UN calls on governments to improve data on how children are treated

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged governments that have signed on to child welfare pledges to promote healthy lives, provide quality education, protect against abuse and combat HIV/AIDS to now put these goals into their national budgets and their implementation and monitoring mechanisms.

In a new report, the third "Follow-up to the special session of the General Assembly on children" of May 2002, he says: "Of the 190 countries that adopted 'A world fit for children,' at least 172, subsequently joined by Timor-Leste, have now taken or foresee taking action to operationalize its goals. Of those, some 114 have opted for national plans of action or policies specifically for children, while others have incorporated the goals, to a greater or lesser extent, in macroplanning or sectoral planning instruments."

"Many of the plans of action, however, have yet to fully develop linkages to national budgeting, implementation and monitoring mechanisms," he adds.

Greater emphasis should be placed on generating and using data that is disaggregated by gender, location and other key variables so as to address disparities and support local follow-up actions, he says. "In most cases, the generation of data to support programmes specifically oriented to disadvantaged families and children remains a challenge."

A special governmental innovation has been the recognition of children and young people as a major constituency, in addition to their involvement in many government-led decision-making processes, he says. Those trends have also increased the need for adequate support and standards for the continued participation of children in progress reviews.

Building on the efforts already made by governments, regular reporting to the public on progress towards the September 2000 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the reinforcing targets of the special session's "A world fit for children" would be an important means of social mobilization for development and a way to strengthen accountability, he says.

In addition, civil society and community groups could be helped to generate information in specific areas, such as on the protection and care of those children orphaned by AIDS, the report says.