Contents Foreword by Kofi A. Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations The State of the World's Children 2002: Leadership By Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund Governments, as well as international institutions, must be held accountable for their leadership in putting the rights and well-being of children above all other concerns. And those that fail to do so must also be held accountable. Ensuring the rights and well-being of children is the key to sustained development in a country and to peace and security in the world. Meeting this responsibility, fully, consistently and at any cost, is the essence of leadership. Heads of State and Government hold the lion's share of this responsibility but commitment and action are also called for across the board: from community activists and entrepreneurs, from artists and scientists, from religious leaders and journalists-and from children and adolescents themselves. I. Birth and broken promises: There was high excitement in the village, the kind of joy and optimism that only a new baby can bring. Ayodele was a beautiful baby, full of limitless potential, her whole life before her. For this moment, as should be the case at the birth of any child, everyone set aside their fears and doubts about the future, their anxieties about family health and growing enough food. They congratulated the baby's parents and contemplated the resurgent hope that new life always brings. At the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic, there was a birth of a different kind, one to which great hope was also attached. An unprecedented number of country presidents and national leaders gathered in New York for the World Summit for Children. It was September 1990, a time of unusual optimism in the world. II. "To change the world with children:" Since the earliest days of its existence, UNICEF has called the world's attention to the situation of children- to the many of them bruised by the operation of national societies and the global economy, to the ways in which they have suffered because of their parents' poverty, to how their health has suffered through lack of food or immunization and their mental development through poor health, abuse and neglect and lack of education-and has taken action to offset the damage. III. Actions that can change the world: Unquestionably, countries with the most power in the global economy need to show leadership in the pursuit of child rights. But developing countries' disadvantage does not exempt their governments from the need to demonstrate leadership on behalf of children. The rights of children are indivisible and paramount. No society should be satisfied until the rights of all are guaranteed and respected. Investing in children is, quite simply, the best investment a government can make. No country has made the leap into meaningful and sustained development without investing significantly in its children. Panels 1. IMMUNIZATION PLUS... 2. TOSTAN: A BREAKTHROUGH MOVEMENT 3. CHILDREN OF LIBERIA: DETERMINED TO CHANGE DESTINY 4. EDUCATE EVERY CHILD: THE DREAMS OF NAGALAND 5. PYALARA: YOUNG PALESTINIAN LEADERS 6. CHILDREN'S OPINION POLLS 7. GLOBAL MOVEMENT FOR CHILDREN: A ROLE FOR EVERYONE 8. GIVING CHILDREN THE BEST POSSIBLE START: BETTER PARENTING IN JORDAN 9. IN MALAWI: FIGHTING HIV/AIDS FROM THE CLASSROOM 10. TEXTBOOKS BY DONKEY: EDUCATING GIRLS IN BADAKHSHA¯N 11. THE ANONYMOUS TEACHER 12. THE INVOLVEMENT OF CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT: OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD 13. THE SALE OF CHILDREN, CHILD PROSTITUTION AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY: OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD 14. CHRONICLE OF A DISASTER FORETOLD 15. In East Timor: Leadership to build an independent nation Voices of Young People 1. ON CHANGING THE WORLD WITH CHILDREN 2. ON HIV/AIDS 3. ON CONFLICT 4. ON DISCRIMINATION 5. ON POVERTY AND EDUCATION Leaders on behalf of children Regional Consultations Excerpts from the regional high level meetings that were held in 2000-2001 in preparation for the Special Session on Children. References Glossary -------------------------- Foreword Like millions of people around the world, I have signed on to the 'Say Yes for Children' campaign, which proclaims that "all children should be free to grow in health, peace and dignity." Can there be a more sacred duty than our obligation to protect the rights of a child as vigilantly as we protect the rights of any other person? Can there be a greater test of leadership than the task of ensuring these freedoms for every child, in every country, without exception? At the United Nations General Assembly's Special Session on Children this September, the international community will take up this challenge as it reviews the progress that has been made since the 1990 World Summit for Children. Ten years have yielded mixed results. Three million fewer children under five now die each year, due in large part to immunization programmes and the dedicated efforts of families and communities. In developing countries, 28 million fewer children under five suffer the debilitating effects of malnutrition. More than 175 countries are polio-free, and 104 have eliminated neonatal tetanus. Yet despite these gains, more than 10 million children still die from mostly preventable diseases, some 600 million children still live in poverty, and more than 100 million-the majority of them girls-are not in school. Of all the lessons learned in the past decade, the critical role of leadership is perhaps the most important one to take with us into the new century. Leadership is an imperative if we are to improve the lives of children, their families and their communities. We must put the best interests of children at the heart of all political and business decision-making, and at the centre of our day-to-day behaviour and activities. This issue of UNICEF's The State of the World's Children is thus most timely. It calls for leadership from all continents and all sectors of society. It illustrates the many and varied ways that people have shown their commitment to children's welfare. And it emphasizes the need to give children the best possible start in life, to ensure that every child completes a basic education, and to involve children-adolescents in particular-in the decisions that affect their lives. These are no doubt ambitious goals, especially given the persistence of poverty, inequality and conflict, and the ravages of HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases. No single government or organization can hope to achieve them on its own. But together we can build a world fit for children, if each of us does our part and takes the well-being of children as our own responsibility. The Special Session must galvanize our collective efforts. This report is intended as a contribution to that essential work and merits the widest possible readership. Kofi A. Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations Chapter I Birth and broken promises There was high excitement in the village, the kind of joy and optimism that only a new baby can bring. Ayodele was a beautiful baby, full of limitless potential, her whole life before her. For this moment, as should be the case at the birth of any child, everyone set aside their fears and doubts about the future, their anxieties about family health and growing enough food. They congratulated the baby's parents and contemplated the resurgent hope that new life always brings.1 At the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic, there was a birth of a different kind, one to which great hope was also attached. An unprecedented number of country presidents and national leaders gathered in New York for the World Summit for Children. It was September 1990, a time of unusual optimism in the world. The child-health revolution, begun decades earlier, was in full swing during the 1980s as a worldwide immunization drive saved millions of young lives. The cold war was over and there was widespread expectation that money that had been spent on arms could now be devoted to human development in a 'peace dividend'. The World Summit for Children seemed in itself a sign that the world had moved into a new and brighter phase in which its policy makers and politicians could gather to consider how to guarantee children a better life rather than to deal with the implications of superpower rivalry. The World Summit reflected the world's hopes for children. Leaders promised to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which had been unanimously approved by the United Nations General Assembly just the year before. They signed on to ambitious goals to reduce child mortality, increase immunization coverage, deliver basic education and a whole raft of other measures by the year 2000. There was hope that the combination of a specific legal framework together with an action plan with time-tied, concrete goals would transform children's lives worldwide over the decade to come. Children's survival, development, protection and education were no longer matters of charitable concern but of legal obligation. The Declaration to which the world's leaders signed their name was bold and unequivocal: "The well-being of children requires political action at the highest level." The cause of children, for perhaps the first time in human history, was at the top of the world's agenda. Eleven years on Ayodele is now 10 years old, going on 11-and, though she does not know it, she has been let down. Her life is much the same as it would have been for a girl of her age in 1990. She is hard at work. The grain needs to be pounded for the nightly meal. This job is far from being her first of the day: She has already collected four large bowls full of water, which she has carried back to her family's compound on her head; she has helped in the fields, cleaned the house and has looked after her younger brothers and sisters. Yes, she would like to go to school, but it is very expensive to buy the books and, besides, her family needs her at home. Ayodele's life provides one small piece in the jigsaw of evidence that shows that the most optimistic assessments both in her own village and in New York at the time of her birth have not been realized. While she survived her first five years of life, two of her siblings born since the World Summit did not, dying from childhood diseases against which they could have been immunized or which were easily treated. Ayodele's learning potential was far from realized. Schools are not the only place in which learning occurs, and she has grasped, by precept and example, many of the important skills she will need to negotiate life in the village and beyond. But she cannot read or deal with any but the most basic ideas of number; she has no knowledge of the world beyond her local town; and she has no idea of her own rights. Children of the 1990s One child cannot stand for the whole world, but the picture for the human family in its entirety, while it has some bright spots that were a lot darker back in 1990, reflects a largely unfulfilled promise to children like Ayodele. The group of children born at the start of the last decade of the 20th century was the largest generation of children the world has ever known. If all those born at the time of the World Summit were reduced proportionately to a cohort of 100 children, what would they look like?-and what would their experience in the last 10 years have been? Of the 100 children, 55 would have been born in Asia, including 19 in India and 18 in China. Eight would have come from Latin America and the Caribbean, seven from the Middle East and North Africa, 16 from sub-Saharan Africa, six from CEE/CIS and Baltic States and eight from industrialized countries. The births of 33 of these children went unregistered: As a result they have no official existence, no recognition of nationality. Some of them have no access to health facilities or to school without this official proof of their age and identity. Around 32 of the children suffered from malnutrition before the age of five and 27 were not immunized against any diseases. Nine died before the age of five. Of the remaining 91 children, 18 do not attend school, of whom 11 are girls. Eighteen of the children have no access to safe drinking water and 39 live without sanitation. The difference between the life experiences and living conditions of these 100 children and a comparable cohort of 11-year-olds in 1990 is not anything as great as the international community would have wished when it began its undertakings a decade ago. Eleven years on from the World Summit, world leaders are again to gather in New York to consider the state of the world's children, looking back over the years since the fine words of the Declaration were expressed and since key, specific goals were set to improve children's lives. The data presented to them will show that the progress has been patchy, the record a mixture of conspicuous achievement and dispiriting failure. Meeting the goals-and falling short The first goal of the World Summit was to reduce the rates of infant and under- five mortality by one third between 1990 and 2000. Overall the reduction was 14 per cent-a significant improvement, which means that 3 million more children a year are now surviving beyond their fifth birthday than was the case a decade ago. More than 60 countries actually achieved the one-third reduction, including most countries in the European Union and North Africa and many others in East Asia, Oceania, the Americas and the Middle East (see Goal 1). But, the global picture conceals a massive disparity in achievements between regions and nations. Some rich countries did not achieve the goal while some very poor countries managed, by dint of huge effort and effective policies, to reach it. The tragedy of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa in particular not only sent some countries' child-mortality rates soaring after decades of improvement but also acted as a drag upon the global figure. In the case of one of the major causes of child mortality, diarrhoea, the world actually achieved its goal of slashing death rates in half. The goal set in relation to measles was even more ambitious: a 95 per cent reduction in the number of deaths from measles and a 90 per cent reduction in measles cases by 1995. Over the whole decade, measles cases have declined by nearly two thirds, still a remarkable achievement. The target for neonatal tetanus was also appropriately bold: to eliminate it completely by 1995. At the latest count, 104 of 161 developing countries have achieved that goal-and 90 per cent of all remaining neonatal tetanus is in just 27 countries. Polio was slated for complete eradication by 2000. Again, the progress has been extraordinary without the goal quite being reached. More than 175 countries have been certified polio-free, and the world now looks to be on target, provided the commitment remains there, to eradicate polio by 2005 at the latest. At that point it will become the second disease, after smallpox, to be completely conquered through human will and solidarity. Meanwhile, the number of reported cases of guinea worm disease declined over the decade by 97 per cent. Only 13 countries in Africa and one country in the Middle East are now affected. The child-health achievements are mixed with concern that what in 1990 seemed like unstoppable progress towards universal child immunization has stalled somewhat in the decade since. It is now clear that the levels of immunization at the time of the World Summit were actually lower, at 73 per cent, than was assumed at the time. Not only has the Summit goal of 90 per cent coverage not been achieved, but the world has struggled to maintain about the same levels of coverage: Over a quarter of the world's children (around 30 million infants) are still not reached by routine immunization. In sub-Saharan Africa only 47 per cent of children are immunized against diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus. In