Participants in a meeting of the preparatory committee for the UN Special Session on Children documented successes achieved in the decade since the 1990 World Summit on Children. But the group recognized that the world has fallen short of the goals set by that summit.

With nearly 1,000 participants representing governments and groups in the civil society, the meeting took place at United Nations headquarters in New York City earlier this summer.

Achievements: The preparatory committee cited as achievements immunization coverage that has helped reduce deaths from neonatal tetanus by two-thirds and deaths from measles by 85 per cent. Furthermore, immunization has been responsible for the near- eradication of polio. Another area of success is the consumption of iodized salt by 1.5 billion more people than before, helping to prevent mental retardation in 12 million infants each year. Vitamin A deficiency, which causes blindness among children and increases risks of infection, has declined sharply.

Shortfalls: Despite such undeniable progress, the committee noted that only one-third of countries in sub-Saharan Africa achieved the 1990 World Summit goal of reducing child mortality by one-third. It also pointed out that child malnutrition and maternal mortality rates remain high.

Goals related to universal access to education were also not met. A report from the meeting stated the following: "With 130 million children, 60 per cent of them girls, remaining out of primary school, there has been little progress in achieving the World Summit goal of universal access to basic education and completion of primary education by at least 80 per cent of primary school age children."

According to the report, the attempt to reduce child labor and to provide children with access to safe water also met with disappointing results.

New Challenges: Compounding the gravity of the situation for the world's children are new challenges, including the devastating effects of AIDS/HIV, armed conflict and violence, extreme entrenched poverty, and gender inequities.

Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, made the following comment: "For all the millions of lives that have been saved, and for all the futures that have been enhanced, these triumphs fall short of the promises that governments made to children ten years ago." Bellamy urged governments and the international community to build alliances and invest in children now.

Emerging Issues: A presentation by Kul C. Gautam, deputy executive director of UNICEF, outlined three proposed key outcomes for children in the twenty-first century based on a review of the implementation and results of the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and Plan of Action. This document has been signed by 71 heads of state or government, and endorsed by 181 countries. The key outcomes are a healthy start in life in a safe and nurturing family environment; access to good quality, basic education; and the opportunity for adolescents to acquire skills and values that will result in their ability to lead healthy, productive lives. These outcomes are expected to guide the agenda for the world's children during the UN Special Session on Children scheduled to be held in September 2001.

According to the report of the preparatory committee, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which came into effect before the end of 1990, is now nearly universally ratified and is guiding many countries, communities, and families in the search to achieve children's rights. Jaap Doek, an internationally recognized expert in the field of child rights and juvenile justice urged that children be perceived as claimants of rights to care and protection, not merely as objects of people's concern. Doek said this means that children and young adults should be made aware of their rights, and should be allowed full participation in the process leading to the special session in 2001.

The Position of The United Methodist Church: Through a resolution banning the use of child soldiers, adopted at the General Conference in May, The United Methodist Church urges United Methodists in the United States to demand that the United States government ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The resolution noted that only the United States and Somalia have not ratified the convention.

Mia Adjali, executive secretary for global concerns of the Women's Division, General Board of Global Ministries, said that the current impetus is to push for the ratification of the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The protocol has just been signed by the United States, and the United States can ratify it without being party to the convention, Adjali explained.

Nonetheless, Adjali said that the Women's Division has continually alerted United Methodist Women to urge the U.S. Senate to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. "We will have to continue applying pressure," she said.

August 31, 2000