[child-rights] Special Session Update No. 1

Special Session Update NO. 1  * TUESDAY 7 MAY 2002
- NGOs working together for the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children


THE HORSE-TRADING CONTINUES

As always at United Nations' summits, most conference results have been settled in advance. But when Ambassador Durrant formally brought the gavel down on the third PrepCom at 5.55 on Monday evening after several days additional negotiations she said she was "really disappointed" that the draft conference declaration, A World Fit for Children, was still incomplete. Half-an-hour later a small drafting group set about the task of finishing the job, having been instructed to work today (Tuesday) and "if necessary, into the night".

Key bones of contention are:

* Money: Secretary-General Kofi Annan says that the failure to meet the goals set by the World's Summit for Children in 1990 was caused by insufficient investment. Developing countries will say progress for children depends on firm financial commitments by industrialised countries; industrialised countries will say progress depends more on the correct policies in developing countries. 

* Sex: the United States and a number of governments linked closely to Christian and Islamic interests oppose any conference text references to abortion, sex education, family planning and reproductive health.

* Rights: the same countries will seek to limit references to children's rights: it is the parents' job to bring up children, they argue. There is also a tussle between countries who want the conference text to reinforce and build on the role of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and countries, notably the United States, which dislike the idea of rights for children and want parents - and governments - to be left to make decisions.

* Family: countries with religious affiliations (including the Vatican, which will exert its usual influence even though it is not a UN member) accept references to "family" only if it means mother, father and children: some, mainly in Europe, favour a definition that embraces the reality that millions of families around the world are headed by a single parent, grandparent or child or even perhaps  same-sex couples. 

* Children's participation was a big issue in the preparatory meetings but it is too late for major controversy now because the format for children's contributions to the Summit have already been finalised.  

Several other specific issues could generate haggling, including - 

* Child labour: India and other countries where the issue is widespread argue that references, if any, should take account of the economic and social realities in which the practice is grounded. 

* Death penalty and corporal punishment: Europe opposes both, the US says "Hands off - it's our right to decide."

* Middle East: every UN conference struggles to deal with attempts by Islamic states to condemn Israel and refer to the special needs of the Occupied Territories and to US resistance to their demands. This dispute will almost certainly be even more bitter because of the recent Israeli attacks on Palestinian territory. 


US POSITION

Because of its global dominance, Washington will play a key role. The policy of the current US administration - typified by Monday's announcement that it will "unsign" the treaty creating an international criminal court - is to take a tougher, more nationalistic approach to international negotiations, and to be less interested in compromise. The US' conference position reflects the pro-sexual abstinence, anti-abortion, pro-nuclear family, anti-rights agenda of the Christian Right.

Also of potential significance: the well-organised negotiating line taken at the last preparatory meeting by a group of developing countries, largely but not exclusively Islamic, led by Malaysia. To some extent the group appeared to have taken over from the "Group of 77" developing countries, which has become weak and indecisive.

 
CONFLICT AND COMPROMISE

Countries most concerned with particular disputes go into side-rooms and hammer out a compromise, usually either a form of words that glosses over the conflict, or a trade-off. The UK, for example, is strong on reproductive rights but might trade off clear language on this issue in the conference document for concessions from, say, the US on corporal punishment.


THE DEADLINE

If the drafting group charged with finding compromises fails to complete its task by Tuesday night, and further negotiations during the week also fail, there are three possibilities: 

(a) issues are put to a vote, with a late finish on Friday
(b) unresolved wording is simply removed from the document 
(c) the "Durban racism conference approach" - that is, chaos, with agreement where possible and unresolved problems sorted out after the conference.


NGO CONSENSUS UNDER THREAT

The liberal consensus of the NGO lobby at the UN started to collapse at the last preparatory meeting, as some Islamic groups and Christian fundamentalist organisations showed not only that they operated outside the consensus on which NGOs have operated for many years, but that they were prepared to break up NGO meetings if their demands were not met. For example, US anti-abortion activists tried to insist that the NGO caucus on children in conflict condemn abortion.


CHILDREN'S SUMMIT SPOTLIGHTS GOVERNMENTS' FAILURES, SAYS CAUCUS

The United Nations "Children's Summit" is in danger of simply ushering in another decade of broken promises, a caucus of children's advocates said Monday.

Some 70 heads of state arrive in New York this week to evaluate global progress for children and adopt a new plan of action. The plan has been under negotiation for more than a year, but focuses primarily on previous commitments, and offers weak follow-up mechanisms. 

"Millions of children are today denied basic rights and suffer unconscionable abuse because governments have failed to live up to their commitments," said Bill Bell of Save the Children UK, speaking on behalf of the Child Rights Caucus, a coalition of more than 100 national and international non-governmental organisations. 

Over 125 million children are not in school; 250 million children are involved in child labour, including millions who are victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking; 2 million children have died in ten years and up to 25 million have been uprooted by armed conflict. 10 million children a year die from malnutrition and preventable diseases. 

The two most controversial issues still being negotiated are related to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the rights of adolescents to sexual and reproductive health education and services. On both issues, the United States is a major obstacle to agreement. 

"The US has tried to sideline the Convention on the Rights of the Child as the global standard for protecting the rights of children," said Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch. "It is also seeking to roll back previous agreements to provide adolescents with sexual and reproductive health education and services." 

The United States and Somalia are the only countries that have not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Since 1989, 191 countries have ratified the Convention, making it the most widely ratified treaty in history. 

The Child Rights Caucus welcomed the Special Session's attention to protecting children from abuse, violence and exploitation, issues that were virtually ignored in 1990. But it criticised the mechanisms for follow-up and monitoring the Session's outcome document, which are too weak to ensure that governments were held accountable for their pledges. For example, the primary international monitoring body for children - the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child - had been given no additional support, even though it has already fallen way behind in reviewing governments' actions. 

The Caucus said that an effective action plan was vital to make up for the "broken promises" of the decade since the 1990 World Summit for Children, but criticised governments for failing to allocate adequate resources to children. During the 1990's, international development assistance fell to new lows, and developing countries allocated only 12-14 percent of national budgets to basic social services. Despite pledges to support universal access to education, only 2% of international aid goes to provide schooling in poor countries. 

"Promises are easily made," said Ms. Becker, "but the challenge for the next decade is to ensure that governments live up to their commitments. Without sufficient political will and resources, the stage is set for another decade of broken promises." 

The Child Rights Caucus - Background 

The Child Rights Caucus includes over 100 national and international organisations from around the world that are committed to promoting and protecting the rights of children. It is the largest NGO lobbying body related to the UN Special Session. Its members include human rights organisations, international development NGOs and groups working on specific issues such as education, child and adolescent health, child labour, armed conflict, etc. 


ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION 

THE UN COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Thursday, May 9 2002
Church Center, Second Floor
11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m

Part I: The Role of the Committee on the Rights of the Child in implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Plan of Action of the Special Session 

Part II: NGOs and the Committee Monitoring Process: experiences using the system

Participants
* Jaap Doek, Chair, United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child
* Anne Bayefsky, Columbia Law School
* Paolo David, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (to be confirmed)
* Maria Green, International Anti-Poverty Law Center
* Andrea Khan, Child Rights Information Network (CRIN)
* Lesley Miller, UNICEF 
* Laura Theytaz, NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child




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