Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: New York, May 6, 2002: The United Nations “Children’s Summit” is in danger of simply ushering in another decade of broken promises, a caucus of children’s advocates said today. New York, May 6, 2002 - The United Nations “Children’s Summit” is in danger of simply ushering in another decade of broken promises, a caucus of children’s advocates said today. Some 70 heads of state arrive in New York this week to evaluate global progress for children and adopt a new plan of action. The plan has been under negotiation for more than a year, but focuses primarily on previous commitments, and offers weak follow-up mechanisms. “Millions of children are today denied basic rights and suffer unconscionable abuse because governments have failed to live up to their commitments,” said Bill Bell of Save the Children UK, speaking on behalf of the Child Rights Caucus, a coalition of more than 100 national and international non-governmental organizations. Over 125 million children are not in school; 250 million children are involved in child labor, including millions who are victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking; 2 million children have died in ten years and up to 25 million have been uprooted by armed conflict. 10 million children a year die from malnutrition and preventable diseases. The two most controversial issues still being negotiated are related to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the rights of adolescents to sexual and reproductive health education and services. On both issues, the United States is a major obstacle to agreement. “The US has tried to sideline the Convention on the Rights of the Child as the global standard for protecting the rights of children,” said Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch. “It is also seeking to roll back previous agreements to provide adolescents with sexual and reproductive health education and services.” The United States and Somalia are the only countries that have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since 1989, 191 countries have ratified the Convention, making it the most widely ratified treaty in history. The Child Rights Caucus welcomed the Special Session’s attention to protecting children from abuse, violence and exploitation, issues that were virtually ignored in 1990. But it criticized the mechanisms for follow-up and monitoring the Session’s outcome document, which are too weak to ensure that governments were held accountable for their pledges. For example, the primary international monitoring body for children – the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child – had been given no addition support, even though it has already fallen way behind in reviewing governments’ actions. The Caucus said that an effective action plan was vital to make up for the “broken promises” of the decade since the 1990 World Summit for Children, but criticized governments for failing to allocate adequate resources to children. During the 1990’s, international development assistance fell to new lows, and developing countries allocated only 12-14 percent of national budgets to basic social services. Despite pledges to support universal access to education, only 2% of international aid goes to provide schooling in poor countries. “Promises are easily made,” said Ms. Becker, “but the challenge for the next decade is to ensure that governments live up to their commitments. Without sufficient political will and resources, the stage is set for another decade of broken promises.” The UN General Assembly Special Session on Children takes place in New York from May 8-10. Over 2000 NGO representatives from over 120 countries are taking part in related events. The Child Rights Caucus – Background The Child Rights Caucus includes over 100 national and international organizations from around the world that are committed to promoting and protecting the rights of children. It is the largest NGO lobbying body related to the UN Special Session. Its members include human rights organizations, international development NGOs and groups working on specific issues such as education, child and adolescent health, child labour, armed conflict, etc. Members of the press are invited to a press briefing by members of the Caucus on Tuesday, May 7 at 12:45 p.m. in UN Room 226.