the field of nutrition, the primary goal was to cut malnutrition rates among children under five by half. Although this was more than achieved in South America, the decline in developing countries was only 17 percent. In Asia, where more than two thirds of the world's malnourished children live, the drop in child malnutrition rates was relatively small, from 36 per cent to 29 per cent, while in sub-Saharan Africa the absolute number of malnourished children has actually increased (see Goal 3). On the other hand, two of the micronutrients identified at the World Summit for Children as key to preventing 'hidden hunger'-vitamin A and iodine-have been success stories of the 1990s. The lack of vitamin A can lead to blindness and make children more susceptible to illness, but can be prevented by fortification of food or the distribution of capsules as part of immunization campaigns. Between 1996 and 1999 the number of countries with 70 per cent or higher coverage in vitamin A rose from 11 to 43 (see Panel 1). Iodine deficiency, meanwhile, which is the main cause of preventable mental retardation, is most easily addressed through the simple process of iodizing salt. The goal of virtually eliminating iodine deficiency disorders has not been met, but the percentage of people in developing countries consuming iodized salt has gone up from under 20 per cent to around 72 percent. Given this progress, the elimination of iodine deficiency disorders by 2005 looks to be a realistic prospect, though it will require both effort and commitment, since there are still 37 countries where less than half of the households consume iodized salt. The World Summit goals of universal access to safe drinking water and sanitary means of excreta disposal by 2000 have not even been neared during the 1990s. The percentage of people with access has gone up in both cases-from 79 per cent to 82 per cent for water, and 55 per cent to 60 percent for sanitation. But this still leaves around 1.1 billion people without safe water and 2.4 billion people without adequate sanitation, the vast majority of the latter group being in Asia (seeGoals 4 & 5). The goal of universal access to basic education is also still far from being achieved. Net primary enrolment ratios increased in every region but there are still more than 100 million children out of school and many more than that who receive an education of poor quality. The gender gap-the difference between the school enrolment and completion rates of boys and girls-is still far too wide, even if it has closed fractionally overall and narrowed significantly in most countries in the Middle East and North Africa. There was a modest decline in adult illiteracy which fell well short of the 50 per cent cut that had been hoped for (see Goal 6). Falling far short It is in the area of women's health, however, where countries have made no discernable progress-a reflection of women's continuing low status in many societies. The aim was to reduce maternal mortality rates by half but there is no evidence that there has been any significant decline. A related goal of giving all pregnant women access to prenatal care and trained attendants during childbirth has been hardly met: only 29 per cent of births in South Asia are attended and only 37 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa (see Goal 2). UNICEF is determined to focus attention on the unfinished business, on the children who, like Ayodele, have not yet been reached. The world should be under no illusion: Despite the progress that has been made, the last decade has been a missed opportunity of tragic proportions. Human pain, human ingenuity When leaders are talking of millions of people, the individuals involved are too easily reduced to ciphers, their pain translated into statistics and trends. But every one of the children born since 1990 has a name and a story; every one of them has the right to health, learning and protection, the right to their full potential and the right to participate in shaping their world-rights which have in all too many cases been violated. Why have children's rights continued to be abused? Are child poverty and ill- health monsters that will always be with us, unbanishable, unbeatable? Must the exploitation of children be a fact of life forever? Think again. In that same decade humanity showed its enormous ingenuity and technological capacity over and again. The understanding of humans' genetic make-up increased with every passing year and could within a generation make even the most intractable diseases, from cancer to cystic fibrosis, less terrifying and life-threatening than they have been to all previous generations. A mammal, Dolly the sheep, was cloned for the first time ever-and later gave birth to normal, healthy lambs. In the 1990s, the Internet went from being the plaything of a privileged few to a mass medium that promised to change our whole way of perceiving the world: By the year 2000, over 300 million people were estimated to be using the Internet, making this by far the fastest-growing communication tool ever.2 The $2 billion Hubble Space Telescope, the most complex and sensitive space observatory ever constructed, was launched into orbit in 1990; a US spacecraft docked with the Russian space station Mir in 1995 in an historic advance both in terms of technology and of international cooperation; and in 1998, a Russian rocket took into orbit the first component of the new International Space Station, which is the most expensive single object ever built.3 By the end of the decade, no less than $1.5 trillion was changing hands each day in speculation on the international currency markets.4 Presented with these extraordinary developments, is there anyone who could seriously maintain that the world leaders' declaration of intent for children in 1990 represented an impossible dream? The resources and technological know-how are there. That this wealth and these skills have not been fully harnessed to deliver a world fit for children is, then, a result of misguided leadership and a dereliction of duty. Leadership Governments, as well as international institutions, must be held accountable for their leadership in putting the rights and well-being of children above all other concerns. And those that fail to do so must also be held accountable. Ensuring the rights and well-being of children is the key to sustained development in a country and to peace and security in the world. Meeting this responsibility, fully, consistently and at any cost, is the essence of leadership. Heads of State and Government hold the lion's share of this responsibility but commitment and action are also called for across the board: from community activists and entrepreneurs, from artists and scientists, from religious leaders and journalists-and from children and adolescents themselves. The United Nations Secretary-General, in his report at the time of the Millennium Summit, stated: "No shift in the way we think or act can be more critical than this: we must put people at the centre of everything we do. No calling is more noble, and no responsibility greater, than that of enabling men, women and children, in cities and villages around the world, to make their lives better."5 Each of us has the opportunity to demonstrate leadership as we go about the everyday business of our lives by taking the extra moment to ask: 'How does this decision, this choice, affect the lives of children'? It was leadership that the late Julius Nyerere exercised when he built the nation of Tanzania on what he described as the "values of justice, a respect for human beings, a development which is people centred, development where you care about people...".6 When Nyerere first became Prime Minister of the newly independent nation in 1961, 85 per cent of the adult population was illiterate and there were two trained engineers and 12 doctors. When he retired as President in 1985, there was a 91 per cent literacy rate, thousands of engineers, doctors and teachers had been trained and nearly every child in the United Republic of Tanzania was in school.7 Today, H. E. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives, is among those contemporary Heads of State who use their positions of leadership to invest generously in the social sector, particularly in programmes benefiting children. In the Maldives, the investment in the country's youngest citizens has resulted in some of the best social indicators in the region such as low infant mortality rates and good basic education and literacy rates for this nation of islands. Ordinary people are just as capable of showing leadership as are prime ministers and presidents. Head teachers show leadership, for example, when they admit children into school despite their families not being able to pay the required fees-recognizing the higher costs to the child, the family and the community of keeping the child out. Parents show leadership, when in communities where it is normal only to send sons, they send their daughters to school-and when they resist social pressure to withdraw the girls for early marriage. Nine sheikhs from Somalia showed leadership in 2000 when they travelled to attend a course at Al-Azhar International University Centre for Islamic Studies in Cairo, on the harm that female genital mutilation (FGM) inflicts on girls and women in various cultures throughout the world. As did Dr. Ahmed R.A. Ragab, an Islamic scholar and gynaecologist, who visited every area of the country to conduct targeted sessions in communities about the disastrous medical implications of FGM. As a result, not only has the Awdal region in the north- west of Somalia declared the total eradication of FGM to be a priority goal but religious leaders and most civilian authorities have also rallied around the cause of eliminating FGM-a significant breakthrough in a country where over 95 per cent of girls have hitherto been mutilated in this way8 (see Panel 2). In Namibia, leadership is being shown in the My Future is My Choice programme by secondary-school graduates who receive 10 days of training, enabling them to facilitate a life skills training course including up to 22 adolescents between 15 and 18 years of age. Between 1997 and the middle of 2000, the programme had reached 74,000 young people and should meet its target of training 80per cent of 15- to 18-year-olds by the end of 2001.9 Costa Rica provides an excellent example of how leadership can transform the fortunes of a country-and particularly of its children. On 1 December 1948, President José Figueres abolished the army. "The army hands over the keys to the barracks, to be converted into a cultural centre," he said. "We are the sustainers of a new world in America. Little Costa Rica offers its heart and love to civilian rule and democracy."10 Figueres believed that democratic institutions would only grow strong in Costa Rica if the army was disbanded. He also saw the opportunity to promote the rights of children at the same time: He transferred the whole defence budget to the Education Ministry at a stroke. More than 50 years later, Costa Rica is still seeing the benefits of this enlightened position. Leaders and governments have come and gone in the decades since Figueres left the scene but, whether from the left or the right, none of them has disturbed the legacy that has long given the country the best human- development indicators in the region. Right through the terrible decade of the 1980s in which death squads and torture corroded the neighbouring societies of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, and while a disastrous armed conflict was being fought in Nicaragua, Costa Rica maintained its steady, peaceful progress. In 1999, under-five mortality, often the most reliable index of human development because it measures an outcome rather than an input, stood at 14 per 1,000 in Costa Rica, compared with 60 in Guatemala, 47 in Nicaragua and 42 in El Salvador and Honduras. "We really did spend the money on schools and health," says economist Boris Segura. "Armies are a waste of money. It's that simple."11 Across the globe, where children in Afghanistan have suffered disproportionately from the country's decades of internal armed conflict, it is worth noting that there have also been impressive acts of leadership in the years 2000 and 2001. During 2000, four National Immunization Days were completed in Afghanistan, with an average of 5.4 million children reached with the polio vaccine in each case; five further immunization rounds are planned for 2001. In every case so far, the polio eradication activities have been conducted in conditions of tranquillity: Both the warring factions and all their local commanders have respected the peace, recognizing the overarching importance of the vaccination campaign.12 Facing HIV Conflict is one of the main blockages on the road to child rights; another is HIV/AIDS. On an international level, the industrialized countries have taken insufficient responsibility for the global battle of the human family against the virus. Each of the wealthiest nations took immediate and urgent action from the mid-1980s to counter the spread of the epidemic within their own populations, through activism, public-education campaigns and health initiatives. Yet once there were signs that the epidemic had been contained within their own countries, too many governments responded with complacency about what was happening around the world. Governments of industrialized countries paid narrow attention to their own disease statistics and turned a blind eye to the tragedy unfolding in developing countries. Only as the millennium loomed did they realize that in this arena national borders are insignificant and that we are likely to stand or fall together. The UN Security Council debated AIDS for the first time in January 2000, recognizing that the disease presents a threat to international peace and security. Later that year UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said: "No doubt, the year 2000 can be described as the year when the problem of AIDS was recognized also as a political problem.... It is sad but true: the main decision makers hardly showed any interest until it was brought home to them that productivity and economic growth were being seriously affected."13 The profound impact of the epidemic on the lives of children and their families threatens not only individual lives and spirits but our collective hopes for humanity. In his report to the Millennium Summit in 2000, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged "that every seriously affected country have a national plan of action in place within one year of the Summit;" recommended explicit goals for reducing HIV infection rates; challenged the developed countries to come up with effective and affordable vaccines against HIV through public-private partnerships; called for better care and support for those living with HIV/AIDS; and proposed that governments, the pharmaceutical industry and international institutions work together to ensure that HIV-related drugs are widely accessible where they are needed.14 In his February 2001 report to the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on HIV /AIDS, the Secretary-General spoke of the AIDS epidemic as a "crisis of governance and a crisis of leadership." And he went further to say that "leadership - at the global as well as the country level - is the single most important factor in reversing the epidemic."15 Just a few months later, in what has become an intense campaign at the highest levels of international cooperation, the Secretary-General launched a 'Call to action' at the African Leaders' Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and other Infectious Diseases in April 2001, proposing a multi-billion dollar a year Global AIDS and Health Fund, with support to come from donor and developing country governments and the private sector. Mr. Annan has made the personal pledge of the $100,000 grant he is to receive along with the Philadelphia