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Manifesto for children and adolescents of Latin America and the Caribbean |
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| We address ourselves to the countries
of Latin America and the Caribbean through this Manifesto for Children and
Adolescents. On the threshold of the new millenium, men are conquering the stars but down on earth they have not reached the hearts of children. Our region has a population of 400 million, of which more than 200 million -- despite the natural and human resources of our countries -- live, or survive, on sixty dollars a month or less. As a result of this situation of poverty and misery, and because of discrimination against age in addition to economic and ethnic discrimination -- more than half of the region's 190 million are the principal victims of malnutrition, hunger, and abandonment; they live exposed to all these dangers which often lead to their death. In many cases, they do not even have a legal identity, for which reason physical and psychological abuse perpetrated against them goes unpunished. Close to 20 million children under the age of 15 work, often carrying out activities of high risk.The violence that surrounds them, and the violence in their homes, cheat them out of an education that could train them in the full exercise of their rights; it pushes them into delinquency; and it turns them into victims of the drug industry and sexual abuse. Painfully frequent, it leads them to commit suicide. Where armed conflict persists, children are used indiscriminately as human shields and war booty. They are also the most innocent victims of anti-personnel landmines. Thousands are displaced violently from their homes and often, orphaned, and obliged to become heads of their families from a very early age. These horrible facts which are repeated daily in all parts of the continent constitute gross violations of the rights of children and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean -- despite the fact that in1959 the entire world proclaimed that humanity owes the child the best that it can give him and that all countries since 1990 have ratified and committed themselves to comply with the mandates of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. Because of all the above, and because we believe that it is urgent to care for this enormous contingent of human resources which constitutes the greatest reserve of hope for our region, and because our children have inalienable rights that must be a priority on the agenda for the new century, WE CALL ON THE GOVERNMENTS AND SOCIETIES OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN To comply immediately with the objectives of the 1990 World Summit for Plan of Action and minimum goals in the areas of health and nutrition, education, gender equity, and adaptation of national legislation to the letter of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and, in general, to respect the rights of children and adolescents. The advances made by our countries show that they have the required capacity to meet these commitments. To establish, at immediate meetings of the highest level -- the Ibero-American Presidents' and CARICOM Summits -- strategies and development policies that address the social, economic, cultural and affective aspects of children and adolescents as priority issues, guaranteeing children and adolescents a more just life in the coming millennium. To guarantee, in the construction of that future agenda for children and adolescents, a space for participation and representation of members of civil society at all levels of discussion on the problems that affect them. To promote and respect the participation of children and adolescents in each and every one of the issues that affect them, and to listen to their opinion, in accordance with the letter of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child. To seek to the establishment, as a prime objective, within the framework of our Latin American and Caribbean identity, of a Social Pact that guarantees children and adolescents their participation in the development of a more just and prosperous region. A Pact that should be expressed through adherence to this Manifesto: from the home, the school, institutions and organisations of civil society, artists and intellectuals, and rural and urban communities… To establish an educational system that teaches children and adolescents to know and defend their rights as proper citizens in order for the state to guarantee their personal integrity, liberty, equality before the law, the right to live in a healthy environment, the right to develop their personality in freedom, to participate in cultural and community life, to legal protection and to a legal identity. To strengthen the cultural identity of indigenous peoples and Afro-Latin communities, within the framework of their maximum human development, combatting poverty and misery, and reducing the gap between the rich and the poor in the region. We call on the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the world community to make it a prime political, social and economic objective to improve the living conditions of the population and to ensure that the best interest of the child be a guiding principle that informs public policy, including those made during periods of crisis, emergency, or structural adjustment. We call on the communication media and communicators to intensify their efforts to promote among children and adolescents values such as respect for differences, dialogue and non-violence. Finally, we ask UNICEF to become the promoter of this dialogue between civil society and governments, for the achievements of those objectives. More than the coming of the new millennium, our children are waiting for love. Mexico City October 2, 1999 JORGE ENRIQUE ADOUM HECTOR AGUILAR CAMIN ISABEL ALLENDE JORGE AMADO MARIO BENEDETTI BELISARIO BETANCUR ARTURO CORCUERA THIAGO DE MELLO EULALIO FERRER CARLOS FUENTES EDUARDO GALEANO GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ ANGELES MASTRETTA RIGOBERTHA MENCHU ROSA MONTERO ALVARO MUTIS NELIDA PINON ERNESTO SABATO JOSE SARAMAGO FERNANDO SAVATER MERCEDES SOSA ELENA PONIATOWSKI DEREK WALCOTT |
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