UNITED NATIONS Press Release 17 September 2004 The Committee on the Rights of the Child today held a day of general discussion on implementing child rights in early childhood. After hearing opening statements from representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Children Fund, the World Health Organization and the Bernard van Leer Foundation, the participants who came from a wide spectrum of non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies separated into two working groups to discuss starting sound practices to promote the rights to survival and development of young children and on young children as full actors of their own development. In concluding comments on the first working group on sound practices to promote the rights to survival and development of young children, Committee Expert Lothar Friedrich Krappmann said the rights of young children were often severely violated. Some of the violations affected the right to life of girls, the right to stable relationships with parents, the right to be cared for before and after birth, obstacles to breastfeeding and the unavailability of necessary drugs for children in early childhood. With regard to the second working group on young children as full actors in their own development, Committee Expert Luigi Citarella said the implementation of the Convention faced serious challenges, the most difficult of which was in cultural attitudes still remaining in many countries at the level of the family structure. The working group had shown a wide consensus on some essential elements needed to ensure proper development in early childhood. Based on the day of general discussion, the Committee will adopt recommendations which will be made public at the end of the session on 1 October. In her opening remarks, Maria Francisca Ize-Charrin, Chief of the Treaty and Commission Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the day long discussion would most probably remind participants that even the youngest children had the right to be sensitized to human rights education and to grow up in an environment of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, as specified in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention had not only provided a framework for securing children's rights, but had also been the guiding document for the planning and implementation of programmes on early childhood development, said Patrice Engle of the United Nations Children's Fund. It was timely that on the eve of the fifteenth anniversary of the Convention, focus was being placed on the best ways to ensure that young children, from infancy to the age of school entry, were given the best possible start in life. Chandra Mouli of the World Health Organization said one of the most fundamental rights of the child was his or her right to survival. The survival of newborns and young children must be a priority. The reality today was that the equivalent of a classroom of children under the age of five died from preventable or treatable diseases each minute of each day. He added that the vast majority of child deaths and disability were due to conditions of disease driven by poverty. Gender discrimination also contributed to higher rates of infant and child mortality. Peter Laugharn, Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, a non-governmental organization which was one of the key organizers of the discussion, said early childhood was a time of both vulnerability and capability, both of which should be emphasized and addressed in children's rights work. Governments should critically assess the situation of young children in their countries and civil society and non-governmental organizations should ask themselves if their own childhood development programmes were rights-based and if their visions of children focused on their capacity and potential as well as their needs. When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Monday, 20 September, it will consider the report of Croatia (CRC/C/70/Add.23). OPENING STATEMENTS MARIA FRANCISCA IZE-CHARRIN, Chief of the Treaty and Commission Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour was unable to attend the day of general discussion as she was preparing to travel to Khartoum and the Darfur region of Sudan tomorrow along with the Secretary-General's Special Adviser on the prevention of genocide, Juan Mendez. Ms. Ize-Charrin said she was impressed by the impact of these thematic debates, which had generated many new activities and important decisions. These included the United Nations Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and, more recently, the United Nations Study on Violence Against Children, as well as four general comments, two of which were being drafted at the moment. The discussion provided an opportunity to further reinforce the links between the work of human rights treaty bodies, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, other United Nations agencies, especially UNICEF and the World Health Organization, the Bernard van Leer Foundation which was dedicated to early childhood development, as well as a wide spectrum of non-governmental organizations. The Convention on the Rights of the Child not only protected the rights of every human being below the age of 18, including infants and young children, but also provided guidance on how children should be raised and educated. The Convention contained an article on the aims of education and the Committee on the Rights of the Child had given a further explanation of what this article entailed in its general comment on the aims of education of 2001. In closing, Ms. Ize-Charrin said the discussions and submissions to the Committee and the recommendations that the Committee would adopt following the debate would most probably serve to remind that even the youngest children had the right to be sensitized to human rights education and to grow up in an environment of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, as specified in the Convention. PATRICE L. ENGLE, Senior Adviser for Integrated Early Childhood Development at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said the conceptual basis for programming in early childhood was set out in UNICEF as early as 1964 and had been evolving ever since. UNICEF supported a number of wide-ranging initiatives for children, such as providing good quality basic services, promoting social and emotional development, increasing attention to the context in which children were growing up, and concerning participation of young children in their own development. UNICEF regarded this day of general discussion as an opportunity to promote a better understanding of the importance and benefits of investing in a child's earliest years. The Convention had not only provided a framework for securing