Liberty Award. Taking every opportunity to impress the need for such a full scale assault against HIV/AIDS, the Secretary-General followed up with a series of meetings, including an international consultation in June 2001 with more than 200 representatives from 50 countries, multilaterals and NGOs, private foundations and others, aimed at having the fund operational as soon as possible. Responses to the Secretary-General's call have come from governments, the private sector and the foundation world, including $1 million from Winterthur Insurance, a Credit Suisse Group company and, in an extraordinary action, $100 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private donor to date. In June 2001, the United Nations General Assembly convened its first ever special session on a disease as high-level national delegations pledged a global commitment for greater efforts at the national, regional and international levels and concrete targets for action to fight the epidemic and reverse its deadly course. In a Declaration of Commitment, 'Global Crisis - Global Action', the Assembly outlined priority areas for action to be: prevention, improved access to care and treatment, care of children orphaned by AIDS, expanded public/ private partnerships, multisectoral responses and a significant infusion of financial support.16 The impact of HIV/AIDS is crushing the attempts of countries all over the world to put human development and the rights of women and children first. In the Latin American and Caribbean region, for example, an estimated 210,000 adults and children contracted the virus in 2000, bringing the total number of people living with HIV to 1.8 million. Haiti is the worst affected country in the region, with an estimated 74,000 children orphaned by AIDS.17 But the epidemic is at its most devastating in southern and eastern Africa where, after decades of steady improvement, life expectancy figures are plummeting to the levels associated with the pre-independence, colonial period. Africa's experience of HIV/AIDS over the last 10 years has diverged so dramatically and terrifyingly from that of industrialized countries not because a plague has hit it at random, still less because its sexual traditions are different, but rather because of its poverty: AIDS is the most savage index of the inequality of our world. Any infection thrives in conditions of poverty, malnutrition and unsafe water: It is as true of HIV/AIDS as it is of tuberculosis and measles. The industrialized nations have markedly failed to show the requisite global leadership in the field of HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, leadership has also been required of the African countries bearing the main brunt of the epidemic-and the responses of individual governments to its mounting threat have been markedly varied. Some have seemed for many years determined to pursue an ostrich-like approach, taking no account of the rising tide of infection in the region until it became an unstoppable flood. In contrast Uganda, it is widely recognized, took on a leadership role in the late 1980s and early 1990s: The Government there launched huge public-education campaigns that educated people about how HIV is transmitted, promoted the use of condoms and talked about the need for safe sex. President Yoweri Museveni himself showed leadership on the issue, talking openly about the virus and its sexual transmission route despite widespread taboos in the region against such frank discussion of sex. As a result, while no one would underestimate the pain and loss Ugandans have suffered at the hands of HIV/AIDS, the country has brought the epidemic under control: Its HIV-infection rate has dropped from 30 per cent of adults in the early 1990s to 10 per cent, one of the lowest rates in the eastern part of Africa. When a country finds itself in such dire circumstances the need for leadership becomes all the more desperate. In Botswana, the Government has started on the long and painful road to recovery by becoming the first country in Africa to launch a national programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV. A pilot project in the cities of Francistown and Gaborone started in April 1999 and is being extended nationwide between July 2000 and December 2001. It provides pregnant women with information and education, and voluntary and confidential counselling and testing, and provides antiretroviral drugs for those who are HIV positive, during their pregnancy and labour, as well as AZT syrup for the baby in its first month of life.18 Africa does not provide the only leadership models in the field of HIV/AIDS. Thailand also deserves great credit: It was the first Asian nation to recognize that it had a major HIV/AIDS problem and to make tackling the disease an urgent priority. Warned by the catastrophic losses in Africa, Thai officials attacked their HIV epidemic at an earlier stage, launching extensive education campaigns. The '100% Condom Campaign' became national policy in 1991 and condom use was not only heavily promoted, particularly to the young, but the Ministry of Public Health also started providing 60 million condoms a year free of charge, mainly to sex workers. Condom use soon increased by over 30 per cent and new HIV infections were radically reduced.19 Children at the centre of policy The Government in Mauritius, meanwhile, has shown leadership in dealing with the growing problem of child abuse and commercial sexual exploitation of children. It has set up a Child Protection Unit in partnership with UNICEF, the British High Commission and the NGO Soroptimist International. Officers of the unit have been trained and sensitized over a two-year period by child-protection experts from the United Kingdom and hundreds of children have already benefited from the greater understanding the unit has fostered. Meanwhile, the Government has also made substantial efforts to tackle child abuse at other levels, with an expansion of its early childhood development (ECD) programmes and extensive 'better parenting' education schemes.20 Some national governments have shown leadership by recognizing the paramount importance of a particular policy and moving heaven and earth to bring it about. The decision by Malawi in 1994 to guarantee universal free primary education was just such a case. This was an enormously popular move that resulted in school attendance skyrocketing from 1.9 million to 2.9 million. The school system is still straining to meet the demands-but the fee-free schooling remains in place. As might be expected, moreover, a government that shows such a commitment to human development in one area is setting a similar example in others. Malawi has made women's empowerment a priority, formulating a national gender policy in 2000 as well as joining other countries around the world in organizing the campaign '16 Days of Activism to Stop Violence Against Women'. In addition, the Government has sustained immunization levels over 80 per cent: There were no cases of measles during 2000 and there have been no cases of polio since 1992.21 Cambodia, China and the Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic have also set particularly good examples in the field of immunization. Through multiple National Immunization Days and a movement-based approach backed by strong governmental commitment, both China and Lao PDR reached the goal of polio-free status by the end of 2000.22 Cambodia has gained the same status, succeeding in eliminating polio in three years despite huge obstacles. In 2000, the country showed a particular commitment to spreading the benefits of immunization to people in remote, underserved areas, reaching more of these-65 per cent-than ever before.23 In Thailand, meanwhile, immunization is all but universal: The Government sustains the vaccination programme out of its own budget and has stressed that it is capable of ensuring that no children under five die of vaccine-preventable diseases. The goal of freedom from polio has also been achieved by Pacific Island Nations, which are also well placed to eliminate measles and neonatal tetanus-seven countries in the region have achieved and maintained 90 per cent immunization coverage. On a more general level, in recent years there have been national governments that have demonstrated leadership in attempting to protect the rights and improve the lives of children-and other national governments that have a distressingly poor record. Oman's reduction in under-five mortality has been spectacular over the last two decades-child deaths have fallen from 146 in 1980 to 16 in 1999, an indication of the particular commitment that the Government, and especially its Health Minister, Dr. Ali bin Mohammed bin Moosa, has shown to the cause of children's health. Jamaica, meanwhile, has shown an encouraging willingness to recognize that children need to be placed at the centre of policy and programmes and the Government is establishing a Child Development Agency that will have a broad brief to monitor, evaluate and set standards. It is also taking the problems of adolescents more seriously than ever before by establishing a National Youth Development Centre and putting a national youth policy in place.24 Venezuela's abolition of fees for hospitals and health centres and of enrolment fees for primary education has been another extremely positive recent move-as has been the incorporation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child into the Constitution and the new law for children and adolescents.25 In Syria, a new initiative to provide second-chance education for 75,000 adolescent girls is a practical demonstration of the Government's increasing commitment to enhancing the status of women. In Cape Verde, the Government has shown a laudable commitment to devoting resources to children: Throughout the 1990s it dedicated 29 per cent of its budget to sectors directly linked to children's development and has boosted this to 34percent in the last two years, hugely outstripping the 20 per cent of budgets that the 20/20 Initiative recommends.26 Corporate leadership But instances of leadership are by no means confined to the public sector. The chief executive of a corporation who transcended the narrow criteria of 'competitiveness' or the norms of similar companies by introducing strict ethical standards against child labour and in support of families would similarly be setting an example. This kind of private-sector far-sightedness can be seen in Cambodia, where Mr. Bun Barang, the dealer who controls almost all of the country's salt, has committed to iodizing 60 per cent of his production in 2001 and 100 per cent of that in 2002.27 There is ample room for demonstrating that corporations are capable of this kind of enlightened and ethical leadership in the world's fight against HIV/AIDS. The Coca-Cola Company recently announced that it would put its enormous distribution network-which manages to get soft drinks to nearly every nook of the African continent-to help bring condoms, testing kits and literature to remote clinics. Coca-Cola is one of many corporations that have joined the Global Business Council on HIV and AIDS, an effort to mobilize the private sector that is chaired by William Roedy, president of MTV Networks International and includes such companies as AOL Time Warner, MAC Cosmetics and Unilever.28 The Brazilian Government, backed by a strong social movement, has proved beyond doubt that full-scale treatment of AIDS patients is possible in the developing world. Since 1997, every AIDS patient in Brazil has received for free the same triple cocktails that keep people alive in North America and Europe. This has meant, for example, that seven-year-old Emerson, who has had HIV since birth but was not diagnosed until he was six, is still living a healthy, happy life. As a result Brazil has halved its AIDS death rate, cut the transmission rate and stabilized the epidemic. But Brazil has only been able to do so by making copies of brand-name drugs, which it has been doing since 1998. The cost of those medicines has, as a result, been slashed: The triple cocktail in Rio de Janeiro costs $3,000 a year compared with $15,000 in New York, and Brazil expects to bring the annual cost down to as low as $700 in the near future. The strength of Brazil's social movements in the 1990s resulted in the Government adopting and maintaining a radical AIDS policy. José Sarney, Brazil's first civilian President after military rule and a Senator in 1996 when he heard about the success of the triple cocktail, supported it as a priority even for the poorest: "I saw that most of the medicine in the cocktail would not be available to the poor, and I felt that we were talking about the survival of the species."29 Senator Sarney proposed a law guaranteeing every AIDS patient this treatment and the bill passed. At the beginning of 1999, Brazil's economy was in dire trouble and the Government came under huge pressure to cut the budget by ditching the AIDS programme. Supported by civil society, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso held firm, sure that the far-sighted policy had to stand. There is ample room for the pharmaceutical corporations to demonstrate their sense of responsibility and imagination in response to the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS. A start in this respect has been made by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, which announced that it would sell its patented AIDS medicines, didanosine and stavudine, for $1 a day to any African country working to combat the disease with the help of key international agencies, including UNICEF. The initiative comes in the wake of strong local and international pressure. The students of Yale University in the United States, for example, launched a major campaign insisting that the University, which earns $40 million a year by holding the patent for stavudine, use its influence to ensure that AIDS drugs were made available at low cost in Africa and other poor countries. In addition, an Indian drug producer offered to make a generic version of stavudine available at a price so significantly lower that it could be within the reach of hard-hit health systems in sub-Saharan Africa. More recently still, Pfizer offered to make fluconazole-used to treat a fungal brain infection common in AIDS patients-available for free in the least developed countries and will spend $11 million to build a training centre in Uganda for doctors fighting AIDS.30 GlaxoSmithKline announced that it will provide three AIDS drugs and a malaria medication at cost to 63 of the world's poorest countries.31 And in a decision long fought for byAIDS activists, a group of patent-holding pharmaceutical companies dropped its challenge to the South African law that would allow the production of cheaper drugs. These are promising, welcome initiatives but there is still much more to be done.32 Some private companies have shown a different kind of leadership in finding a way in which hi-tech, cutting-edge commerce can serve the needs of the poorest. Finnish mobile-phone giant Nokia, for example, has launched child-oriented social initiatives in many countries, including supporting the Little Master newspaper in China, developing the business skills of South African youth and participating in a mentoring programme in Germany. "As we share in the belief that prevention is better than cure," the company says, "we take part in long- term projects aimed at helping young people create a firm foundation for themselves and their future."33 The sale of mobile phones has also benefited Palestinian children: The Egyptian company MobiNil donated $140,000 of its proceeds to UNICEF programmes in the West Bank and Gaza.34 Meanwhile in Bangladesh, GrameenPhone is donating $2 to UNICEF for every mobile phone sold.35 Cisco Systems Inc. has entered into partnership with the UN Development Programme to create Netaid.org, which is playing a vital role in building a Global Movement for Children in the lead-up to the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children