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Summary: New York, 14 May 2002 - THE United
Nations General Assembly Special
Session on Children has adopted a
declaration aimed at improving the
well-being of children over the next
10 years.
Innocent Gore
New York
THE United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children
has adopted a declaration aimed at improving the well-being of
children over the next 10 years.
Zimbabwe's children were represented by child president
Mkhaliphi Vundla and 11-year-old Tinevimbo Chimbetete who
highlighted problems faced by children in the country.
"We asked the summit to help Zimbabwe because we have
problems like the dry spell, which has caused mealie-meal
shortages. So I asked world leaders to help children in the
country," Vundla told Zimbabwean journalists covering the
summit.
According to the UN Children's Educational Fund, the event ended
with an unanimous agreement on a new agenda for the world's
children, including 21 specific goals and targets for child health,
education and protection over the next decade.
The special session at the UN headquarters from May 8 to 10
brought together government leaders, including President
Mugabe, representatives of non-governmental organisations,
children's advocates and children themselves to take up new
challenges to the promotion and protection of children's rights.
It reviewed progress made since the 1990 World Summit for
Children where governments committed themselves to specific
time-bound goals on child survival, protection and development.
Key issues from 1990 remained central to the new global goals,
including further reducing infant and maternal mortality,
expanding access to clean water and sanitation, and establishing
universal primary education.
The document adopted by the summit titled A World Fit for
Children asks world leaders to identify strategic solutions to the
problems facing children and to commit the critical human and
economic resources that will be needed.
It calls for an address of the pressing issues of child mortality,
HIV/Aids, exploitation and poverty.
Governments stressed their commitment to create a world in
which sustainable development - taking into account the best
interests of the child - is based on democracy, equality, non-
discrimination and social justice.
The world leaders recognised and supported families and/or legal
guardians, and pledged to strengthen their efforts to provide
optimum care, nutrition and protection.
Goals proposed by the plan of action promise to have a far-
reaching impact and will make a vital contribution to the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals adopted by
world leaders two years ago.
Building on promises made at international conferences during
the 1990s, the 2002 goals aim to pull hundreds of millions out of
poverty within a generation.
New targets have been added in the areas of HIV/Aids and child
protection, reflecting the changing nature of the challenges facing
the world's children.
The plan also expresses the need to address a number of
environmental problems in order to ensure the health and well-
being of children.
Those problems include global warming, air pollution and unsafe
drinking water.
Five goals deal with the protection of children from neglect,
exploitation and violence, abuses that are often hidden and
undocumented.
Governments agreed to set standards for monitoring such
abuses and to protect children with appropriate legislation.
The session concluded after a week of inter-governmental
negotiations on the new agenda for children, scores of
supporting events delving into everything from immunisation to
child trafficking, and a refreshingly frank exchange between
heads of state and government and young people from around
the world.
More than 18 months of consensus-building resulted in a strong
future agenda focused on four key priorities: promoting healthy
lives; providing quality education for all; protecting children
against abuse, exploitation and violence; and combating HIV/Aids.
Elusive language on child rights, reproductive health, and other
issues was resolved in good-faith negotiating sessions that
lasted through the night on Thursday and wrapped up
successfully on Friday evening.
"I am enormously proud and pleased at what has been
accomplished this week," Unicef executive director, Ms Carol
Bellamy, was quoted as saying on the UN website.
"If leaders keep the promises they have made, we can bring
about enormous positive change in the world in less than a
generation."
Ms Bellamy praised the government negotiators who worked
hard to build consensus on the document.
"No one wants to fail our children. When it comes to their health
and welfare, there is really very little difference among nations.
And when governments take children seriously, long negotiations
are entirely appropriate.
"But the work does not end this week. It will take committed and
bold leadership over the next few years if we are to meet the
standards we have set for ourselves. In the 1990s we learned
that making promises is not enough - you have to act on them.
"We have a document the world and its children can be proud
of," Ms Bellamy said, noting that it was the participation of young
people themselves in the special session that had the greatest
impact on world leaders.
During the summit, children took part in official General Assembly
business for the first time in history.
"They made an enormous impact on everyone who met with
them. And they presented a very clear and united view of their
aspirations and their expectations. I can't imagine ever going
back to summits on children's issues without young people there
to represent their own experiences, views, and outlook," said Ms
Bellamy.
She praised the leadership of UN secretary-general Mr Kofi
Annan, who participated throughout the conference and went out
of his way to make the children welcome and to put them at the
heart of the UN agenda.
The president of the General Assembly, Mr Han Seung-Soo of
South Korea, said the special session should not be seen as an
end in itself.
"It is a milestone in a long journey that began in 1990 with the
World Summit for Children that gathered momentum during the
1990s and that has brought us all here to plan our course for the
future," he said.
"And what have we agreed? To build a world fit for children. To
make it a better place for them to grow up in a place where their
basic needs will be met, where their rights will be respected and
promoted.
"This sounds ambitious, but we have adopted a declaration that
describes, very clearly, the steps we must take to build a new
world fit for children.
"It does so in a clear, concise and robust manner. It is a practical
and achievable checklist, not only for a better future, but also for
immediate action that will improve child well-being today."
Mr Seung-Soo said significant national efforts, including the
mobilisation of human, financial and material resources, were
essential for achieving the targets in the outcome document.
"The leadership of each member state should show its
commitment to this end," he said.