Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: Globally one out of three people is a
child. Because children make up a
substantial percentage of the
population in developing countries
and are usually poor, any policy,
which ignores their views and
interests, will fail a very substantial
number of citizens. In developing countries, 600 million children live in households
with an income of than $1 a day and 130 million children, two-
thirds of them girls, are out of school. 20 million children have
been forced from their homes by war. 10 million children die from
preventable diseases every year in sub- Saharan Africa while 8
500 children become infected with HIV/AIDS each day.
It is tempting for policy makers to think that children’s needs can
be addressed by references to adults or other vulnerable groups,
as part of their membership of households or communities. It is
however not the case that children’s and adults’ needs are
always the same: they are frequently different and occasionally
conflict. Moreover, an increasing number of children no longer live
in households, or in households headed by adults. Children like
orphans, refugees, child soldiers, disabled children, sexually
exploited children and children living on the streets are living
outside the framework of a traditional household or family and
need to be targeted directly if they are to be supported. But also
children within ‘traditional households’ need to have their own
unique situation and perspectives included in the development of
policies, programmes, goals and targets.
Currently, many European Union national programmes and
budget lines indirectly benefit children through social investment
in health, education and community development programmes.
The challenge for Government administrations is how to
mainstream and integrate children’s rights and needs throughout
all relevant development programmes and to maximise the
effectiveness of programmes aimed at development to relate to
children’s needs and to promote and protect the rights of the
child.
The Convention of the Rights of the Child, 1989 (CRC) requires
States’ Parties to promote and encourage international co-
operation with a view to achieving progressively the full
realisation of the right of the child and to support countries which
lack resources and capacity to do so (CRC articles 4; 24; 28). In
this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of
developing countries.
Owner: Mirjam van Reisen