in September 2001. It is not only 'new-generation', hi-tech companies that are showing leadership for children, however. The Tata Iron Company in India, which was a founding partner of the UN Global Compact with the private sector, runs an extensive and integrated maternal and child health programme for both employees and others who live within a 50-kilometre radius of its production headquarters. Tata routinely spends 10 per cent of its profits on social-service activities.36 Personal leadership The idea of leadership is normally associated more with individuals than with organizations. It is important to recognize that the most inspirational examples of leadership are often those by ordinary people who through their extraordinary actions show what is possible (see Panel 3). Individuals who use their celebrity and popular respect for the greater social good can also have a huge influence. A classic example of this kind of leadership on behalf of children came in October 1999 when 23 of the leading intellectuals in Latin America and the Caribbean issued a moving and outspoken manifesto challenging governments and citizens throughout the region to put aside their differences and establish a 'social pact' for the region's 192 million children and adolescents. The group-which included writers Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez, Elena Poniatowska and Ernesto Sábato-warned of the dire consequences for all if business as usual continues. "In Latin America," said Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, "the majority of children are poor, and the majority of the poor are children. Society uses them, punishes them, sometimes kills them: it almost never listens to them and it never understands them." The Chilean novelist Isabel Allende added: "Millions of children die of neglect that is cruelly tolerated by society. And we are all part of that society. You and I. Our governments have all ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Let's demand that it be respected." If a global opinion poll were to be conducted asking people which living person on the international stage best embodied the concept of leadership, it is virtually certain that Nelson Mandela would come out near or at the top. The former President of South Africa has been an inspiration to people all over the world not merely because of his leadership of a transparently just cause-the enfranchisement and liberation of black people in his country from apartheid-nor even because of the immense self-sacrifice involved in spending 27 years in prison for his profoundly held principles. Since his retirement from the presidency 'Madiba' (as he is respectfully known) has continued to work tirelessly for the mass of people who are denied their rights, using his immense moral presence on the international stage for good-notably in attempting to resolve conflict and build peace in many quarters of the African continent. Along with Graça Machel, a former Minister of Education in Mozambique and a world leader on the issue of children caught up in armed conflict, Madiba has dedicated himself to the cause of children's rights. With UNICEF and other key children's agencies, Machel and Madiba aim to enlist the commitment of world leaders to do whatever it takes to deliver a world fit for children. "The future of our children lies in leadership and the choices leaders make," they have said. "We call on those we have called on before to join us in a new global partnership that is committed to this change. We invite those whom we have never met to join us in the global movement for children."37 Chapter II "To change the world with children" Since the earliest days of its existence, UNICEF has called the world's attention to the situation of children-to the many of them bruised by the operation of national societies and the global economy, to the ways in which they have suffered because of their parents' poverty, to how their health has suffered through lack of food or immunization and their development through poor health, abuse and neglect, and lack of education-and has taken action to offset the damage. During the 1980s, UNICEF focused its energies on the child-health revolution, driven by the knowledge that easy-to-understand processes such as immunization, breastfeeding and oral rehydration therapy would save the lives of millions of infants. The achievements were remarkable, demonstrating that when political will, knowledge and resources converge, seemingly intractable problems could be solved. And then, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989 by the UN General Assembly and entered into force a year later, profoundly changed the world's engagement with children. Just like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the Convention articulated something fundamental about humanity's sense of itself and acted as a watershed and reference point for all future generations that had never been there before. The Convention presented a coherent vision of children's rights and how society should provide for them- expressed in the terms of a legal document that asked national governments to sign up to those terms and thereafter be held accountable for them. The Convention is transforming the landscape not simply because ratifying governments have acknowledged a legal responsibility, but also because the acceptance of the idea of child rights creates its own dynamic. The world's understanding of children is changing. Seen through the Convention's lens, the child is an active and contributing member of a family, community and society. It is becoming evident that when adults interact with children in ways built on respect for their rights, everything changes. This has been the quiet but vital drama played out in every country of the world over the last decade: children learning about their rights and families and communities learning how to embrace the principle of child rights and to change their attitudes and behaviours to match (see Panel 4). Children's participation The child's perspective is not an add-on: The world looks different from his or her vantage point. Children's participation changes thinking and alters the design of projects and programmes. "If you listen to children, you do things better."38 When PLAN International UK started a housebuilding programme in Guatemala, for example, it at first intended to build houses with one room. But following consultation with the families who were going to live in them, it was decided to opt for a more expensive model with two rooms. Why? Because the consultation had involved not just the adults in the family but also their children. Girls told the researchers that they did not want to have just one room in which everyone would sleep because "then we get touched in places we don't want to be touched." In a further example, PLAN was involved with a poor community in Nairobi. The adult starting point was that the community's children needed better school buildings. But when the children were consulted separately they came up with their own list of priorities. Yes, they wanted school buildings, but more than that they wanted schools in which they were not beaten and where the teachers actually showed up; they wanted streets without so much rubbish; fathers who didn't come home drunk; and protection from sexual abuse. As in this case, children's messages can be uncomfortable for adults-but the more uncomfortable the message the more likely it is that it would not have been understood or predicted without children's perspectives being directly sought. This is particularly so in the case of physical or sexual abuse, which researchers have found to be a consistent theme in surveys that have carefully consulted children. When UNICEF in Suriname consulted primary-school-age children during a child rights promotion campaign in Marowijne in July 1999, it found that among the most significant abuses were those involving corporal punishment. As a result, during 2000 it organized follow-up activities aimed at building adults' skills in disciplining children both at school and at home without recourse to physical violence. In addition, adults attended two stress management workshops designed to help them develop self-control.39 It can even be well worth consulting children of pre-school age. In a poor district of London, a group of four- and five-year-olds were asked to produce a mural depicting their local environment as it currently was and then as they would like to see it. The researchers found, to their surprise, that the children objected to having play areas covered with grass. Why? The children preferred concrete because grass made it difficult for them to see broken glass, dog excrement and needles discarded by drug addicts.40 When it comes to designing projects to benefit adolescents there is something seriously wrong if their own views are not actively sought and taken into account (see Panel 5). The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) has experienced the value of this kind of consultation over two decades of experience. Not only has the input of adolescent girls fundamentally changed the character of BRAC's schools and programmes, but it has also shattered the original perception of the NGO's workers that such village girls would be more interested in marriage plans than in learning-indicative of the cultural traditions and expectations that constrain children's participation and consultation in many regions of the world. Adolescent girls now train with BRAC as teachers and reading centre coordinators-and as photographers.41 On a national level, adolescents in Bangladesh are being offered a voice on television: The new private channel, Ekushey Television (ETV), runs a news programme presented by teenagers called Mukto Khobor.42 In Guatemala, youth groups suffered particular persecution during the periods of dictatorship and youth organizations remain weak. But there are signs of a renaissance and, given that youth organizations provide adolescents' main experience of democracy, their strengthening will be an essential buttress to future human rights in the country. Their experience can be inspirational-not least in their effect on their own members' lives. In the town of Villa Nueva, for example, the Iqui Balam youth group comprises around 50 members of two rival gangs. Following the death by cocaine of a gang leader's younger brother, the group rejected violence and started to engage in theatre, music and community- health activities. They are now reaching a good artistic standard and are developing pieces drawn from personal experience so as to communicate messages about family violence, drug abuse and AIDS. The group is becoming an NGO with UNICEF support, and offering training in leadership as well as in small business management. Yet the systematic soliciting of children's and adolescents' opinions has hitherto been rare. In an attempt to garner their views in a more systematic way, UNICEF has embarked on a series of regional youth opinion polls, with the long-term aim of constructing a database that will help the organization evaluate whether children's rights are being respected43 (see Panel 6). Discrimination against children Hearing children's voices in this way will make it clearer how the world needs to change if it is to respect their fundamental rights. The flipside of this is that the lack of interest in consulting children hitherto has left them invisible to policy makers at all levels of society and, as European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine has said, children's invisibility has "an inherently discriminatory impact."44 The idea that children are discriminated against is a shocking one when people first encounter it. Even veteran activists for children's rights may balk at the idea. After all, our first reaction is to object since children are appealing: they evoke a natural sympathy in us. How could there be such discrimination? Discrimination against children is usually less direct, less naked than that, for example, against racial or ethnic groups. It is assumed that children and their interests will be represented and safeguarded by adults, whether by their parents, their teachers or other authority figures. But, children have no right to vote or to political representation nor any access to the courts (see Panel 7). In many countries they remain the only people whom it is lawful to hit. Their views are rarely solicited or expressed in the media in any meaningful way. No one is assuming that young children should be given the vote: Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child says clearly that "in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child [should be] given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child." Yet it is odd, to say the least, that all over the world adolescents can be married or sent to war years before they are allowed to take part in elections. And in a democracy children's lack of voting power can mean that elected representatives take no notice of children's interests. The net result can be disastrous for children. Over the past 20 years, for example, there has been a growth in child poverty in almost every country in the European Union and the proportion of public expenditure on children has diminished-at a time when there has been a consistent period of economic growth during which overall wealth has increased. The answer must be two-pronged. Recognizing the likelihood of discrimination, even of an indirect and non-malicious kind, governments must set up specific mechanisms to ensure that their policies and programmes respect child rights: Some countries have appointed ombudspersons to devise specific mechanisms for taking account of the views and perspectives of children and adolescents. In Bolivia, Offices for the Defence of Children have been set up in 158 municipalities, and the goal is to establish at least one in each of the country's 314 municipalities. These offices have been active in denouncing abuses that would previously have gone unnoticed, as in a recent case involving the sexual abuse of an indigenous girl by 11 soldiers where the mobilization of public opinion and the local media resulted in a prosecution that in the past would have been extremely unlikely.45 However, governments must also find ways of taking more serious account of the views of children-and of adolescents in particular. The proliferation of youth parliaments, for example, is an important development. But these must be seen not simply as an educational exercise for the children and adolescents involved (as is often the temptation) but as important democratic institutions in their own right. Some of the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States-notably Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova-are blazing a trail in this regard. In Moldova there is not only an elected Children's Parliament that includes representation for institutionalized children but also elected youth councils which work in collaboration with the country's 18 local administrations to involve young people in the decision-making process.46 In Azerbaijan, meanwhile, the Youth Forum not only allows adolescents to make recommendations to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, but in 2000 it also came up with its own recommendation to Parliament that a group of young people should be attached as consultants to the Social Policy Commission. In addition, Azerbaijan has a higher than average proportion of young people who have been elected as Members of Parliament, including the chairperson of the Children's Organization.47 In Africa, too, children's parliaments are an idea whose time has come, having been launched in one form or another in nearly every country on the continent. As children attending the January Preparatory Committee meeting for the UN Special Session on Children said in a joint statement: "We would like adults to meet the promises they have made to us so that we can aspire to a better