Countries slow to act on 2002 summit goals to better children’s lives – UNICEF

A year after world leaders agreed to a set of time-bound goals to improve the welfare of youngsters, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today most countries have barely begun to implement the targets, with only half of the world’s governments even taking the first step of developing an action plan.

“Stating clearly and publicly what each government will do to improve the lives of children is an important step toward real progress,” UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said. “We cannot reach the goals we’ve set for 2005, 2010 or 2015 without saying up front exactly what each of us plans to do. That’s accountability, and I applaud the governments who have fulfilled this first commitment.”

UNICEF said so far, 105 countries have outlined how they intend to improve conditions for children, with nearly 90 countries still due to create or modify their action plans by the end of the year, in keeping with the agreed timetable.

From 8 to 10 May 2002, some 70 Heads of State and delegations from every nation met in New York for the UN General Assembly’s first special session on children, agreeing to a set of goals intended to improve the health and survival of young people, provide them with a quality education, reverse the impact of HIV/AIDS on their lives and protect them from exploitation and violence.

Ms. Bellamy said resources and attention that should have gone to children’s issues over the past year had instead been devoted to crisis and war. “The children of Iraq are important, but there are 2.1 billion children in this world, half of them living in abject poverty, 150 million who are malnourished, 120 million who never go to school, and 11 million who die from totally preventable causes every year,” she stated.

While acknowledging that it was unrealistic to show major statistical progress in these areas in just the span of one year, Ms. Bellamy stressed that concrete action was necessary in order to reach the goals, most of which are set for 2015.

UNICEF cited the case of Kenya, where the government pledged to provide free education to all the nation's children as one of its first initiatives. Last January, all types of school fees were abolished, and school registration soared, the agency said. An additional 1.5 million children showed up for the first day of school.

UNICEF also listed several immediate actions to be taken by all governments in keeping with their commitments, stressing that all countries should establish or strengthen appropriate national bodies for the protection of children. National budgets should also allocate at least 20 per cent to basic social services that benefit children.