[child-rights] Special Session Update No. 2

Special Session Update No. 2 * WEDNESDAY 8 MAY 2002
- NGOs working together for the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children

USA THREATENS WALK-OUT 

The United States took centre-stage on the eve of the Children?s Summit yesterday when it threatened to walk out of informal negotiations and, in a separate incident, was attacked by a leading NGO group as ?negative and obstructionist.?

The walk-out warning came in response to Ambassador Durrant?s compromise text, the subject of intense discussions by two small working groups throughout the day. Declaring dissatisfaction with the text, a US negotiator reportedly said his delegation was not prepared to work on it and might not appear at the negotiating table.

A colleague from a friendly country told this publication that he thought the threat was an impetuous reaction, and should not be taken too seriously.

But it fuelled already lively corridor speculation about how the conference would deal with a negotiating impasse [See Special Session Update No. 1]. One suggested option was that the conference declaration, A World Fit For Children (currently known as the Draft Outcome Document) might refer to a US opt-out from the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

The US came under attack at a mid-day news conference by the Child Rights Caucus, a coalition of more than 100 NGOs from around the world. Spokeswoman Jo Becker said the group was disappointed with Washington?s  ?negative, obstructionist role? on reproductive rights and on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Convention was being sidelined in the negotiations, largely as a result of US pressure, she said. Washington was also trying to roll back previous agreements on providing adolescents with sexual and reproductive health education and services: ?It is my understanding that the Bush Administration has said it will not accept previous language from UN conferences, such as the Beijing Women?s Conference.?

Arab countries were backing the US, and the Some Developing Countries (SDC) group, led by Sudan, shared some US positions.*

In addition, Youssef Hajjar of the Arab Resource Collective emphasised that the Catholic Church was putting ?tremendous pressure? on Argentina and other South American governments to revert to the more restrictive attitudes of an earlier era, and many Catholic and anti-abortion groups in so-called developed countries were also trying to block a rights-based approach to children?s issues.

Bene Madanagu from the Girls Power Initiative joined the attack at the press conference. ?It is appalling that the US is advancing retrogressive and conservative ideology that is deliberately creating ignorance and confusion by suggesting that abstinence could control HIV/AIDS,? she fumed.  ?Young people in developing countries are being devastated by HIV/AIDS ? and this could create a situation in which teenagers are deprived of information about health, sexuality and even menstruation.? The result would be more ill-health and death.

She accused the US of trying to press states that had ratified the Convention not to implement it. 

* The SDC group, which emerged as a well-organised force during the third preparatory meeting in June, was yesterday privately criticised by at least one Western delegate for taking such a hard line in negotiations ? an assessment that group might take as a compliment.


'LIKE-MINDED' IN THE NEGOTIATIONS 

Members of the ?Like-minded group?, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and South Korea, have become more active in the current round of negotiations, with a strong position in support of the CRC and sexual and reproductive health issues, joining the EU, Rio Group and SDC as a negotiating block. 


CHILD SOLDIERS PLEDGE FOR INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
 
Olara Otunnu, the Secretary-General?s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said yesterday that when the International Criminal Court was established he would work to ensure that people responsible for recruiting child soldiers were among the first to be indicted.

He was speaking at the second of two meetings on child soldiers, both of which featured short, moving speeches by child victims of war, including two former child soldiers. 

?I don?t think I could ask even my worst enemy to go through what I went through. It?s too painful. I don?t feel like any other human being,? said China, who was forced to take up arms when she was nine. 

Ishmael joined up when he was 14 ?to get revenge for my parents? deaths. But I was killing other people?s parents. It?s a disturbing cycle of revenge.?

At an earlier meeting, a Security Council session on children in conflict, 17-year-old Elisa brought a message to diplomats and ministers from the Children?s Forum: ?War and politics have always been an adult game but children have always been the losers.? 

And she urged, ?I hope you will remember my words.? 

It marked the second time that a child has addressed the Security Council. 

At another session on the issue, presented on Monday  by the US Council on Foreign Relations, participants were told that the existence of several international legal instruments meant there could be real international action against people who used children as soldiers, including a protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, three Security Council Resolutions on children and armed conflict, and the Convention itself. But the International Criminal Court would be the strongest mechanism of all.

Once the Court was activated after July, said Otunnu, the priority would be to ?activate the international court of public opinion.? 


CHILD RIGHTS CAUCUS FIGHTS ON

The Child Rights Caucus, the largest NGO lobbying body at the Special Session, agreed yesterday to continue its work after the Summit. The feeling at the meeting was that it had been effective in bringing a strong body of NGO experience to the Special Session negotiations and that the momentum it had generated would be useful for future action around child rights.

The Caucus includes over 100 national and international organisations around the world committed to promoting and protecting the rights of children. Members include human rights organisations, international development NGOs and groups working on specific issues such as education, child and adolescent health, child labour and armed conflict.
 
It will hold one more meeting on Thursday at 5-6pm to discuss whether or not to issue a final news release at the close of the Special Session.





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