future.... We also call for the participation of children and young people because we know best the issues which affect us. We call for our governments to respect our rights. The Special Session is for children-you have to hear our voices. After all, if not us, who else is all of this for? Children should be seen and heard, not 'seen and not heard'."48 The Global Movement for Children The influence of the Convention on the Rights of the Child during the last decade of the 20th century has been profound-and it continues to augment, slowly but surely, with every passing month. Every day new people come into contact with the idea of child rights; every day new officials in both national and local government come to terms with the implications of their legal duty to respect children's rights; every day more children and adolescents gain ground in exercising their right to be listened to and to shape their world by changing the perspectives of the adults around them. This groundswell of opinion and activism for a common purpose is bringing into being a global movement composed of children and their families and those who care about child rights. To help give this burgeoning mass movement a public voice, six leading organizations that work with children-BRAC, Netaid.org Foundation, PLAN International, Save the Children, UNICEF and World Vision-came together to announce their commitment to building a Global Movement for Children. This inclusive, worldwide movement aims to draw in all those who believe that the rights of children must be our first priority: from caring parents to government ministers, from responsible corporations to teachers and child-protection officers. It is a movement that is gathering the kind of momentum and moral force that politicians will ignore at their peril. In all its aspects-including the fact that children are full and necessary partners-the Global Movement for Children is about leadership. Over the months leading up to the UN Special Session on Children-which in September 2001 will review the decade's work since the World Summit for Children and adopt goals and standards for the period ahead-this Movement has been mobilizing support all over the world for a 10-point agenda that aims to 'change the world with children'. Its Rallying Call proclaims: "We, as citizens of every nation and members of families, communities and civil society organizations of every kind, hereby resolve to help mobilize a Global Movement for Children-an unstoppable crusade to end, at long last, the poverty, ill health, violence and discrimination that have needlessly blighted and destroyed so many young lives. Our determination is rooted in the knowledge that in furthering the best interests of children, the most effective actions must come from within the context of our own lives and hearts, and from listening to children and young people themselves. As members of the human family, each of us is responsible. All of us are accountable." This message is being taken into villages, towns and cities all over the world in a massive grass-roots campaign in which UNICEF is playing a major role. Young and old alike are being asked to 'Say Yes for Children', opting for what they think are the top priorities for action. The same question is being asked on the Internet as people log on to www.gmfc.org and offer their support. More detailed discussion and ideas for action are also being encouraged and the results of this 'action matrix' are being collated and analysed by the Save the Children Alliance (see Panel 7). The Global Movement website has been set up and maintained by Netaid.org-itself a joint public-private venture between the UN Development Programme and Cisco Systems of the kind the Global Movement aims to inspire-and which another founding partner of the Global Movement for Children, World Vision, is making a particular effort to promote. The national launches of 'Say Yes for Children' all over the world beginning in March 2001 were spectacular for both their diversity and their high profile: presidents and prime ministers, musical and sports celebrities, religious leaders and writers joined forces with thousands of children to reach out to the widest possible audience. The following were among the highlights: In Azerbaijan, Say Yes was launched at the International Freestyle Wrestling Tournament, because of the popularity of the sport in the country. World Freestyle Wrestling champion Namiq Abdullayev was among the first to pledge. The President, Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition in Bangladesh all signed pledge forms in April, demonstrating an impressive cross-party consensus that the cause of children must be a priority. Say Yes was officially launched on March 26 in Belgium and covered widely by national media and youth publications. A group of the country's leading children's advocates joined forces to promote the campaign, with assistance from the Ministry of Education, the Youth Movement and others. Pledge forms in Dutch and French were widely distributed. President Stoyanov of Bulgaria signed the pledge in April in Sofia while there was a simultaneous launch in 10 other cities. National television broadcast the Say Yes appeal every day after children's programming and before the main evening news. The launch of Say Yes in Burkina Faso took place at the Pan-African Festival of Film and Television in Ouagadougou. Film-makers present left their handprints in clay as a graphic way of making their pledge for children. In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen launched the campaign in a special prime-time television broadcast, filling out the first pledge and urging all Cambodians to follow his example. Chilean President Lagos used the Say Yes event to launch a National Policy and Integrated Plan of Action for Children and Adolescents, and announced that he would be ceremonially presented with the results of months of pledging in mid-August, on Chile's Day of the Child. President Gbagbo of Côte d'Ivoire made the country's first pledge before an audience of 2,000 children, traditional chiefs and business leaders who watched young circus artists, singers and dancers as well as listened to the President of the Children's Parliament. In Georgia, the bells of the main Sameba Cathedral announced the Say Yes campaign on June 1 as First Lady Nanuli Shevardnadze led the launch at the Children and Youth Palace. With pledge stations around the city and young volunteers distributing pledge forms, 10,000 pledges were received by the end of the day. On 12 June, President Eduard Shevardnadze signed his pledge and announced his commitment to attend the Special Session on Children in September. At the launch of Say Yes in Ghana, President Kufuor promised the Children's Parliament that he would implement free, compulsory basic education and an expanded teacher-training programme. Against the backdrop of Haiti's current political and social turbulence, thousands of children and NGO representatives heard President Aristide commit himself to attend the Special Session on Children and to ensure education for all by 2004. Children spoke spontaneously and pleaded for their rights to be respected and for an end to violence against Haitian children. In Honduras, there was a launch in May and there will be a nationwide vigil organized by the various religions in the country in August. The national soccer team is showing its support by playing international matches while wearing Say Yes T-shirts. Prime Minister Patterson launched Say Yes on May 1st in a nationwide radio and television broadcast to kick off Jamaica's National Child Month. The campaign will piggy-back on planned events such as market days in the country's capital in June, summer camps organized by church and community groups and NGOs in July, a national agricultural show in August and a Children's Parliament in September. Queen Rania of Jordan launched Say Yes in May and in just 21 days the campaign exceeded its target by gathering 1 million pledges. President Ratsiraka of Madagascar made a personal pledge to ensure child rights are realized in the country and to protect children from discriminatory treatment. He declared: "We continue to affirm today that the child is king!" During Mongolia's Mother and Children's Day on 1 June, the President, Prime Minister and Governor of Ulaanbaatar all urged the country's citizens to Say Yes. National pop star Ariunaa was named a UNICEF Special Envoy for Children and she released a Say Yes song that she had composed and performed with other artists on the launch day. Royal support was also forthcoming in Morocco, where Princess Lalla Meryem launched a nationwide drive on National Child Day in May. Say Yes took off in Mozambique on April 26 at a well-attended launch, marked by the participation of 150 students, the promise of governmental support from the Ministry of Women and Social Welfare and the spirited performance of top female vocalist Julia Mwithu. National NGOs have distributed forms and collected more than 50,000 pledges so far. On June 1, International Children's Day, President Joaquim Chissano cast his vote before thousands gathered in Maputo. On June 1st, in a festive all-day celebration that saw the launch of five major child-rights initiatives, more than 500 children, parliamentarians, teachers and caregivers gathered as four South African Cabinet Ministers logged on to fill out South Africa's child-friendly version of the pledge, called 'Hear My Voice' , and to launch Say Yes on the new website of the Office on the Rights of the Child in the Presidency. Renamed 'Say Yes to Peace for Children', the campaign is gaining momentum in Sudan where a group of artists, led by well-known actor Ali Mahdi, is preparing to take a grand 'March for Children', stopping at villages on the way to make theatre presentations and collect pledges. In southern Sudan- one of the most conflict-ridden and isolated regions in the world- paper pledge forms are being distributed and collected through schools, medical outreach and immunization programmes under the umbrellas of Operation Lifeline Sudan. Pledges are also being collected in 500 'Child Friendly Villages' in Darfur, Gedaref, Kordofan and River Nile areas. In Tanzania, President Mkapa presided over the official start of Say Yes and listened to an impassioned plea by children from 20 regions of the mainland and the island of Zanzibar for the abolition of school fees. The Makednski Posti company in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia provided prepaid postcards for distribution through daily newspapers and at schools and community centres nationwide. Top local hip-hop artist Vrcak will be campaigning for Say Yes through to September. The regional launch for Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic States took place in Istanbul, Turkey, at a spectacular and colourful televised show to celebrate national Children's Day. Children from 41 countries urged the world's leaders to make the protection of children their top priority. In a regional launch, children, young people and adults from all walks of society came together on April 25th to set Say Yes in motion at the largest children's museum in Mexico City. The campaign got off to a momentous start with children voicing the 10 points of the Say Yes pledge and several notable Mexicans making the country's first set of pledges. In West Africa, 300 traditional chiefs from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal signed the Rallying Call of the Global Movement for Children. They lent their considerable moral and religious authority to an appeal for children's and women's rights and spoke out for girls' education and against early marriage. The launch of the Say Yes campaign right across the world in 2001 has been a remarkable phenomenon: in many cases political leaders have urgently requested that they be put under as much pressure as possible by their own populations to 'deliver the goods' at the Special Session. It is up to all of us to ensure that this pressure on our leaders is sustained not just through September but in the years ahead. We can do this by making our own individual pledges, adding our own voices to the swelling international chorus that is Saying Yes for Children. None of us is too important or too insignificant to make a pledge to this cause. As the Global Movement for Children makes clear: "We are calling on every one of you, everywhere, to do as much as you possibly can for children in your own time and in your own way." Chapter III Actions that can change the world Unquestionably, countries with the most power in the global economy need to show leadership in the pursuit of child rights. But developing countries' disadvantage does not exempt their governments from the need to demonstrate leadership on behalf of children. The rights of children are indivisible and paramount. No society should be satisfied until the rights of all are guaranteed and respected. Investing in children is, quite simply, the best investment a government can make. No country has made the leap into meaningful and sustained development without investing significantly in its children. According to the World Bank, one of the significant reasons, along with good macroeconomic management, that the countries of East Asia were so much more successful than those of sub- Saharan Africa in economic development during the 1970s and 1980s is that they had invested heavily in children in the preceding decades. They were reaping the harvest, in other words, of seeds sown in the 1950s and 1960s in the fertile soil of children's health, nutrition and education.49 In the 1990s, moreover, UNICEF studied nine developing countries and the Indian state of Kerala. All were selected for their excellent results in health and education, which far surpassed those of countries facing similar economic conditions. The aim was to find out if there was any common denominator from which other developing countries could learn. The Governments-those of Barbados, Botswana, Costa Rica, Cuba, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Kerala state-were often very different in their political orientation, but all had made a point of investing in children through strong state support for basic social services. Thus, each of these countries has consistently spent a higher proportion of their national income on primary education than their neighbours and kept primary schooling free of tuition fees.50 In contrast, recent studies in more than 30 countries have shown that basic social services receive, on average, between 12 per cent and 14 per cent of total public spending.51 This is far from adequate: National governments should be aiming to spend about 20 per cent of their budgets on basic social services, a goal accepted as part of the 20/20 Initiative at the World Summit for Social Development in 1995. Countries that do not invest enough in basic social services, that do not thereby equip their people to face the turbulence-or seize the opportunities- associated with globalization, put themselves at a serious disadvantage. Universal access to these services offers a 'social shock absorber' for travelling the bumpy road to a globalized economy, giving the people who are poor a greater chance of benefiting and making the whole process of globalization more democratic.52 Strategic leadership Decisions by political leaders have profound effects in the private lives of families, from the earliest years of a child's life through to school age; the learning years, broadly those of the primary-school-age range; and the adolescent years, when the child is grappling with the full complexity of the world. ECD The central importance of early childhood development (ECD) is much more widely accepted than was the case at the time of the World Summit for Children in 1990. High-quality care in early childhood is a prerequisite of healthy human development. It is also a fundamental human right. The world's leaders must ensure that every child, without exception, has their birth