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Summary: NEW DELHI, India (AP), 7 May, 2002 -
- Nearly half the toddlers in India
suffer from malnutrition. Almost half
the girls can't read. And 22 percent
of children have no access to safe
drinking water.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:14 p.m. ET
NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- Nearly half the toddlers in India suffer
from malnutrition. Almost half the girls can't read. And 22 percent
of children have no access to safe drinking water.
Those are intolerable odds, say Nawaz Ali and Reena, two
delegates to the U.N. Children's Summit that opens Wednesday
in New York. As children from India, they speak with the voice of
experience.
``I want to ask the leaders of the world what they will do for the
children of the world,'' said Nawaz, a 17-year-old from the Indian-
controlled part of Kashmir. He spoke Friday before his departure
from the Indian capital.
Delegates from more than 150 countries are meeting in New York
to review the successes and failures of the past decade. Some 65
world leaders plan to attend.
This year's delegates also include over 300 children -- the first
time that young people will attend a U.N. conference as full
participants, making speeches and leading round-table
discussions.
Several will address the U.N. General Assembly. Nawaz hopes to
be among them as does Reena, a 12-year-old girl from the
northern state of Uttar Pradesh who goes by one name.
``We have a right to better education. We have a right to better
health care,'' she said. ``And we have a right to fun. Few
children in India have the chance to just play and enjoy
themselves.''
While their country is in turmoil, wracked by religious riots pitting
Hindus against Muslims, Nawaz, a Muslim, and Reena, a Hindu,
have joined hands to tell world leaders that the children of India
deserve better.
Nawaz comes from the Kargil district of Indian-controlled Kashmir,
where Islamic militants have been fighting for Kashmir's
independence since 1989. India and Pakistan have gone to war
twice over the Himalayan territory which they both claim.
The children of his small mountain village, Scumbo, must hike
down the mountain, often through deep snow, and trudge eight
miles to get to school. With the Islamic insurgency, getting an
education has become even more exhausting and precarious.
``I remember quiet days when children walked to school
peacefully, without fear,'' said Nawaz. ``Now, sometimes, when
we hear the loud booms, we must run for our lives.''
Both Nawaz and Reena said the right to education -- particularly
for girls who too often are forced to stay at home and help their
mothers -- will top their summit agenda.
Since the first World Summit for Children in 1990, more children
are in school, there are 3 million fewer child deaths per year and
polio has been nearly eradicated. India is one of the last
holdouts, though fewer than 300 cases remain.
Yet 10 million of the world's 2 billion children still die each year
from preventable causes, every 20th child is not in school and
some 300,000 are fighting in wars.
``The achievements of the world report card is a mixed picture,''
said Maria Calivis, UNICEF representative in India. ``On one
hand, we have made significant progress in a number of areas,
such as access to education, safe drinking water, immunization.
But it falls short from actually meeting the promises that were
made in 1990.''
The summit, which had been scheduled for last September but
was postponed after the terrorist attacks, will establish 20 new
goals for the next decade. They include a 50 percent reduction in
the number of children out of school and cutting by one-third the
mortality rate for children younger than 5.
In India, only half the children are fully immunized against polio,
measles, tuberculosis and other crippling or fatal diseases. The
infant mortality rate is 70 out of 1,000 babies -- 10 times higher
than in the United States.
``I'm going to ask the world leaders why,'' said Reena. ``I'm not
afraid to tell them that a lot more must be done.''
Association: The New York Times