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|  Executive
Speeches
Address by Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, UNICEF, to the
Organization of African Unity Pan-African Forum on the Future of
Children
Cairo - 27 May 2001
Mrs. Mubarak, Secretary-General Salim Salim, Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates, Dear Children:
On behalf of the United Nations Children's Fund, let me begin
by thanking the Government of Egypt, a UNICEF partner of long standing,
for its hospitality and hard work in hosting this crucially important
Conference.
Distinguished Delegates, the outcome of your deliberations will
help inform and energise a 21st Century agenda for, and with, children
- an agenda that the General Assembly will take up four months from
now, at the Special Session on Children.
The Special Session will be the biggest and most momentous gathering
on child rights since the World Summit for Children more than a
decade ago. We have every hope that national leaders will use the
occasion to lay the groundwork for a world that is truly fit for
children - especially for the children of Africa, whose survival,
protection, full development and participation are all matters of
urgent global importance.
To be sure, we have seen real progress for children and their
families in the years since the Summit and the entry into force
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child - progress made possible
by governments, multilateral organisations and the work of countless
others, including members of non-governmental groups and the private
sector, community and grassroots groups, religious organisations
- and children and young people themselves.
We have witnessed widespread declines in under-five mortality,
thanks in large part to the role of oral rehydration therapy in
cutting diarrhoeal deaths by half. And we have seen comparable reductions
in vaccine-preventable child deaths - including huge strides toward
the eradication of polio, thanks to a global partnership involving
governments, UN agencies, non-governmental groups and other elements
of civil society.
National immunisation campaigns in scores of African countries
and around the world have facilitated the wide distribution of vitamin
A supplements- and, after decades of precipitous decline, we have
seen the life-sustaining practice of breastfeeding increase by a
third in the 1990s. There has been dramatic progress in tackling
iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), the world's leading cause of
mental retardation.
Worldwide, there are more children in school than ever before.
And thanks to the heightened sensitivity created by the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols, child protection
issues are being systematically exposed, and action taken to overcome
them - from hazardous and exploitative child labour and the trafficking
and abuse of children, to children in armed conflict and other forms
of violence, much of it gender-based.
Increasingly, issues relevant to children have been placed high
on national and global political agendas. Numerous national constitutions
now include explicit provisions on children. National and local
election campaigns are often dominated by child-related issues.
The General Assembly and the Security Council, for example, have
acknowledged the centrality of the rights and well-being of children
and women to the pursuit of international peace and security.
Indeed, the cause of children came of age at the Millennium Summit,
which endorsed such specific goals as reductions in maternal and
under-5 mortality, increases in primary school enrolment, and the
imperative of mounting effective worldwide campaigns against HIV/AIDS,
malaria and other major infectious diseases.
Yet, my Friends, for all this progress, we are still far from
making good on the commitments to children that world leaders made
a decade ago, especially in health, nutrition and education.
Over the last 10 years, child survival in Africa has not improved
nearly as much as had been hoped - or as much as it could have,
had there been commitments of adequate resources and political will.
Poverty and underdevelopment remain immense obstacles to child
rights and well-being - and Africa is far from achieving the international
development goals of reducing extreme poverty by half by the year
2015. In fact, the current trajectories of African economies indicate
that it will take decades for them to make serious inroads.
Under-investment in basic health and social services, the effects
of armed conflict, the crushing burden of external debt, the huge
systemic obstacles in the way of achieving major progress in reducing
child mortality, such as continuing gender discrimination and violence
and declining trust in political structures - all are having profoundly
negative effects on the well-being of children.
As the Millennium began, children under the age of five were still
dying at the rate of more than 10 million a year from preventable
causes like diarrhoea, measles, and acute respiratory infections
- the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
An estimated 170 million of the world's children are malnourished,
often at a cost of developmental handicaps that can last a lifetime;
and 1 out of every 10 children have serious disabilities.
Malaria remains a major child killer. And in the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
the world faces a threat of terrifying resilience, whose consequences
for children and their families are as potentially long-lasting
as any war in history. Because of this disease, and the conspiracy
of silence that has so long surrounded it, children are suffering
and dying in ways and in numbers that no earlier generation could
have imagined possible - and the worst destruction is occurring
in much of sub-Saharan Africa, from the growing ranks of orphaned
children to the undermining of already weakened systems of health,
education, and governance.
Education is one of the keys to development. Yet over 100 million
of the world's children, 60 per cent of them girls, are not in school
- and by 2010, half of the world's out-of-school children will be
in Africa. Africa's education systems are struggling to cope, but
attendance rates are not rising fast enough - in part because of
HIV/AIDS, which is killing teachers and school administrators as
relentlessly as it is killing children.
At the same time, children in many parts of the world continue
to be caught up in the unspeakable effects of armed conflict between
States - and now, increasingly, within them - whether brutalised
and exploited as child soldiers or sexual slaves, or suffering cruelly
from the effects of anti-personnel land mines and the global trafficking
in small arms.
Yet, my friends, for all of this, UNICEF is convinced that we
now stand at the most opportune moment imaginable for reaching the
remaining goals that were set at the World Summit for Children -
and for mobilising a global alliance dedicated to achieving a breakthrough
in human development based on specific actions for children.
It is an opportune moment because we know so much more about what
we must do to ensure the rights of children and address their needs.
And this includes the knowledge, borne out by the latest scientific
research and affirmed by years of practical experience, that the
love, care and nurturing that children receive in their earliest
years is absolutely crucial not only to their future, but to the
future of all our societies.
