Beijing High-Level Meeting
The meeting brought together senior representatives from 28 governments from across the Asia Pacific region to discuss and explore opportunities for mutual cooperation in the promotion of child rights, within the framework of South-South cooperation. Regional and international organizations with a strong record in promoting intra-regional cooperation, including the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), also participated in Beijing. While the Beijing High-Level Meeting sought to build on the series of earlier regional high-level consultations on child rights that began in 1991, these consultations also represented the beginning of a more intensive effort for participating countries to share their experiences in seeking to strengthen child rights, and to establish effective mechanisms to support ongoing exchange and cooperation for the benefit of children across the Asia Pacific region. Ratification by participating countries of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is universal, and most have ratified its two Optional Protocols - (i) on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and (ii) on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Participating governments in Beijing exchanged notes on their respective achievements, as well as lessons learned and future challenges, in managing three main thematic issues for the High-Level Meeting: (i) A Systems Approach to Child Protection and Child Welfare in the Asia Pacific Region; (ii) Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with Equity: Country Experiences in the Asia Pacific Region; and (iii) Children and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Asia Pacific Region. These three conference themes represent issues of growing importance to countries of Asia and the Pacific, and areas where there would be significant advantage in greater intra and inter-regional cooperation. Conference Background Papers UNICEF commissioned the preparation of four (4) conference background papers on each of the major conference themes, to help inform and stimulate discussion in Beijing. The papers can be downloaded from the following links: (i) South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in the Asia Pacific region; (ii) A systems approach to Child Protection and Child Welfare in the Asia Pacific region; (iii) Children and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Asia Pacific region; & (iv) Achieving MDGs with Equity: the Experiences of Countries in the Asia Pacific region. Country panel presentations The consultations in Beijing were structured to maximise the opportunities for the 28 participating governments to: (i) share their experiences in seeking to strengthen child rights; and (ii) provide their views on the value of further intra and inter-regional cooperation for child rights, and how they can contribute to this. The High Level Meeting program provided opportunities for 14 of the 28 participating governments to deliver panel presentations during each of the main plenary sessions. Panellists were selected on the basis of known good practices in the region. Each of the countries scheduled to make panel presentations also tabled supporting papers to provide further detail on their experiences and achievements in advancing child rights that could usefully be shared, and their views on how South-South cooperation could contribute further in strengthening children's rights in the region. These papers can be accessed from the following web links: (i) India, Nepal, Singapore and Thailand on the Philosophy and Practice of South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in the Asia Pacific Region; (ii) China, Malaysia and Pakistan on Child Protection and Child Welfare in the Asia Pacific Region; (iii) Cambodia, China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam on Addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with Equity: Country Experiences in the Asia Pacific Region; and (iv) Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands on Children and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Asia Pacific Region. Panellists were selected on the basis of known good practices in the region. These panel presentations will be important in stimulating wider discussion and debate in each session. Once country presentations have been delivered, there will then be an opportunity in each plenary session for informal interventions from the floor and discussions with the panel. Each of the countries making panel presentations will also submit supporting papers in Beijing to provide further detail on their experiences and achievements in advancing child rights within the relevant session theme that could usefully be shared, and their views on how South-South cooperation can contribute further in strengthening children's rights in the region. These supporting papers will be posted on the High Level Meeting web page, as they become available. Presentations in Beijing Session 1: The Philosophy and Practice of South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region
Session 2: Child Protection and Child Welfare in the Asia Pacific
Session 3: Addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with Equity: Country Experiences in the Asia Pacific Region
Session 4: Addressing the MDGs with Equity: Country Experiences in the Asia Pacific Region
Session 5: Children and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Asia Pacific Region
Session 6: Regional Perspectives and Partnerships
The Report The Declaration Media information Conference information Profiles - Heads of Delegation Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Darussalam Cambodia Vice President and member of Secretariat of All-China Women’s Federation Vice-President and First Member of the Secretariat of the All-China Women’s Federation Fiji Kiribati Malaysia Maldives Sri Lanka Asian Development Bank (ADB) UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) UNICEF |
