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| Press Release
Children's role in peace and security
to be focus of global conference
United Nations General Assembly Special
Session on Children, postponed in September, brings
world leaders back to New York eight weeks from today
GENEVA / NEW YORK, 13 March 2002 - Eight weeks from
today world leaders will gather in New York City for
a major conference focused on global progress for children
and the key role that investment in children can play
in building global peace and security, the United Nations
announced today.
Originally scheduled to take place in September 2001
but postponed following the attacks in New York City
and Washington, the United Nations General Assembly
Special Session on Children is expected to bring at
least 60 Heads of State and Government to New York for
three days 8-10 May.
The Special Session, an end-of-decade follow-up to
the 1990 World Summit for Children, will present world
leaders with a detailed review of what has been achieved
for children and what has not been achieved. The Special
Session is expected to focus on how investment in children's
education, health, and protection contributes to global
stability and peace.
The Special Session on Children will conclude with
the adoption of a new set of global goals focused on
children and an action plan to reach them.
Why Children
In June 2001, in anticipation of the original meeting
date, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued
a progress report detailing what had been done toward
the goals set in 1990 and what had been left undone.
Entitled "We the Children," the report contains
information from 135 national-level reviews, comprising
the most comprehensive picture ever assembled of the
global child. It has since been updated to reflect even
more recent data.
"The world has fallen short of achieving most
of the goals of the World Summit for Children,"
wrote the Secretary-General, "not because they
were too ambitious or were technically beyond reach.
It has fallen short largely because of insufficient
investment."
The issue of how and why to invest in children has
taken on greater significance since last September.
Among the many measures needed to improve global stability
and security, a consensus has grown that any such efforts
must begin with building a world fit for children.
"I cannot imagine a truly better world that does
not have at its foundation civilized treatment for up
and coming generations," said Carol Bellamy, Executive
Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
"Quality basic education for all children, decent
health care, opportunities for positive participation
in society, and protection from exploitation - these
are basics that in too many places, for too many children,
remain distant dreams."
"When nations have committed themselves to real
investment in children, and made those investments in
ways that promote the rights of children, real progress
in human development has been achieved," Bellamy
added. "Where children's rights have been given
only lip service and investments have been minimal,
societies continue to struggle."
Challenges Facing Children Today
There are 2.1 billion children in the world, accounting
for 36% of the world's population. Some 132 million
children are born each year. Globally, 1 in 4 children
lives in abject poverty - in families with income lower
than $1 a day. One of every 12 children dies before
the age of five, mainly from preventable causes.
According to statistics assembled for the Secretary-General's
report, We The Children,
of every 100 children born today:
- The births of 40 will not be registered at all.
- 26 will not be immunized against any disease.
- 19 will have no access to clean drinking water.
- 30 will suffer from malnutrition in the first five
years of life.
- 17 will never go to school. Of these, 9 will be
girls.
- And of every 100 who begin 1st grade, only 25 will
reach the 5th grade.
"We have the resources and the knowledge to overcome
these challenges," Ms. Bellamy said. "Our
aim at the Special Session is to convince world leaders
that investing in children is their number one responsibility
- and that investing in children is the only lasting
strategy for reducing poverty, stopping AIDS, and avoiding
conflict."
Ms. Bellamy noted that the Special Session on Children
falls between two major gatherings on global development
- the International Conference on Financing for Development,
which takes place next week in Mexico, and the World
Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa later
this summer. She said investment in children would be
high on the agenda of both, "and appropriately
so."
"We must never forget that we are our own keepers,"
Bellamy said. "History will judge us harshly if
we refuse to use our knowledge, our resources and our
will to ensure that each new member of the human family
arrives into a world that honours and protects the invaluable,
irreplaceable years of childhood."
Background
The Special Session of the UN General Assembly on
Children, 8-10 May, New York
Attendance: As of 12 March 64 Heads of State
and Government had committed to attending the summit,
and the number is rising weekly. More than 3,000 non-governmental
organizations have been accredited to attend, more than
at any other UN conference. (Eighty national leaders
had pledged to attend the September 2001 before it was
postponed.)
Process: Over the past 24 months, a series of
Regional Consultations by governments and NGOs has produced
concrete regional commitments that will inform the Special
Session and serve as regional roadmaps for improving
children's lives. These can be viewed online at www.unicef.org.
Tens of thousands of individuals from around the world,
including children and young people, have taken part
in this highly inclusive process.
Statistics: The Secretary-General's report,
"We The Children," is also available online
at www.unicef.org. A series of summary fact sheets are
now available, including "Short Takes on Progress,"
and "Who Is the Global Child."
UNICEF: UNICEF has been appointed by the UN
General Assembly to act as the substantive Secretariat
for the Special Session. The UNICEF Media team, with
headquarters in New York and Geneva and field offices
and National Committees in 160 countries, can assist
news organizations in story development, accessing facts
and figures, arranging interviews, and acquiring video
b-roll. Media accreditation for the Special Session
is handled by the UN Department of Public Information
(DPI). For detailed instructions visit the Special Session
web pages at www.unicef.org.
Say Yes: UNICEF is one of several children's
organizations urging people all over the world to support
action for children through the Say Yes for Children
campaign. By logging on to www.gmfc.org, people can
vote for the three most important actions that leaders
must take for children. The results, which already include
more than 51 million ballots, will be presented at the
Special Session. The message: People care about children
and want governments to keep the promises they make
to them.
What's Ahead: Over the next eight weeks, the
Special Session media team will be issuing weekly press
updates on the meeting, including listings of who's
coming, what the key issues will be, and what else is
happening around the Special Session on Children. To
be included on our mailing lists, please write to us
at press@unicef.org.
During March and April, Carol Bellamy will be travelling
to Panama, Mexico, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Tanzania
and Kenya, with possible additional stops in Geneva
and Washington, D.C.
For further information, please contact:
Laufey Löve, UN Department of Public Information,
New York (212) 963-3507
Liza Barrie, UNICEF Media Chief, New York (212) 326-7593
Alfred Ironside, UNICEF Media, New York (212) 326-7261
Wivina Belmonte, UNICEF Media, Geneva (41-22) 909-5509
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