Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Childreach
Tuesday, 20 November 2001

"Children must participate! Children's voices should be heard. It is important because the United Nations Special Session is about children." Dzung – 12 – Vietnam

The rights of children were not guaranteed under international convention until 1989, when The Convention of the Rights of the Child was signed . This 'universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations' was developed over a period of ten years and finally adopted on 20 November 1989.

It addresses all human rights – civil, political, economic, social and cultural – but its basis is the rights of children. In respect of these rights it established these fundamental principles:

- Non-discrimination: every child everywhere has equal rights

- The best interest of the child: children will receive the first commitment of all social and economic resources

- The right of every child for self-expression in all matters that affect them: according to their age and maturity, and capability for making decisions

- The right to survival and development: every child must be assured of survival and opportunities to develop as full citizens of society.

It is alarming that such a guarantee is only as good as political will allows. Eleven years after the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, more children are in school than ever before, they are receiving better health care and an increasing number of adults are trying to do something about child exploitation. Yet there is still a long way to go.

A UN Special Session on Children was due in September 2001 bringing together children, heads of states and children's advocates to talk about children's rights and to agree a decade-long plan of action to improve their lives worldwide.

Plan International, in partnership with UNICEF, the International Save the Children Alliance, World Vision International, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and Netaid.org Foundation has founded the Global Movement for Children; a worldwide initiative uniting, for the first time, all those with a concern for the welfare of children.

The Global Movement for Children was established to influence the outcome of the Special Session, raise awareness of children's rights among governments and policy makers throughout the world and call on everyone to end the poverty, ill-health, violence and discrimination that destroy so many young lives.

Plan objective within the initiative, is to ensure that children's voices are heard at the global forum and influence global policy.

For this reason, in the period leading to the Summit:

- Plan connected 150 children from nine countries with United Nations delegates preparing for the Special Session through internet chats.

- Plan linked 100 children from El Salvador, Finland, Honduras and Togo with their national delegates at the United Nations through live video-conferencing.

- We facilitated regional meetings to discuss children's rights in Jamaica, Cairo, Beijing, Thailand, Laos and Kenya.

Our commitment and work for children's participation in the promotion of their rights continues.

The United Nations Special Session on Children (UNGASS) was postponed to date yet not defined because of the September 11 events.

For more information, or to contact Childreach, see their website at: www.childreach.org