armed conflict, HIV/AIDS and other diseases, malnutrition, poverty and exploitation, as cited in the report of the Secretary-General, as well as the situation of unaccompanied children.  The lot of children living in the occupied Arab territories was also of grave concern; the international community must ensure respect for the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Geneva Conventions for the benefit of Palestinian children and their families.

Noting that the capacity of United Nations and civil society mechanisms to rehabilitate all children affected by conflict was not yet commensurate with the task at hand, he called for a strengthening of United Nations efforts for child protection on the ground.

Nationally, he said Tunisia continued to strive to include consideration for children’s rights in all relevant decision-making.  Among measures taken in that respect, a National Strategy and Plan of Action for Children had been adopted, and legislation for protection of the child had been elaborated, as had mechanisms to ensure its follow-up.  A national plan for children (2002-2010) had been drawn up in order to uphold international commitments to ensure children’s development in keeping with “A World Fit for Children”.

FESSEHA TESFU (Ethiopia) said his Government had finalized a National Plan of Action for children that incorporated four priority areas:  promoting healthy lives; providing quality education; protecting children against abuse, exploitation and violence; and combating HIV/AIDS.  The inclusion of civic education in both primary and secondary education aimed to encourage the development of children to become responsible citizens.  In the remote parts of the country, non-formal education was being delivered as an alternative to formal education.

In the area of violence against children, a national penal code had been amended to penalize people who committed harmful traditional practices against children.  His Government had ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child, and its protocols had been submitted to the Council of Ministers to prepare their ratification.  To combat HIV/AIDS, priority intervention areas had been identified, and Ethiopia was collaborating with United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations in setting up voluntary HIV/AIDS counselling and testing in different regions.  He called on the international community to provide necessary technical and financial support to the developing countries that were striving to ensure a world fit for children.

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