children's rights, but had also been the guiding document for the planning and implementation of programmes on early childhood development, Ms. Engle said. It was timely that on the eve of the fifteenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that focus be put on the best ways to ensure that young children, from infancy to the age of school entry, were given the best possible start in life. For UNICEF, giving children a good start in life meant that children's psychological, emotional and cognitive development and physical growth must be supported. UNICEF believed that the fulfilment of the rights of young children was closely linked with that of women in many ways. Moreover, making advances in the fulfilment of the rights of women also meant defending the rights of women and creating opportunities for girls, Ms. Engle added. It was also important to understand how the issue of gender bias and discriminatory values and practices could have a negative impact on parenthood. Therefore, promoting male participation in early childhood activities, and supporting and strengthening families and communities were UNICEF's key messages. The implementation of child rights in early childhood required special attention to disadvantaged and marginalized groups. For children with disabilities, very early intervention, with a lot of stimulation by and interaction with the parent care giver, promoted healthy development and reduced the need for costly programmes of rehabilitation in later life. Moreover, indigenous children presented a special challenge as regards to early childhood development. To have an efficient and positive impact on the situation of the young child, policies needed to coordinate diverse sectors – health, nutrition, education, immunization, birth registration, and protection. The development of a national policy on early childhood development was one of the most effective ways to improve the implementation of the Convention, Ms. Engle added. The Convention and the outcome document of the 2002 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children, "A World Fit for Children", could help in formulating strategies and allocating resources for the improvement of programmes targeting children. CHANDRA MOULI, Acting Director in the Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development of the World Health Organization, said one of the most fundamental rights of the child was his or her right to survival and the survival of newborns and young children must be a priority. The reality today was that the equivalent of a classroom of children under the age of five died from preventable or treatable diseases each minute of each day. While the international community was celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of the Convention, close to 11 million young children would lose their lives prematurely, having been denied their most basic right, the right to survival. Many more children endured lifelong consequences due to inadequate care and ill health early in life. Over 50 million children were wasted, and in low-income countries one in three children under five suffered from stunted growth. The effects of poor nutrition continued over the child's life, contributing to poor school performance, reduced productivity, and other measures of impaired intellectual and social development. The vast majority of child deaths and disability were due to conditions of disease driven by poverty. Children in poor and marginalized families were more likely to die than their better-off peers in the first months of life, in the first year of life, and before they reached the age of five. Gender discrimination also contributed to higher rates of infant and child mortality. Governments, inter-governmental organizations and civil society must demonstrate a strong and strengthened commitment, framed within the context of both legal obligations under the Convention and ongoing efforts to reach international goals and targets, including the Millennium Development Goals. Among the steps governments should take was to develop, implement and monitor appropriate comprehensive policies, strategies and laws with a strong focus on the particular needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized children; to allocate adequate resources and ensure that budgets were child centred; to empower parents and families with knowledge, skills and adequate resources to care for their young; and also to protect parents, families and other care givers from harmful information and practices. In conclusion, he said the future of human societies depended on children being able to survive, and to achieve their optimal growth and development. The World Health Organization and its partners were strongly committed to creating a supportive, protective and enabling environment and called on all duty bearers – governments, the United Nations family and civil society – to turn the principles of the Convention into reality. PETER LAUGHARN, Executive Director of the Bernard van Leer Foundation, said the Bernard van Leer Foundation had been involved in early childhood development for nearly 40 years. The Foundation's focus was on promoting the potential of children who lived in circumstances of social and economic disadvantage and it was currently supporting projects and programmes in about 40 countries. The Convention was held to apply to all children equally and it was necessary to interpret it in particular ways for young children and it was hoped that these ways would be explored in the course of the discussion, Mr. Laugharn said. Moreover, the child's rights debate was linked to the discourse of human rights, and thus the debates regarding the status of women, of minorities, and of other particular groups in society. Early childhood was a time when rapid development took place and where investments could have high payoffs; rights should be interpreted to support this development. Early childhood was a time of both vulnerability and capability; both should be emphasized and addressed in children's rights work. Child development should not be equated solely with formal education; the right to schooling was a very important one, but young children learned and developed in a wide variety of settings. Mr. Laugharn said there were several powerful arguments for early childhood development beyond the strictly legal ones; among them, the scientific argument, the economic argument and the human development argument. The scientific argument was firmly rooted in research that showed how the early years were vitally important in relation to a child's overall development. On the economic argument, governments and policy makers needed to be aware that research showed that the benefits to individuals, families, communities and societies far outweighed