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Summary: Despite promises made by
governments at the Special Session
on Children in May 2002, this report
shows that the world is seriously off
track in achieving the Special Session
and Millennium Development Goals.Six hundred million children live in poverty, with little or no access
to healthcare, education and opportunities for the future. Fifty-six
million ‘additional’ child deaths will occur and 75 million children
will continue to be denied access to education in 2015 if these
goals are not met. These broken promises are hitting children the
hardest.
There was a palpable sense of urgency in May 2002 when 190
governments signed the outcome document of the UN Special
Session on Children - “A World Fit for Children”. These countries
committed to time-bound goals for promoting healthy lives for
children, providing quality education and protecting children from
abuse, exploitation, violence and HIV/AIDS.
And we do know how to achieve these goals. Solutions and policy
options have been identified, tested and proven. What is needed
is their application on a sufficient scale to make a real difference.
The abolition of school fees in Kenya in January 2003, for
example, brought 1.3 million children to school in a single year.
“Urgent action is necessary if the promises made two years ago
at the United Nations are not to be broken” said John
Greensmith, Vice-Chair of the Global Movement for Children
Convening Committee. “The goals are achievable if the political
and financial support is provided.”
In 1970 the world’s richest countries committed to a goal of
spending 0.7 per cent of their income on aid to the world’s
poorest. Thirty-four years on, just five have met this target,
leaving an accumulated amount of US $344 billion from 2000-
2004 that should have gone to developing countries. This would
have financed all the basic social services of the poorest
countries during this time.
This report calls on donor countries to meet their responsibilities
to children by meeting the 0.7 per cent goal.
Some of the world’s largest international non-governmental
organisations will meet today to discuss joint action on the
challenges raised by this report. They will say that as well as a
breakthrough in financing for development, civil society, citizens
and communities also need to work together and do more to
protect the rights of children.
Their discussion coincides with the presentation of six children at
the opening of the Universal Forum of Cultures, where they will
speak to 3,000 delegates about their personal experiences of
war, conflict, disability, child labour and HIV/AIDS.
For the Spanish version, go to:
http://www.gmfc.org/GMC_2nd_Monitoring_Spanish.pdfpdf: www.gmfc.org/GMC_2nd_Monitoring_English.pdf