Regional commitments to children
The Governments of the region have pledged to defend all rights for all children. All have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and most have ratified its Optional Protocols on children in armed conflict, and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. In 2000, world leaders adopted the Millennium Development Goals to tackle the key challenges to human development. In 2001, government delegations at the 1st Inter-Governmental Conference on Children in Europe and Central Asia adopted the Berlin Declaration, pledging to address the obstacles to the fulfilment of child rights. In May 2002, the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children, attended by governments, pledged to build a World Fit for Children. And in May 2004, the governments of Europe and Central Asia met in Sarajevo for the 2nd Intergovernmental Conference on Building a Europe and Central Asia Fit for Children. But child rights are not only a matter for governments. They are everybody’s business. In 2001, civil society organisations met in Bucharest, Romania, and pledged to build a Region Fit for Children – a region where no child is left out. Young people met in Budapest and drafted the Budapest Open Letter to governments, setting out their vision of a region fit for children. Child rights are OUR business and we demonstrate that every day, in 20 countries across the region.
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