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Notes
PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNICEF ON CHILD POVERTY REDUCTION
Notes provided by UN Department of
Public Information
9 May 2002
Funding for children must be treated as a war for
children, Najma Heptullah, a parliamentarian from India
and Chairperson of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU),
told correspondents this afternoon during a briefing
on the importance of legislative reform and budgetary
commitments by both developed and developing nations
in the pursuit of child poverty reduction. Other participants
in the briefing were: Hilde Johnson, Minister for International
Development of Norway; Ebrahim Saloojee, Member of Parliament
of South Africa; and Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, High Representative
for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing
Countries and Small Island Developing States. The briefing
was moderated by Kul C. Gautam, Deputy Executive Director
of UNICEF.
Countries could always find the necessary money in
case of war, Ms. Heptullah said. This was a war for
children and parliamentarians from all over the world
had promised today to get the money for them. Pressure
groups had to force ministers for development, for education,
and especially for finance to fulfil promises made.
Two-hundred fifty members of parliaments from 75 countries,
as well as representatives of regional parliaments,
some 50 children and numerous NGO observers today had
had a discussion on funding for children. The IPU had
presented a resolution adopted during an earlier IPU
conference, containing
13 critical points, covering every aspect of the development
of the child, including education, health, potable water,
and child abuse. All those issues needed funding. Parliamentarians
wanted action now.
Mr. Gautam said in opening remarks that many goals
set at the World Summit for Children in 1990 had not
been achieved due to inadequate resources. Seven weeks
ago, in Monterrey, leaders of the world had agreed to
increase development cooperation substantially. Seventeen
weeks from now in Johannesburg, the World Summit on
Development would map out a strategy for implementing
some of the goals set out in the Millennium Declaration.
It was wonderful that the road from Monterrey to Johannesburg
passed through New York at the special session for children
via the G-8 Summit in Canada.
Mr. Chowdhury reported on this afternoon's panel on
Financing a World Fit for Children, chaired by him,
in which the Minister for International Development
of Norway, the Foreign Minister of Zambia, the Minister
for Education of Brazil, and the Administrator of the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had participated.
The panel had had a very engaged discussion. It was
generally felt that children should be put at the heart
of the political agenda of governments. There could
be innovative ways to find resources, such as a tax
on financial transactions dedicated to education and
poverty reduction. It was felt strongly that partnerships,
not only among countries but also with civil society
and the private sector, were important. The necessity
of an increase in official development assistance (ODA),
a focus on Africa and least developed countries, monitoring
of progress made, and capacity building had also been
stressed.
Ms. Johnson said the financing for a world fit for
children implied partnerships. It implied that developing
countries had to mobilize resources and must put children
at the centre of investments in education and health.
The rich countries had to deliver as well in areas of
trade, market access, investment, debt relief and donor
resources. The ODA levels were far too low. Children
were at the heart of every Millennium Development Goal,
and to finance reaching those goals, ODA resources had
to be doubled. She urged other countries, including
the G-7, to join the club of countries appropriating
0.7 per cent of their Gross Domestic Product for ODA.
Rich countries had to invest in education, health and
basic social services in their development partnerships.
She wanted to dedicate 15 per cent of Norway's development
assistance to education, particularly girl education.
Moreover, it was necessary to get rid of the "donor
circus", by which she meant the chaotic procedures
every least developed country had to go through when
applying for assistance, including writing thousands
of reports and applying different accounting procedures
for different donors. .
Mr. Saloojee said that after a long conflict, in 1994
a democratic transformation had taken place. The inherited
policies for children had been designed for the white
minority. During the last 45 years, only minor legislative
changes had been made to accommodate the majority. Those
laws had been deeply flawed. A parliamentary portfolio
committee had pressured the executive branch to take
those actions that would lead to the development of
new laws and policies for children. Finally, after a
few years, they had persuaded the Government to appoint
a law commission to work on a new child act. After some
18 months of intense engagement with that law commission
by the parliamentary group, there would now be a new
child law.
Answering correspondents' question, Ms. Johnson said
that Monterrey had been a turning point in pressuring
donor countries to increase their ODA. That pressure
had led the European Union and the United States to
increase their pledges just before the beginning of
the conference. Countries who did not increase their
ODA were starting to feel awkward.
Ms. Heptullah said the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
consisting of parliamentarians of 145 countries, including
rich, developing and least developed countries had decided
to create pressure groups in donor countries to prod
them to give more money and in developing countries
to get them to use the money in a proper way and to
hold review meetings to monitor the process. She said
that the amount needed to implement the outcome document
of this session was different from country to country.
Africa needed a lot of resources to invest in education
and health, including the fight against HIV/AIDS. In
countries with a lot of child abuse and trafficking,
less money but strong legislation was needed. However,
generally, more money was needed for education, health
and development.
Mr. Gautam noted that the outcome document did not
specify an amount necessary for implementation, but
that in order to reach the Millennium goal of poverty
reduction by 2015, an additional $50 billion was needed
above the current $50 billion in ODA.
Asked what the contribution from poor countries plagued
by war could be to the development goals, Mr. Gautam
said all countries, rich or poor, needed to do their
part. One of the guiding principles was that 20 per
cent of national resources and 20 per cent of ODA should
be dedicated to basic social services, the so-called
"20/20 Initiative". Of course, countries in
crisis, such as Afghanistan, needed additional resources.
Ms. Heptullah said funds should be found wherever
possible, from governments, private sources or international
institutions. Due to globalization, a lot of funding
for development was being reduced. Without the funds,
any promises made had not meaning. Promises had to be
kept. That was what the children participating in the
IPU conference had said.
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