Say Yes, July 2002: The World Listened

The commitment of world leaders over a decade ago at the World Summit for Children (WSC) has helped to place children’s rights at the top of the global agenda. Participants in the UNSSC assembled in May to review progress made since then and to set further goals and standards for the future.

Delegates set to the task of creating a new plan for the coming decade which will ensure:

• the best possible start in life for all children;
• a good-quality basic education for all children;
• the opportunities for all children, especially adolescents, for meaningful participation in their communities.

The official programme consisted of three parts:

• a Debate between Heads of Member States and observers, Heads of relevant entities of the UN system and certain non-governmental organisations (NGOs);
• the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole (speakers were General Assembly observers, UN system entities not represented at the head level and NGOs;
• the Round Table (where three separate panels discussed ‘Renewal of commitment and future action for children in the next decade’).

Supporting events were organised around the UNSSC, notably the Children’s Forum, facilitated by UNICEF, which gathered nearly 400 children from government and NGO delegations around the world to discuss the key actions for children and the draft outcome document of the UNSSC, A World Fit for Children in advance of the official event.

The outcome of the Forum was presented to the Plenary of the UNSSC. The child delegates said:

We are not the sources of problems; we are the resources that are needed to solve them. We are not expenses; we are investments. We are not just young people; we are people and citizens of this world. You call us the future. But we are also the present.

Other significant supporting events were the Parliamentary Forum, hosted by the inter-parliamentary union and UNICEF, which discussed the impact of legislation and budgetary allocations on the well-being of children and Mrs Nane Annan’s informal discussion between First Spouses on the theme of Women’s Leadership for Children.

The Celebration of Leadership for Children proved to be a high point of the event when Nelson Mandela delivered the record-breaking list of almost a hundred million signatures from Say Yes for Children to the President of the General Assembly. During the course of the UNSSC, the Global Movement for Children (GMFC) was also granted formal acceptance as a legitimate force.

Turkey, where one in every four people signed the Say Yes for Children pledge, was especially commended.

Key conventions and protocols admitted for ratification included:

• The Optional Protocol to the CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography;
• The Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict;
• The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime;
• The Amendment to Article 43.2 of the CRC, raising from ten to eighteen the number of members of the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The cooperation of the media was vital for the promotion of children’s rights issues on the worldwide platform. Hopefully, in the wake of the UNSSC the relationship will develop and concerned agencies around the world will encourage partnerships with the media at the local level.

Read the full texts of the United Nations MDGs and We Are the World’s Children, the outcome document of the Children’s Forum. The February 2002 issue of Say Yes carries some useful background to the UNSSC. A full report on the UNSSC is available from UNICEF global headquarters.

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