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| Press Release
Region's governments commit to new future for children
Beijing Declaration
says well-being of children is "most important indicator of
national economic and social progress"
Press releases
from other May meetings for the September Special Session
on Children
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Beijing (May 16) - Governments from across East Asia and the Pacific
committed themselves Wednesday to ensuring that the overall well-being
of children - "the most important indicator of national and
economic social progress" - is at the centre of national agendas.
The Beijing Declaration on
Commitments for Children for 2001-2010, unanimously adopted
by delegates from 21 of the region's countries at the close of the
May 14-16 Fifth East Asia and Pacific Ministerial Consultation on
Shaping the Future for Children, also commits governments to work
towards ensuring that a larger share of their budgets go to social
service programmes.
In the declaration, the region's governments also called upon donor
countries to strive to fulfill their commitment to provide 0.7 per
cent of their Gross National Product for official development assistance,
and to ensure that a larger proportion of current development assistance
is earmarked for social services for children. The level of official
development assistance from all but a handful of donor countries
is now well below 0.7 per cent.
Implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which
has been ratified by all countries of the region, will require greater
investment in social service programmes for children. The need for
increased investment in children was one of the major themes of
this Ministerial Consultation, the fifth in a series of high-level
consultations held in the region to review progress on the goals
agreed to by world leaders at the World Summit for Children (WSC)
in 1990.
The Fifth Ministerial Consultation brought together government
ministers and other high-level officials with representatives of
UNICEF, other development agencies, donor countries, non-government
organizations and young people themselves to review progress on
the goals and to chart the development agenda until the end of this
decade and beyond.
The Ministerial Consultation also covered the need to develop
strategies to counter the region's burgeoning HIV/AIDS epidemic,
high levels of child malnutrition, maternal mortality, and the trafficking
of women and children, and to improve the quality of education and
access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
Vice-Premier Li Lanqing, who gave the keynote address Monday at
the Great Hall of the People, set the meeting's tone by noting that
"children are our future. Their well-being is the foundation
for sustainable national growth. To love, care for and protect children
has long been a national priority." State Councilor Madame
Wu Yi, who was elected chairperson of the consultation, called upon
participants to draw up a "blueprint for the next generation."
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy told delegates that education
is the "linchpin" for sustainable development, and urged
the region's governments to greatly increase investment in education,
especially for girls.
"Girl's education is more than a cost-effective investment,
more than an economic issue, more than a desirable aspiration that
societies should try to provide," Bellamy said. "Education
is a human right, proclaimed by global agreements ranging from the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child."
The Beijing Declaration urges governments to promote and protect
the best interests of all children by ensuring they get the best
start to life through optimal childhood care, a high-quality basic
education, and the opportunity to fully develop their individual
capacities to participate in society.
Mehr Khan, Regional Director of the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific
Regional Office, congratulated governments for the large amount
of progress made on many Summit goals but noted that many had yet
to be achieved. In addition to redoubling efforts to meet the Summit
goals, Khan said governments will also need to meet challenges such
as the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the growing number of children who
are exploited and in need of special protection.
Khan said that children who labour "in sweatshops and brothels
are harmed and exploited to the core of their beings, denied their
most basic human rights, indeed their humanity, and treated simply
as commodities."
The Ministerial Consultation also featured - for the first time
- the participation of about a dozen young people from around the
region, several of whom were official members of government delegations.
The young people presented the results of a regional young people's
forum that included a list of priority actions for governments to
undertake in order to better serve their younger constituents. The
young people were also active participants in all the Ministerial
Consultation's sessions and took part in the drafting of the Beijing
Consultation.
During the Ministerial Consultation, the highlights of a regional
opinion survey of children and adolescents were also presented.
The survey, which covered 10,000 children in 17 of the region's
countries and territories, showed that while the region's young
people are generally optimistic about their future, many lack even
basic knowledge about HIV/AIDS and how to prevent it.
Twenty-five per cent of 14-17 year olds surveyed say they know
"absolutely nothing" about HIV/AIDS or "only know
the name." In addition, 35 per cent of the respondents in this
age group say they do not know what a condom is.
The Beijing Declaration recognizes "the imminent threat of
the HIV/AIDS epidemic" and calls upon governments to institute
broad-based strategies and programmes to halt its spread and provide
care for its victims. An estimated 2.4 million people in East Asia
and the Pacific are already infected with HIV/AIDS, and it is projected
that the number of people infected will increase dramatically in
the region over the coming years.
In addition to helping shape policy and programmes for children
at the national level, the Beijing Declaration will inform the debate
at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children in September.
The Special Session will bring together UN member countries and
their leaders to plan the action and commit the resources needed
to further the cause of children. President Kim Dae-Jung of the
Republic of Korea, this year's Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, will
chair the Special Session.
For more information, contact:
Mark Thomas, Emily
Booker or Charles Rycroft
Great Wall Sheraton Hotel, UNICEF Secretariat: tel: (86 10) 6590
2183/2181
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