registered; that they start life safe from violence and abuse; that they have sufficient nutrition, clean water, proper sanitation and health care. And just as importantly, communities must ensure that the intellectual and emotional developmental needs of children are being met; that they are given the requisite stimulation and early learning opportunities; and that their parents and other primary caregivers receive enough support and information to provide a nurturing and enriching environment (see Panel 8). If national and local governments do not deliver these things, they will be making a costly mistake-as well as failing their moral and legal obligations as set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Good ECD programmes encompass all of the child-survival goals with which UNICEF is traditionally identified: maternal health, safe childbirth, regular postnatal check-ups, immunization, growth promotion through breastfeeding, complementary feeding, provision of micronutrients and parental education about nutrition and health. But they extend also into the mental, social, emotional and spiritual development of children in their early years: both the physical and psychosocial care they receive and the stimulation they enjoy. With every passing year additional scientific evidence accumulates that a child's start in life goes a long way to determining the quality of life they will enjoy throughout childhood. There is a growth in understanding, for example, that learning starts at birth and is promoted by positive, nurturing experiences in the earliest years of childhood. In Dalmau, India, for instance, ECD programmes increased school attendance by 16 per cent, while in Colombia those who had benefited from early childhood programmes were shown to be twice as likely to complete primary school.53 What's more, investing in children at the very outset increases the likelihood of the child reaching adolescence and being able to continue learning while dealing with the challenges of work, sexuality and survival. Government funds invested early in the lives of children, especially for children at risk, can result in compensating decreases in expenditure later on for older children and adults. If States are to fulfil their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child they will have to stop seeing early childhood care as an issue of concern to families alone, as an optional extra, a soft alternative. Investing in ECD should now be second nature for the human family, as natural and inevitable to our lives as the sun and the rain on a field of rice. Basic education The case for investing in basic high-quality education-particularly in the education of girls-has been well established. Education does more than produce clerks or clerics: It enhances life and expands opportunities for all. The benefits can be seen across the board. Farmers who can read and have learned something about finding and sorting information will be better able to keep pace with developments in agriculture: A study of 13 low-income countries indicated that a farmer with four years of schooling produced an average of 9 per cent more food than one who had none.54 Education has been shown to act as a 'vaccine' against the twin dangers of hazardous child labour and HIV/AIDS55 (see Panel 9). Girls given the opportunity to go to school, moreover, tend not just to improve their own life chances and potential but those of their future children and families-and of society as a whole (see Panel 10). Girls' education has been proven to reduce child mortality, improve child health and nutrition, improve women's health, and also to reduce population growth, given that educated women tend to marry later and have fewer children. Societies that invest in educating girls and boys equally reap huge development dividends. "Investment in the education of girls," says the World Bank, "may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world."56 More than just an investment, education is also a fundamental right set out by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child. What's more, UNICEF firmly believes that improving girls' education is the best and quickest way of tackling poverty and of creating more just societies. It coordinates the UN Girls' Education Initiative, launched by the UN Secretary-General at both the World Education Forum in Dakar in April 2000 and the Millennium Summit in September 2000. The existing African Girls' Education Initiative has proved over the last five years that targeted programmes make a real difference. Among the strategies that are working: recruiting more women and training teachers to be sensitive to gender and child rights; rooting out gender bias from textbooks and educational materials; ensuring that parents and the local community are involved; increasing pre-school provision and care; ensuring that schools are located where girls can reach them safely; providing separate latrines for girls and boys; and eliminating tuition fees and other costs that deter the poor from sending their children to school (see Panel 11). The knowledge is there: After the last decade of research and experience it is clear what works and what does not. What is required are individuals who will fight for the funding necessary to extend the opportunities for learning to all children. The international community took a significant step forward at the World Education Forum by reaffirming the goal of Education for All while also setting new goals and higher standards-in expanded and improved care and education in early childhood, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. It also set as its year 2015 target not only universal access to primary schooling as before but also the completion of high-quality primary education by all children, including girls, ethnic minorities and those in difficult circumstances. Dakar reaffirmed the centrality of girls' education in any serious development strategy and stressed that the deadline for eliminating the gender gap in primary and secondary enrolment, unlike most of the other international development targets, has been set for 2005 rather than 2015. Four short years are left for the world to deliver equal rights for girls to learning, literacy and the empowerment of education. Adolescence The third opportunity for making wise investments comes during a child's adolescence. The adolescent years are a period of very rapid development for young people in every way-physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual. This is in fact the most rapid phase of human development apart from the period just before and after birth. Yet it is also a time of great danger. It is these older children who are most vulnerable to some of the major threats to child rights-to HIV/AIDS, sexual exploitation, exploitative child labour, being caught up in conflict or used as soldiers (see Panel 12). Adolescents are forced to enter these arenas of risk often without the information, skills and access to support services that they need. Adolescence is also a critical gateway to improving women's situation. The well- being of adolescent girls is pivotal in breaking down the cycles of gender discrimination that relegate far too many girls to the same disadvantaged position as their mothers. It is in these years, for example, that the gender gap in education yawns widest: While 6 per cent more boys than girls in developing countries enrol in primary school, the gap opens up to 16 per cent in the secondary years-and in South Asia reaches an alarming 36 per cent. It is teenage girls who are most likely to be threatened by sexual abuse, trafficking or exploitative forms of child labour (see Panel 13); just as it is they who are compelled by cultural insistence or overt command towards early marriage and childbearing. Specific provision for the needs of young people often falls by the wayside given the competing demands and priorities of adults, who can exert political pressure. But, again, governments that have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child must accept that adolescents have inalienable rights that are patently ignored at present. Adolescents have the right to relevant and reliable information from a variety of sources, including parents, teachers, the media and peer educators. They have the right to be taught the life skills they need for the teenage years when they are exploring their own identity and independence-skills in negotiation, conflict resolution, critical thinking, decision-making, communication and earning a livelihood. Adolescents depend for their well-being on a safe and supportive environment that includes adults who care about them. They also have the right to participate in decisions that affect family life. Securing and guaranteeing these rights would not only help young people, it would help human society as a whole. Adolescents make up a very large proportion of the population in developing countries, yet, as a group, they are too often ignored. They tend to be treated as a potentially delinquent, problem group instead of being valued for their energy and resourcefulness (see Panel 14). We depend on young people's vibrancy and idealism for our capacity to change, to shake ourselves out of the corroded habits and patterns of cynicism that stand in the way of a better, more decent world. For that reason, among many others, young people's participation in the UN Special Session on Children in September 2001 will be vital. When adolescents' rights are fulfilled, their strength, confidence, creativity and passion can engender hope and solutions even in the most desperate situations. Responsibilities without borders All countries have every economic incentive to invest in children. Each State that has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child is bound by the stipulation that national governments must implement all of the children's rights recognized in the Convention "to the maximum extent of their available resources;" and has accepted the legal and moral obligation to use the best interests of children as the mediating principle when tough economic decisions have to be made. National and state-level finance ministers and financial institutions must accept their responsibilities for the ways in which countries use the public purse to invest in children. The Convention does add its own rider, however, stating that "where needed," the resources should be sought "within the framework of international co-operation". Developing countries must do all they can but it is abundantly clear that most of them will fall short of the 2015 targets reaffirmed by the international community at the Millennium Summit unless there is a significant increase in external assistance-and a major infusion of the resources from debt relief. After all, the third large obstacle blocking the road to child rights, along with conflict and HIV/AIDS, is poverty, and there is a desperate necessity for those who benefit most from the increasing prosperity of the global economy to ensure that the most vulnerable-inevitably women and children in the poorest countries-also benefit. The fact is that, while there has been an overall increase in wealth, this is heavily concentrated in just a few countries. The gulf between the richest and the poorest countries on earth is actually widening with every passing day. In 1990 the annual income per person in industrialized countries was 60 times greater than that in the least developed countries; in 1999 it was almost 100 times greater. In the last five years the international community has become increasingly concerned about reducing poverty-and with good reason. For the last decade-and- a-half, countries all around the world have been broadly following the economic policies of what has come to be known as the Washington Consensus because of its support by the United States Treasury and Washington-based institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. These policies have involved the pursuit of low inflation through fiscal discipline, trade and financial liberalization and widespread privatization. The emphasis rightly has been on efficiency and wrongly not on equity: The underlying assumption has been that the policies would result in economic growth that would benefit the poor. The problem is that the poor have been conspicuously the last to benefit from the advantages of economic reform and globalization. In Latin America, for example, where most countries, whether out of choice or necessity, abided by the Washington Consensus with remarkable unanimity and single-mindedness in the 1990s, the new economic policies had minimal impact on income poverty. There were certainly overall benefits: single-digit inflation, a lower debt burden and an influx of private capital into the region. But, unemployment rose while nearly 80 million people remained in extreme poverty and the region retained the most unequal distribution of income and assets in the world.57 The deficiencies in the Washington Consensus are being increasingly recognized, not least by the World Bank itself.58 The poor have to be protected from the earth tremors of globalization by public investment in basic social services. If globalization is inevitable, and if it is to be a liberating rather than a damaging force, the universal package of minimum standards that it includes should not entail simply the removal of tariff barriers but also the guarantee of children's rights. Thankfully, there are at last signs that at least some of the richest nations are beginning to take their responsibility to combat global poverty seriously. There was a long campaign throughout the 1980s and 1990s by non-governmental organizations, religious groups and international organizations-including UNICEF in its yearly The State of the World's Children reports-aimed at persuading the most powerful nations and international financial institutions to move more swiftly and surely to tackle the massive problem of indebtedness. The work of the Jubilee 2000 coalition, in particular, has been nothing short of heroic in transforming the issue of debt relief from a 'fringe concern' into a practical, serious proposition. Now the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, which was painfully slow and circumscribed at first, is finally starting to kick in. Debt relief has been late in coming. After many years in which Western governments and the international financial institutions held out against any kind of relief 'on principle', critics wondered if the HIPC Initiative was simply a smokescreen disguising a fundamental unwillingness to tackle the debt problem. By early 2000 HIPC had still only provided debt relief to four countries: Bolivia, Guyana, Mozambique and Uganda.59 Now, the 'enhanced' version of HIPC has at last begun to make a difference. Some 22 poor countries receive varying amounts of relief that should eventually amount to around $34 billion and should help reduce their debt to one third of what it was at the start of the process.60 Another extremely welcome development has been the announcement by the G7 countries that they will forgive 100 per cent of the bilateral debt owed them by HIPC-qualified countries. The Government of the United Kingdom has shown particular leadership on the international stage in this respect-and its decision, supported by the Canadian Government, to place any current debt- service payments from conflict-ridden countries in trust for when they attain peace is far-sighted. The UK has also taken a lead in abolishing the iniquitous practice of tying aid to the purchase of goods from the donor country's own companies-and is now campaigning for other industrialized countries to follow suit. The UK Government has also undertaken to increase its spending on overseas aid from 0.24 per cent of the gross national product (GNP) in 1999 to 0.31 per cent over the next two years, after many years of dwindling or stagnating aid. The increase is welcome as a first instalment but in this respect the leaders have long been