We know, too, that it is crucial to ensure that every girl and
boy receives a primary education of good quality; and that every
adolescent must be afforded ample opportunity to develop and to
participate meaningfully in society.
Distinguished delegates, the future is in our hands as never before.
The basic foundation of development is a healthy, well-educated
populace - and investments in health, education and stability for
Africa's children will be repaid many times over.
Increased resource provision for children is not only a moral
and ethical imperative - it is highly cost-effective. Investing
fully in children today, sustained over the long term, will ensure
the well-being and productivity of future generations for decades
to come.
Education is a lynchpin in these efforts - and greatly increased
investments in education, as well as improvements in its quality,
will be of immense benefit to the children of Africa, especially
for girls. The internationally established goal of universal free
primary education remains valid - and a well-crafted campaign involving
a wide range of stakeholders is vital if this goal is to be achieved.
As so many in Africa already recognise, only education can put
young women on a path to economic and social empowerment; help them
make the most of their abilities; and provide a means for changing
attitudes about violence while promoting equality.
Ensuring quality education and basic literacy will also open the
doors to information technology and the new economy - and prevent
the "digital divide" from becoming a new gender divide.
We know from hard empirical evidence that girls who are educated
generally have healthier and better-educated children; that they
tend to have smaller families; and that that they are more likely
to understand what they must do to protect themselves and their
families against HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
Distinguished Delegates, HIV/AIDS is the single most serious threat
to the survival of Africa's young - and thus to the continent's
very future. Mother-to-child transmission is responsible for perhaps
one quarter of AIDS-related deaths in Africa - and surveys have
found shockingly high rates of HIV prevalence among teenagers, especially
girls.
That is why we must pay special attention to changing the high-risk
behaviour of young men and women - and engage young people themselves
as the main agents for change.
Children and youth must be active participants in their societies,
not only in combatting HIV/AIDS, but in all matters affecting their
futures. Young people all over Africa are actively exploring ways
and means of constructing alternatives to existing social orders
- and we need to attend to their initiatives with care and sensitivity.
The constructive engagement of young people can transform the
continent. But the misdirection of their energies into militarism
and crime can only deepen social instability and crisis. That is
why mechanisms must be found to address the neglect and misunderstanding
that young people confront - and to promote their meaningful participation
in the institutions of their communities and countries. The voices
of children must be heard.
The African family is also a vital social asset, which has cushioned
the continent's children against the worst of the adversities of
recent decades. The African custom of caring for children from the
extended family is a particularly important tradition that reflects
the importance of child rights in African culture.
On the other hand, we must acknowledge that the family is also
the context in which many abuses of child rights take place, and
that to address these abuses, we must look to ways of preventing
domestic violence and discrimination within the family, especially
against girls.
The rights of children can only be realised when there is peace.
Yet armed conflict continues to violate the rights of children on
a massive scale - from murder, rape and mutilation to forced recruitment,
displacement, injury and malnourishment. Moreover, most of those
who wage, legitimise and support wars continue to act with impunity.
All this must end. The issue of child soldiers is thus a priority
for UNICEF and other actors - and education is a key element, both
in preventing recruitment and in helping to re-integrate former
child soldiers into society.
Yet no one - not the United Nations and its agencies, not regional
organisations, not governments or civil society groups - has done
enough to halt the criminal sacrifice of children in war. The international
community must address the plight of war-affected children and women
with new urgency, using international humanitarian law and the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocol on armed conflict
- and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,
which includes an absolute prohibition against recruitment of any
child under the age of 18.
Distinguished Delegates, it is only through broad and committed
partnerships that we will reach the remaining World Summit goals;
tackle poverty, HIV/AIDS and armed conflict; and establish a comprehensive
agenda for children for the first 10 years of this new century.
That is why UNICEF has begun working with all our partners to
help mobilise a Global Movement for Children - a worldwide campaign
to build a shared sense of responsibility for the well-being of
every child on earth.
To succeed, the Global Movement will need to enlist not only established
leaders, but people of influence representing every part of civil
society, from non-governmental organisations, religious groups and
private enterprise to people's movements, academia and the media,
community and grassroots groups, families - and children themselves.
President Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel have already
assumed a direct and personal role in this effort, telling leaders
from every walk of life that if we want a just, equitable and thriving
world, we must invest in children now.
My Friends, each of us has the power to help make the world a
better place for children - a place where every child can grow to
adulthood in health, peace and dignity. That is why we are asking
the world to Say Yes for Children - by pledging support for 10 actions
and principles that are needed to improve the lives and protect
the rights of children and young people everywhere: To leave no
child out, put children first, care for every child, fight HIV/AIDS,
stop harming and exploiting children, listen to their opinions,
educate every child, protect children from war, protect the earth
for children - and fight poverty by investing in children.
Say Yes is about hope rather than despair. It is an opportunity
for citizens everywhere to stand up and be counted - to remind the
world not only that citizens have obligations to children, but that
governments, corporations and civil society organisations of all
kinds have obligations as well - and that those obligations must
be met.
Distinguished Delegates, UNICEF has every expectation that heads
of State and Government will appoint Personal Representatives to
attend the final Preparatory Committee meeting that begins on June
11 - and that top national leaders will themselves come to the Special
Session with specific commitments, including plans of action that
involve civil society, especially children and young people themselves.
Your leadership is essential if we are to mobilise a global commitment
to children for the first part of this new century - a commitment
that UNICEF believes will spark a momentous shift in national investments
to favour the survival, protection, full development and participation
of all children.
I know that UNICEF can count on each of you.
Thank you.
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