Preparatory process
In this page you will find information on:
- Progress on government negotiations
- Preparatory Committee
- Regional processes
1. Progress on government negotiations
The draft outcome document entitled, A
world fit for children, contains a Declaration
and a Plan of Action to guide actions for children during
the next decade. The Plan of Action addresses four major
areas of concern (health, education, child protection
and HIV/AIDS) and contains provisions for fostering
partnerships, mobilizing resources and monitoring implementation.
A final round of informal negotiations to complete the
document will be convened from 29 April to 2 May 2002.
2. Preparatory Committee
At the global level, the General Assembly established
the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session on
Children open to all Member States and observers. The
Preparatory Committee is guided by a five-member Bureau,
with UNICEF serving as substantive secretariat.
Third Preparatory Committee, 11-15 June 2001
More than 3,000 representatives of Governments and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including some
200 young people attended the third preparatory committee
meeting for the UN Special Session on Children, which
will take place in New York.
The meeting focused on the outcome document that will
be adopted at the Special Session in May 2002. Government
representatives, including some 50 high-level officials,
spent the five days of the meeting working to produce
a document that meets the goals of the Special Session:
to get world leaders to recommit themselves to an agenda
for children in the coming decade.
The plenary discussion also featured panels on children
and conflict and commercial sexual exploitation. In
addition to the plenary sessions, a full schedule of
side events sponsored by individual governments and
organizations took place.
Official report of the Third Session of the Preparatory
Committee [pdf
format]
Summary of the outcome [word]
of the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee
All of UNICEF's Prepcom coverage
UNICEF provided daily coverage of events and people
at the Third Preparatory Committee meeting.
- Profiles of young people
at the Prepcom
- Stories from Prepcom events
- Photo galleries
- Video views (young participant
interviews)
- Links to Child Rights Information
Network daily updates and to the daily newsletter
'On the Record for Children'
Second Preparatory Committee (January 2001)
The second session of the Preparatory Committee, held
in January-February 2001, was similarly well attended
by Member States, NGOs and young people. It reviewed
initial findings of the end-decade review and provided
comments on the draft provisional outcome document,
following which a revised draft outcome document "A
World Fit for Children" (A/AC.256/CRP.6/Rev.1)
was prepared and distributed by the Bureau for consideration
at the third session.
First Preparatory Committee (May 2001)
More than 1,000 participants attended the Preparatory
Committee's first session, in May-June 2000, including
representatives of almost all Member States and all
major United Nations bodies, as well as more than 235
grass-roots, national and international NGOs. Delegations
considered the report of the Secretary-General on emerging
issues for children in the twenty-first century (A/AC.256/3-E/ICEF/2000/13
(Word
or PDF
format) ) and reached agreement on three outcomes to
be pursued through future action for children to ensure
a good start in life, a good quality basic education
and adolescent development and participation. Following
the first session, a draft provisional outcome document,
"A World Fit for Children" (A/AC.256/CRP.6), was prepared
and issued by the Bureau.
3. Regional processes
Regional and subregional institutions have been encouraged
to organize appropriate processes to build partnerships
for and with children and contribute to preparations
for the special session. The wide variety of regional
processes set in motion attests to the enthusiastic
response.
The following document presents the Outcomes of the
five main regional processes that have taken place in
preparation for the Special Session on Children. More
information is available below on these and other regional
processes.
Outcome of the five main regional processes (A/S-27/13)
[pdf]
In Africa, the OAU Lomé Summit declaration entitled
"Africa's children, Africa's future", issued
in July 2000, encouraged Member States to articulate
a visionary but feasible agenda for African children
over the next decade, recognizing HIV/AIDS as a priority
challenge and addressing other pressing issues. Follow-up
meetings in 2001 involved a broad range of partners,
including the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA),
the Arab League and ECOWAS.
A special Pan-African Forum was held in Cairo in May
to discuss the future of the African child and to build
momentum for a dynamic movement for children across
the continent. This alliance of Governments, civil society,
young people, and a whole range of other constituencies
and institutions would be dedicated to advocacy and
action on behalf of children, as part of the Global
Movement for Children.
African common position at the Forum [word]
The League of Arab States invited members in June
2000 to undertake national reviews of the situation
of children and to participate in preparations for the
special session. A draft declaration and framework for
action on the rights of children has been prepared for
the period 2001-2010, and a regional high-level conference
on children was held in Cairo between 1 and 4 July 2001.
Arab High level Conference 2-4 July 01[word]
In East Asia and the Pacific, four ministerial consultations
on children and development have been held since 1990,
with the fifth to be held in Beijing in May 2001, to
play a critical role in shaping the region's future
agenda for children. An assessment of the state of implementation
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the
10 member countries of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) forms the basis for joint planning
of regional actions by the ASEAN secretariat and UNICEF.
See the Beijing
Declaration.
South Asian Governments are to participate in a high-level
meeting in Nepal in May 2001 on the theme "A South
Asian imperative: investing in children", while
a July 2001 symposium in Islamabad is to examine achievements
and promote sustained action on the South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Decade Plan of Action
for the Girl Child. See the
Kathmandu Understanding.
In Europe and Central Asia, a conference in May 2001
is to adopt the Berlin
Commitment (PDF) for Children of Europe and Central
Asia, focusing on such key issues as problems of transition,
discrimination and ecological sustainability, with participation
by young people and NGOs.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, five ministerial
meetings since the World Summit for Children have been
held to assess achievements and constraints. The
Lima Accord, adopted in 1998, helped accelerate
progress, while the Kingston
Consensus, adopted at the fifth meeting, in 2000,
represents the regional contribution of the Americas
at the special session. Significant commitments were
also made at the Tenth Ibero-American Summit of Presidents
and Heads of State on Children and Adolescents, held
in 2000.
In addition to information on the Preparatory activities
and the participation of young people and NGOs, the
Special Session
Newsletter contains further information on additional
regional activities.
|
|
|