the countries of northern Europe-Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden-who have consistently met or exceeded the UN recommended minimum of 0.7 per cent of GNP. As it stands, bilateral aid flows from the industrialized countries are $100 billion a year less than governments have agreed they should be. As long as aid levels are so low, rich countries are reneging on their side of the bargain. Agreed targets are agreed targets; and if they are so conspicuously ignored by the world's most powerful economies, how can those governments in all conscience preach to their counterparts in developing countries who have infinitely fewer resources to work with? Nations that claim leadership of the global economy must set behind them the broken promises of the last century. They must respond to the call by the Managing Director of the IMF, Horst Köhler, for "a campaign to mobilize public support for action by all OECD governments and parliaments to reach the 0.7 per cent target within this decade."61 That public support will not be difficult to enlist: A recent poll in the United States found that respondents believed their government to be spending well over 20 per cent of the federal budget on foreign aid. When asked what they considered to be an appropriate level of foreign aid, the answer averaged out at 14 per cent of the budget. The actual proportion of the US budget that goes to aid is 0.3 per cent.62 In Spain, meanwhile, some municipalities have shown leadership on this issue by agreeing to devote 0.7 per cent of their budgets to assisting municipalities in developing countries. An encouraging event took place in London in February 2001. The UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown and International Development Secretary Clare Short convened a one-day conference on International Action against Child Poverty. It marked a notable change of emphasis. Taking seriously the call of the Global Movement for Children for everyone, whatever position they hold in society, to do all they can to deliver children's rights, Gordon Brown brought his influence as finance minister in one of the world's richest economies to bear. Finance ministers from many parts of the world were invited, along with the heads of the World Bank, IMF and delegations from key UN agencies and NGOs- all of them put on the spot as to what they could contribute. It was a recognition that the development goals that the international community has undertaken to meet by the year 2015 have no chance of being met unless all parties work together with markedly more commitment than has been shown hitherto-and most particularly unless the finance ministers and international financial institutions who control the resources are on board. "What can be achieved together by unity of purpose is far greater than what we can ever achieve acting on our own," says Gordon Brown. "It is by putting the needs of the young and the poor not only at the centre of social policy but at the centre of financial decision-making, economic policy and international diplomatic action, that we can ensure a better future-a future of health and hope-in which no child is left behind and every child, in every country, has the opportunity to make the very most of his or her abilities."63 Speaking by satellite link at the same event, Nelson Mandela challenged those in the audience, "We must move children to the centre of the world's agenda. We must rewrite strategies to reduce poverty so that investments in children are given priority." Among the initiatives launched at the conference was a proposal from the Italian Government, using its leadership position chairing the G7 countries, to create a special Trust Fund for Health to which the 1,000 largest corporations in the world would contribute a minimum donation of $500,000 each. The governments of industrialized nations would then match those donations to arrive at a fund of at least a billion dollars that could be dedicated to helping countries to meet the year 2015 goals on health.64 This is exactly the kind of partnership between rich countries and poor, governments and corporations, UN agencies and NGOs that was lacking in the last decades of the 20th century- and which the Global Movement for Children seeks to inspire and promote at the start of the 21st. It is up to all of us, from teachers to government ministers, volunteers to corporate chief executives, social workers to bankers, to make our own contribution to that movement. The face of global poverty must no longer be the face of a young child. The Special Session on Children The UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children in September 2001 is the culmination of years of work by literally thousands of organizations. The ground has been prepared for it, as with any major UN conference, by a series of preparatory gatherings at which key issues have been debated and explored, and guiding principles and targets for future actions have been adopted. The issue of accountability has gained new prominence, in particular as it relates to commitments to children in the coming years. Unlike any other UN conference, the widest possible range of civil society organizations working with and for children has played an active part in the debate from the start. Representatives of NGOs have had broad access and contributed significantly to the process and the draft documents. Organizations both small and large from all over the world have risen above their differences to support a common agenda. They have created a multi-pronged alliance aimed at ensuring that the world takes seriously the idea that children have fundamental human rights, that they must have the first call on our energy, commitment and resources. It is an alliance, moreover, which does not just aim to represent children's needs and concerns but to be founded on their participation. Children's right to participate is nowhere more appropriate than at the Special Session and the major meetings leading up to it. So it was that in Jomtien, Thailand, in April, there was an unprecedented gathering of children aged between 11 and 18 from countries all over East Asia. They met to discuss the problems of children in the region, to formulate their vision of how things should be and to make their own recommendations to the governments and NGOs who will be present at the Special Session. In the same month, children from 27 countries across Europe and Central Asia met in Budapest to work on a Young People's Agenda for Europe and Central Asia. There was a similar Regional Youth Forum in Amman in November 2000 involving children from the Middle East and North Africa: They stressed that children must be included in all efforts to end the inequality, violence and injustice that undermine children's rights and human development. In April 2001 in Kathmandu, a group called The Change Makers, representing children from the eight countries of South Asia, presented their own vision of the future to corporate leaders from the region. "We want a world," they said, "where there is no discrimination between boys and girls, between the able and the disabled, between the rich and the poor. We want a healthy, safe and clean environment suitable for all. And we want a decent education and opportunities for play, instead of having to work." A world fit for children The Special Session will be a unique opportunity for the world's nations to make a clean break with the tradition of leaving hundreds of millions of children abandoned in poverty or exploited in labour, condemned to everyday hunger or denied the benefits of learning. Those present at the Special Session will have the chance to be part of an historic moment in which the world's leaders commit themselves to creating a world fit for children within a generation. The work has already begun on a regional basis. At the 10th Ibero-American Summit in Panama in December 2000, 21 Presidents and Heads of State signed a Declaration pledging to deliver free and compulsory education for all children by 2015, to halve maternal mortality by 2010 and to crack down on the trafficking, kidnapping and sexual exploitation of children. Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso will take to the Special Session a proposal for a more integrated system for monitoring the way governments' commitments to children's rights are being implemented. In Lebanon in April 2001, a regional symposium met to draw up a plan of action called An Arab World Fit for Children. This was followed by a conference of Arab and African finance ministers in Morocco in May, which recommended formal assessments of the impact of government policies on children; it also proposed the creation of national committees that would press for child-focused budgets. In China in May 2001, governments from across East Asia and the Pacific undertook to put children's well-being at the top of their agenda, accepting that it represented "the most important indicator of national and economic social progress." The fifth such regional meeting to review progress towards the goals of the World Summit for Children, this was the first that had featured the active participation of children and adolescents. In Nepal, meanwhile, finance ministers from South Asia met in that same month to discuss the urgent need to increase investment in children-and came to a consensus on how to do it. They agreed that governments needed to forge new alliances with the private sector, with civil society organizations and with children themselves in order to generate the necessary resources. In Berlin, too, there was a regional meeting for Europe and Central Asia that produced a 20-point action plan. "If we are to create a better world and better future for our children," Zlatko Lagumdz?ija, Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, told delegates, "we must put children and child rights at the top of our political agenda." We have learned a great deal over the decades of development about the way in which promises are discarded or evaded-always leaving children to bear the brunt of the betrayal. We have learned that targets and goals have to be specific, time-bound and measurable-and that progress towards them has to be carefully monitored and reviewed. Delegates to the Special Session will therefore be asked to commit to concrete targets in child health, in education, in combating HIV/AIDS and in protecting children from abuse, exploitation or violence. More than that, though, they will be asked to agree to account for their progress or their failure. To make the achievement of the goals possible, delegates will be asked for a commitment to mobilize the resources of which the world's children have been starved. We encourage government leaders in developing and industrialized countries to work closely together to meet the following targets: All countries who have not done so should strive to meet the long-agreed target of 0.7 per cent of GNP for overall development assistance; Full financing in order to speed up debt relief, particularly in least developed countries, and cancellation of all official bilateral debts; Easier access to exports for the least developed countries, free from duty or quota restrictions; Social spending over military expenditure; Domestic resources should be used for social development and to reduce disparities at the international and national levels; Both aid and government expenditures should be restructured along the lines of the 20/20 Initiative, in line with the Oslo and Hanoi Consensus documents, to achieve universal access to basic social services. At the Special Session governments must show they have finally understood that, for the good of all, the rights of children must come first. As Nelson Mandela has said: "Any country, any society, which does not care for its children is no nation at all." Heads of State and Government, ministers and civil servants, experts and activists who will gather in New York carry with them an accountability to all those who are a part of the Global Movement for Children. Every individual who has said 'Yes' for children, whether in the mountains of Afghanistan or the jungles of Peru, the cities of Germany or the townships of South Africa, has pledged in support of a 10-point plan to change the world-a plan that will continue to play out in daily lives long after the Special Session ends. Now it is the turn of those who hold political power and the public trust - those with the greatest opportunityand the greatest responsibility-to bring about change. The millions of people in every country of the world who have pledged their support to the cause of children's rights will be watching more closely than they have ever watched before. Those who would call themselves leaders must give all that is needed-no less will do-to create a world fit for children. Birthright and promise The idea of birthright is an ancient one that occurs in all cultures and religions. With our feet still fresh on the sand of the new century, let us make a sacred promise to deliver to the children who will be born into our world the health and nutrition, the education and protection, that is their birthright. We know far more than we have ever known before about how to make this happen. As a global community, we have more resources than we have ever had before that can be put to work to bring it about. It is already late for Ayodele and other children of the 1990s, for all those who were born around the time of the World Summit for Children. But the decisions made in September 2001 and the action taken in the years ahead could change the fate of the next generation. In our hands rests the opportunity to consign neglect, abuse and exploitation of children to the history books and to write our own new page. If we squander this new opportunity, our children will judge us harshly and we will have again betrayed a most sacred trust. The promises we make now are the promises we must keep. This time there is no excuse. The task is set and the road is clear. Let's go to work. Panels Panel 1 Immunization plus... Cecilia Soriano, 42, lives with her husband and eight children in a shanty in Manila. Since she was pregnant with her daughter, Katherine, who is now five, Cecilia has been troubled by night-blindness. Initially, she thought her vision problems were a routine part of being pregnant. Then, after her baby was born, she thought she was just getting old. But when Katherine began coming home covered with scrapes, scratches and bumps on her forehead after playing outside at dusk and frequently complaining about her eyes, Cecilia became alarmed. She sought the help of Nenita Ito, a community health worker, who encouraged Cecilia to go to the public health centre. The doctor diagnosed both Cecilia and Katherine as having night-blindness due to vitamin A deficiency (VAD). Affecting about 100 million young children worldwide, vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of blindness in children in developing countries. Even mild deficiencies can compromise a young child's immune system, reducing resistance to such child-killer diseases as measles, malaria and diarrhoea. Children with vitamin A deficiencies face a 25 per cent greater risk of dying from childhood illnesses than those with an adequate intake of this micronutrient or those whose diets are fortified or supplemented on a regular basis with vitamin A capsules. In the early 1990s, the Government of the Philippines promoted vitamin A supplementation and full immunization of children through National Immunization Days and Micronutrient Days. As a result of vigorous campaigns, nearly 90 per cent of Filipino children aged six or younger were covered from 1993 to 1996. In 1998, these campaigns were integrated into a more comprehensive programme, which twice yearly provided children aged six and younger with vitamin A supplementation, routine immunization, deworming, iron supplementation, and iodized salt testing and distribution. Mothers and caregivers were educated about breastfeeding, hygiene and the