CHILD FOCUS
GLOBAL
PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN LAUNCHED BY
The
former President of South Africa and Graca Machel, the child rights campaigner,
have proposed the creation of a new global partnership for children.
They both have pledged to play a personal role in persuading other world
leaders to support this bold initiative.
Mr
Mandela stated ‘we are not seeking and will not accept vague promises….
our purpose is to get specific commitments from these leaders and specific
results. We will challenge enlightened government leaders to join
us and turn their words into deeds.
We
will ask innovators in the business world to put their unique abilities
to work for children. We will call upon leaders in academia, the
media, and other sectors to join with us to ensure that the world honours
its obligation to children.’
The
Global Partnership for Children has been established to tackle several
challenges that currently pose the greatest threat to children’s development,
protecting the rights of children caught up in armed conflict, halting
the advance of preventable diseases, especially HIV/AIDS, and ending discrimination
and deep poverty.
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The First Substantive
Session of the Preparatory Committee for the UN General Assembly Special
Session on Children took place recently at the United Nations in New York.
(30 May – 2 June). Some 3290 NGOs were accredited to the process
and over 700 NGO’s from 94 countries, 73 of them developing countries,
were registered.
Over 235 NGOs participated
in the Special Session. During the general discussion 11 NGOs spoke following
the presentations of three Expert Panels. Panel discussion focused
on
Presentations made
by twelve panelists were followed by commentaries from government delegations
and NGOs. The NGOs organized themselves to represent a cross section
of other NGOs, so by the end of the session, a broad cross section of NGO
views on most of the selected topics had been shared.
There was consensus
on the importance of the life-cycle approach to the rights and well-being
of children and adolescents as a useful way of approaching future action
for children. The three outcome areas for children:
NB: The Secretary
General’s Report on Emerging Issues for Children in the 21st Century. (A/AC.256/3-E/ICEF/2000/13).
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The Child Rights Caucus has drafted an
A Children’s Rights Agenda For the Coming Decade Paper and it is hoped
the final version will be available by the beginning of September for signatures
from NGOs that support the statement.
WomenAid International has undertaken
to make the revised final document available in Russian.
It is anticipated that during September
the report will be presented to UNICEF – the coordinating organisation
of the Special Summit – as input for the draft outcome final document that
UNICEF is preparing for the UNGASS and to governments.
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The Child Rights Caucus is a special lobby
group formed by several international NGOs (led by Human Rights Watch)
in anticipation of the UN World Summit for Children 2001. During the recent
PrepCom for the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) approximately
100 representatives (from 35 international and national organisations committed
to protecting and promoting the human rights of children), participated
in the Child Rights Caucus, and met every day. Currently it has a coordinating
group of five who will also shortly be drafting proposal for Caucasus activities/strategies
during the January 2001 PrepCom.
The NGO Group for the Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC) is encouraging participation by NGOs.
Comments or requests for information from:
Ms. Jo Becker. Director of Advocacy, Human Right Watch, 350 5th Avenue, 34th Floor, New York NY 10118. E-mail: beckerj@hrw.org |
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NGO’s have an important role to play in
monitoring the implementation of rights. There are six major international
human rights instruments NGO’s can invoke in the effort to human rights
for all.
Whilst outcomes of world conferences rely primarily on Governments for their implementation, countries (States parties) that have ratified or acceded any of the Conventions/Covenants are required to report on implementation at regular intervals. These reports offer a measurement of progress - or lack of progress - made since the last report was presented. The Reports are then examined by the relevant
monitoring committee, for example, the Committee on the Rights of the Child
(CRC). Experts are elected in their individual capacities to serve on a
Committee for four-year terms by the States parties. Following the review
of the report, the Committee makes recommendations for the further implementation
of the rights concerned in its concluding comments or observations.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have
a role to play. They can, for example, become involved in working with
their government in providing information for the preparation of the report;
they can provide information on the current status in their own country
to the members of the Committee (each Committee has its own procedure for
doing this); they can be present when their country gives its report; and
they can make sure that the Committee’s comments are widely publicized
once the government has reported.
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CRIN is a global network of over 1000 child
rights organizations. It facilitates discussion and information exchange
on critical child rights issues with the aim of improving the lives of
children throughout the world. To participate and/or contribute contact
the following: info@crin.org and visit
its excellent site at http://www.crin.org.
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2000: September 30
Call for papers for a special issue of
the Development Journal to be published in June 2001 for distribution at
the UNGASS on children in 2001. The Bernard Leer Foundation and The Society
for International Development (SID) invite contributions from policy makers,
scholars and activists working in the area of women’s and/or child rights.
Articles should consider the links among
the different demands for rights by women and child rights groups within
specific socio-cultural contexts. The similar concerns of women and children
living in poverty should be considered and how children's rights to well-being
are intricately linked to women's rights to health, education, security
and sustaining livelihoods.
Contributors should consider if there are
actually conflicting rights, for example in terms of early childhood care:
how does women's rights to work conflict with children's rights to have
love and care and security? Other concerns could be: how to encourage women
and children to voice their concerns and needs in public fora, how to explain
the cultural and other impediments for both groups to exercise their rights,
how to create ways for women and children to know more about their rights.
All articles to be original, written in
accessible language. The deadline for applications would be 30 September
2000.
Those interested should send by e-mail
to wendyh@sidint.org, cc elenam@sidint.org
their name, bio-note, article title and 100 word abstract.
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The NGO Group for the Convention on the
Rights of the Child has established an internship programme for persons
active in national child rights coalitions. Based in Geneva, the
Professional Internship lasts two months, May and June or September and
October and coincides with sessions of the UN Committee on the Rights of
the Child.
The programme aims to provide coalition
representatives an opportunity to learn more about the work of the Committee
on the Rights of the Child, as well as the wider human rights system. English
language, computer skills, proven track record in child rights work is
required.
Professional Internship Programme, NGO
Group for the CRC c/o Defence for Children International P.O. Box 88 Geneva
20 Switzerland Tel: +41 22 740 4730
Email: dci-ngo.group@pingnet.ch |
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