the costs, even in purely economic terms. The human development argument was about social justice. There were programmes to train parents and to train care givers who worked with teenagers. At another level, there were programmes that engaged in public education and advocacy on behalf of vulnerable children, strengthening demand and awareness and there was an acute need to develop supportive legal and regulatory frameworks. In conclusion, Mr. Laugharn said governments should critically assess the situation of young children in their countries and civil society and non-governmental organizations had to ask themselves if the programmes of childhood development were rights-based and if the visions of children focused on their capacity and potential as well as their needs. CONCLUDING COMMENTS LOTHAR FRIEDRICH KRAPPMANN , an Expert of the Committee, reported on the outcome of the first working group on starting sound practices to promote the rights to survival and development of young children, saying that the importance of the theme of the day was underscored by all speakers who expressed the hope that this was the beginning of efforts to implement child rights in early childhood. None of the participants left any doubt that a child rights based policy was needed. Such a policy should not be based on the recognition of needs alone and on the awareness of actual emergency but on the rights that every child held. The rights of young children were often severely violated. Some of the violations affected the right to life of girls, the right to stable relationships with parents, the right to be cared for before and after birth, obstacles to breastfeeding and the unavailability of necessary drugs for children in early childhood. Particularly vulnerable groups were girls, children with disabilities, children in hospitals and foster care, children from minority groups, and children of migrant parents. A holistic approach was demanded because the suffering of these children was interconnected. Several speakers complained about the fragmentation of policies in their countries. Priority should be given to strengthen the family. Parents and families could and should be extremely supportive allies in the implementation of children's rights. Children should be assisted in terms of education which included human rights education; children should have ample opportunities to play in a self-determined manner. Several speakers suggested amending the Convention to include emotional development into a wider concept of health and more generally with regard to early childhood development. Moreover, many speakers expressed their support for a general comment on early childhood development. LUIGI CITARELLA, a Committee Expert, reported on the second working group on young children as full actors of their own development, saying that participation in the discussion had been very active with interventions on both items – participation in the family, in the school setting and in the community; and the role of day care centres, early childhood programmes, pre-school, and first years of primary education in promoting the child as a right holder. The dialogue proved that both the themes were interlinked and could not be dealt with separately. Many participants underlined that it was essential to have a holistic approach in dealing with early childhood. The implementation of the Convention faced serious challenges. The most important difficulty was in cultural attitudes still remaining in many countries at the level of the family structure. Training of parents, teachers, and professionals was an essential task to start developing early childhood development programmes. A special accent was placed on the need to ensure participation of children for the early beginning of their development: parents should avoid deciding everything for their children. It was suggested that States should be invited to consider including a two-year pre-primary education as compulsory, and not just as an option. Day care institutions should be under a single body, guaranteeing a comprehensive and coordinated approach. One of the essential problems connected with early childhood development was the right to birth registration. Concerns were expressed on the implications and difficulties in the field of early childhood development for special categories of children, including street children and abandoned children. During the discussion, many concerns were raised on the very negative impact of corporal punishment in the process of development of children. Other concerns were raised on the subjects of the rights to play, the need for a change in cultural attitudes, and services and mechanisms to benefit children. At the end of the discussion, the working group had shown a wide consensus on some essential elements needed to ensure a proper development in early childhood; change in cultural and traditional attitudes of the families, the full recognition and respect of the rights of the child, and the participation of children at home, in education, and in health, among other things. BACKGROUND The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as "every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable, majority is attained earlier" (art. 1). According to a document of the Committee (CRC/C/137 Annex II), the early childhood covers different age groups in different countries and regions, ranging from birth to 4 to birth to 8 years. The Committee does not favour one over the other, as the general aim of the 2004 day of general discussion will be to broaden the understanding of and raise awareness about the rights of the youngest children in order to facilitate their full implementation by States parties to the Convention. The Committee will focus its discussions on both protection and participation aspects in early childhood as spelled out in the Convention The document states that after having reviewed since 1993 the situation of child rights in almost all the countries of the world, the Committee has noted that the rights of babies and young children are too often overlooked. It is still frequently believed that these children can only benefit from the protection rights recognized in the Convention. Nevertheless, it is widely recognized that early childhood is a crucial period for the sound development of young children, and that missed opportunities during these early years cannot be made up at later stages of the child's life. -- The "child-rights" mailing list provides information on issues related to children's human rights. Archives of "child-rights" messages, as well as instructions on how to (un)subscribe to the list, can be found at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/child-rights/markup/maillist.php
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