advantages of using iodized salt. Leticia Bancairen, a community health worker, remembers trekking to remote villages of the B'laans, one of five major indigenous groups in the Sarangani Islands, to urge mothers to take their children to the health centre. Eighty- five per cent of the target population received a second dose of vitamin A in 2000. But despite these campaigns against VAD, it still remains a major threat to the lives of Filipino children, in particular to those who are the most impoverished. Reducing vitamin A deficiency by having at least two rounds of vitamin A supplementation per year with at least 70 per cent coverage among children aged 6 to 59 months was one of the goals set at the 1990 World Summit for Children. Progress has been made over the past 10years - the number of developing countries providing vitamin A supplementation to 70 per cent or more of children under five has risen from 11 nations in 1996, to 27 in 1998, and 43 in 1999. As many as 1 million young lives may have been saved in the last three years alone through vitamin A supplementation. But, despite the success of vitamin A campaigns to date, new distribution systems must be established - or existing primary health care systems must be strengthened - if the world is to meet its challenge of reducing infant and under-five mortality rates by two thirds by 2015. For this to happen, every child must receive, at a minimum, regular immunizations and vitamin A supplementation. Children in the poorest countries are the least protected by vaccines and regular immunizations from dying before they are five years old, and the gap is growing between these children and those in the industrialized world who have such life-savers readily available. Committed to closing this gap, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) was formed in 1999 with the goal of reaching the 30 million to 40 million children in developing countries who are not immunized. The GAVI partners - which include national governments, UNICEF, the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Children's Vaccine Program, the Rockefeller Foundation, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations and public health and research institutions - hope to significantly expand the reach and effectiveness of immunization programmes country by country. GAVI also aims to make underused vaccines, such as that for yellow fever and new vaccines such as hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib), available to all children at risk by 2002 and 2005, respectively. Through a global network of international development organizations, multilateral development banks, philanthropic organizations, private sector leaders and other parties, GAVI promises to further energize the world's commitment to its youngest citizens. Panel 2 Tostan: A breakthrough movement Ourèye Sall used to earn her living performing female genital cutting in Senegal. Not even when one of her daughters nearly haemorrhaged to death three decades ago, after being cut by her grandmother, could Ourèye stop. Culture and tradition were too strong. Plus it was her only source of income. But in 1997, together with others in her village, Ourèye put down her knives. Female genital cutting, the removal of part or all of the female genitalia, has existed for thousands of years. Yet during the past four years, 282 villages in Senegal, representing approximately 220,000 people, have stopped the practice. The villages did not stop female genital cutting in response to outside pressure or national laws. Instead, it was a grass-roots movement arising from the people that put an end to the practice. Ourèye Sall is a leader in that movement. She holds her head up high as she speaks to villagers, religious leaders, government officials, journalists and the international community about her decision to stop cutting and her role in helping to end the practice throughout Senegal. This movement to end female genital cutting began in the village of Malicounda Bambara. Villagers decided to abolish the tradition after participating in a UNICEF-funded basic education programme run by the NGO, 'Tostan' ("breakthrough" in Wolof, a local tongue). Unlike literacy programmes of the 1970s and 1980s, which involved teacher-led discussions and letter and syllable repetition, Tostan depends on a participatory process where learners sit in a circle and use role-playing, singing, proverbs, poetry and theatre. In 1997, two years after Tostan first began, women of Malicounda Bambara, with the support of their husbands and religious leaders, ended female genital cutting in their community. Citing human rights articles and negative health consequences for their daughters, the women had begun a movement of cultural change. A shorter version of that original programme is now in place in over 400 villages in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Sudan, with similar results. Without a doubt, the practical, student-focused classes are what led to the groundswell of social activism. The straightforward programme focuses on technical information. Beginning with human rights education and collective problem-solving, the core of all other modules, the class learns about hygiene, oral rehydration, immunization, financial and material management, leadership, group dynamics, women's health and income-generating options. Each module incorporates village customs, language and traditions to create a respectful environment that matches the participants' learning styles. Social mobilization activities assure the learning process is participatory and relevant to the community. As they move through the programme, learners become more at ease with discussing once taboo issues. The Tostan programme gives facts, not judgements. It's up to the participants to decide what to do with the new information they've received. "If you impose on me, I'll fight," says Demba Diawara, the Imam from Keur Simbara who walks from village to village in his campaign to end female genital cutting. "But if I am allowed the dignity and space to decide, I will fully cooperate." One activity begun in the classroom and carried to neighbouring villages is a play. The class members act out the story of Poolel, an eight-year-old girl who is to undergo the ancient rite of circumcision. Like other girls her age, she is to become a 'real woman' who will be clean, respectable and marriage-ready. As the play evolves, Poolel goes through this rite of passage but bleeds profusely. Fearful that the young girl will die, the family takes her to the health clinic nurse. The nurse arranges for Poolel to go to the regional hospital where she dies the next day. After discussing the play and their feelings and answering questions about female genital cutting, many classes have concluded that the ancient practice must stop. Bolstered by their new understanding of the rights of women and children, the participants are galvanized to protect their daughters, granddaughters, nieces and other village girls. "African women are such incredible mothers and do so much for their children," says Molly Melching, the director of Tostan. "To say they are mutilators is offensive. Female genital cutting was an act of love to protect their daughters' honour. Ending the practice to protect their daughters' human rights and health is now their act of love." In Senegal, the real impetus for abandoning female genital cutting is at the grassroots, where women, men and religious and traditional leaders are engaged in a dynamic collaboration. Since the movement has taken hold, the Senegal Parliament has passed a national law abolishing the ritual. While laws may be supportive of the people's actions, the real power lies in village declarations. These public decrees tip the balance. Where once women like Ourèye Sall could not stop cutting for fear their daughters would not be able to find husbands, now it is just the opposite. Panel 3 Children of Liberia: Determined to change destiny Liberia still bears the scars of the civil war that lasted from 1989 to 1997. One hundred and fifty thousand people were killed, 1 million people internally displaced and 666,000 Liberians were driven from the country. Perhaps most horrifying, however, 15,000 children - some as young as six years old - were trained as soldiers. With so many lives stolen and the country's infrastructure destroyed, there seemed little hope for the children of Liberia. Yet, somehow, the country has become stronger and its people more determined and there is no better illustration than the children themselves, who were once used as tools for destruction but who now work diligently to improve their lot. Sixteen-year-old Solomon is one example of a youth determined to change his destiny. Once a member of one of the most feared groups of boy soldiers, Solomon now participates in a UNICEF-supported reintegration and life skills programme. Struggling to overcome his tragic past, he explains, "I want to get the bad, bad things out of my heart." Asked what he hopes for the future, he replies in a soft voice, "I want to go back to school. I want to be born again as a child." Liberia is filled with cases of children who are being 'born again'. While civil unrest, international sanctions and poor social conditions continue to create challenges for children, it is their optimistic spirit that promises the rebirth they seek. "Children went and fought with the rebels and they still act like rebels," explained Magistrate Perry about juvenile crime in Liberia. In the past, children who were seen to be problematic were placed in detention with adults and exposed to harsh corporal punishment and abuse. This, however, only served to increase and perpetuate the problem. In response, UNICEF and the Office of the Chief Justice launched an effort to renovate courthouses so that they included juvenile hearing areas. Magistrates received training about juvenile justice. UNICEF sponsored a trip for the Chief Justice of Liberia to travel to Namibia and South Africa to observe their juvenile justice programmes. By the end of 2000, juvenile justice programmes had been established in four counties where detention of minors has been reduced by 95 per cent. For the first time in Liberia's history, juveniles are receiving special consideration from the courts. Deputy Inspector David White, a veteran police officer in the town of Tubmanburg, says the training he received has made a difference. "I used to handle children wrong. I would handle them roughly," he confesses. "Now, we have been told not to treat juveniles as criminals. Treat them as if they are your own children." Instead of 'bad children', it is 'bad circumstances' that are addressed and helpful solutions sought. Youth offenders are now referred to organizations where counsellors bring families together to work out problems and where they receive vocational skills training. Zoe Thomas is one beneficiary of this effort. The 19-year-old woman works intently at a foot-powered sewing machine, making a child's dress. "I want to be a better person," she says. "I want to work and help myself." Other youth affected by war have learned to make agricultural tools out of decommissioned weapons in order to help their communities. Children who were robbed of basic education because of the civil war partake in a UNICEF-sponsored accelerated learning programme which allows overage students to return to school and make up what they missed. A 22-year-old man in the grade 3 to 4 class declares, "I came back cu' I wanted to learn. I hope to be a medical doctor someday. " Entire communities are infused with attitudes of optimism and a willingness to work, despite past disappointments and hardship. When WHO, UNICEF and the Liberian Ministry of Health approached Bong County to participate in the polio eradication campaign, there was full participation at every level, from governments to households. In 2000, six rounds of mass vaccinations were carried out, and the nation achieved total coverage of 90per cent. Bong County achieved an incredible 100 per cent. "We don't usually fail in this county," beamed the county superintendent. Children are not only assisted but also play a significant role in assisting others. Radio C'est la Vie, launched in March 2000, is run mainly by children who, "educate both children and adults in a wide range of social issues," explains Korlu Willie, a ninth grader. For instance, the station "teaches kids how to take care of themselves, to listen to their parents. Sometimes we interview girls who are not going to school and who leave their parents and get involved with men and get pregnant. It is good for children to speak out because they learn more. They listen to other children." When the helpless become the helpers, when the victims become victors, when the children become the saviours, the world must listen. The world must learn. Panel 4 Educate every child: The dreams of Nagaland On the remote, hilly north-eastern corner of India bordering Myanmar lies Nagaland, a tiny state embroiled in nearly a half century of continuous conflict. The population of 2 million is tired of violence, threats of extortion and living in fear. A fragile ceasefire has existed for the last three years. One college student today writes, "I can recall peace only when I was a small child - not after that." With the support of the Chief Secretary of Nagaland, the highest-ranking bureaucrat in the state, a series of action research workshops were initiated in Nagaland early in 2001 to create change. In the workshops, individuals are asked to 'Imagine Nagaland' by focusing on what they want for their state rather than on the problems they currently face. Participants move through a four-phase cycle of interviews - Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny. Over 1,000 interviews have already been conducted and 20,000 more are planned. Each interview is to generate six additional interviews, setting off a ripple effect that will reach into every corner of Nagaland society, engaging adults and children in the common cause of creating their new society. In April 2001, more than 70 participants drawn from diverse stakeholder groups and originating from eight districts gathered for a "Discovery Phase" workshop. They represented 'Nagaland glue' - junior, middle and senior government officials, media, teachers, legislators and NGOs, including church leaders and human rights activists. But importantly, almost one third of the participants were children and young people from different tribal origins. For many of the adults, this was their first experience of interacting on an equal footing with the younger generation. Initially young people and adults began visioning exercises separately. When asked "What gives life to Nagaland?" adults spoke of their sense of pride in their rich cultural heritage, their stoic acceptance of the current situation, their classless and casteless society and strong religious convictions and their yearning for peace and development. The younger group appeared more clearly focused on the future rather than the past. Children were concerned that "Nagaland needs more freedom from violence." They spoke about community development as being more important than individual development. They appealed for parks and sports fields. And they expressed the need for primary education because, as they put it, "even a building without a strong foundation can fall." One student wrote: O' future Nagas, let's stop this evil Let there be peace again Stop the gun culture, it's not ours For we cannot survive in this pool of Hatred, conflict and corruption. By the end of the first day, the young people's honesty and eloquence, represented in paintings, slogans and poems, had jolted the adults. Children summed up what they had "more of" in comparison with the maturity, experience and responsibilities of adults. "We're more educated, more creative, more sincere and courageous and we're more action-oriented." Their wish-list was clear - peace, unity, reforestation, more state advances in science