WWee the children MMeeeettiinngg tthhee pprroommiisseess ooff tthhee WWoorrlldd SSuummmmiitt ffoorr CChhiillddrreenn KKooffii AA.. AAnnnnaann SSeeccrreettaarryy--GGeenneerraall ooff tthhee UUnniitteedd NNaattiioonnss C ONTENTS PREFACE BY KOFI A. ANNAN, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL PART I: FIRST CALL FOR CHILDREN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 CHILDREN IN THE 1990S – THE GLOBAL CONTEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 PART II: PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING THE WORLD SUMMIT DECLARATION AND PLAN OF ACTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 HEALTH, NUTRITION, WATER AND SANITATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Child health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Women’s health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Safe drinking water and sanitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 HIV/AIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Adolescent health and development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Evolution of health, nutrition and water and sanitation policies and strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Priority actions for the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 EDUCATION AND LITERACY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Primary education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Education and emergencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Child labour and education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Secondary and technical/vocational education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Lessons learned in education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Early childhood development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Adult literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Knowledge, skills and values required for better living . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Evolution of education policies and strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Priority actions for the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 CHILDREN’S PROTECTION AND CIVIL RIGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Role of the family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Civil rights and freedoms, including legal protection, freedom from violence, and child participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Special protection measures, including child labour, children in armed conflict, and sexual abuse and exploitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 PART III: PERSPECTIVES FOR THE FUTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE PAST DECADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 BUILDING A WORLD FIT FOR CHILDREN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 This is an adapted and abridged version, with some data updated, of the Secretary-General’s report, ‘We the Children: End-decade review of the follow-up to the World Summit for Children’, (A/S-27/3) of 4 May 2001, considered by the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the General Assembly on Children at its third session, in June 2001. Both this abridged document and the complete report are available at: www.unicef.org For more information, please e-mail: [email protected] UNICEF, UNICEF House, 3 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA. Copyright © 2001 UNICEF ISBN: 92-806-3720-7 Sales No.: E.01.XX.19 WWee the children Meeting the promises of the World Summit for Children Kofi A. Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations WWee P REFACE the chi The desire for our children’s well-being has always been the most universally cherished aspiration of mankind. The United Nations General Assembly’s Special Session on Children, to which this report is addressed, is a historic opportunity ons for world leaders to renew their commitment to ati N d creating a world fit for children. It is also a natural e nit U © successor to the Millennium Summit, at which those lead- nt a Gr ers pledged to halve the proportion of people living in PI/ D N/ extreme poverty, to reduce child and maternal mortality, U to provide clean water and basic education for all, to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and to reach many other development goals that are vital for our children’s future. ildren It is sometimes said that at United Nations conferences goals are ever set but never met. This report refutes that assertion. It demonstrates, with facts and figures, how the 1990 World Summit for Children, at that time the largest gathering of world leaders in history, was indeed very systematically followed up and rigorously monitored and has resulted in many impressive achievements. Not least, it catalysed political commitment behind the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is now the world’s most widely embraced human rights instrument. The fact that not all the goals and targets of the World Summit were fully achieved should now serve as a spur for greater political support, increased resources and more dynamic social mobilization. There is no task more important than building a world in which all of our children can grow up to realize their full potential, in health, peace and dignity. I commend this report to all the participants in the Special Session on Children, and to the millions of dedicated activists around the world who have united behind this cause. Kofi A. Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations P I: ART F C C IRST ALL FOR HILDREN W e were all children once – and we are now the parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts of children. Children’s needs and wishes, hence, are not difficult to understand. They want, expect and have the right to the best possible start in life. And we must do all we can to ensure that they, and the generations of children to come, receive this – a safer, fairer, healthier world. The United Nations itself was born out of this conviction. Its Charter pledges to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war…to reaffirm faith in fun- damental human rights…and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.” And with each successive generation of children since the UN was established, more than half a century ago, we have seen both the keeping and the breaking of that promise. On the one hand, each new generation of children has had a greater chance of surviving and thriving than the one before. On the other hand, despite unprecedented global prosperity, far, far too many fall by the wayside. No one who respects the UN’s founding vision can feel that responsibilities to the world’s children have been fulfilled. To carry forward the vision of the UN Charter, in September 1990 the largest group of world leaders ever convened until then sat down at an immense circular table at UN Headquarters in New York and discussed, in frank and impassioned terms, ”The well-being of children requires their responsibilities to children. For those political action at the highest level. present, the World Summit for Children We are determined to take that action.” was a transcendent experience. Just weeks earlier, the Convention on the Rights of – Declaration of the World Summit for Children, the Child, adopted by the UN General 30 September 1990 Assembly in 1989, had entered into force, ratified more quickly and by more countries than any previous human rights instrument. Proclaiming that “there can be no task nobler than giving every child a better future,” the 71 Heads of State and Government and 88 other senior delegates promised to protect children and to diminish their suffering; to promote the fullest 1 development of their human potential; and to make them aware of their needs, their e rights and their opportunities. mi Tol They also promised to uphold the far-reaching principle that children had ‘first 7/ 0 00 call’ on all resources, that they would always put the best interests of children first – in 0- 9 F/ E C NI U 2 good times or bad, in peace or in war, in prosperity or economic distress. “We do this,” the leaders declared, “not only for the present generation, but for all generations to come.” Leaders committed themselves to a World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children and a Plan of Action that included 27 specific goals relating to children’s survival, health, nutrition, education and protection. The goals represented the clearest and most practical expression of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This ambitious but feasible agenda was to be achieved by the year 2000 through a series of actions at the national and international levels, including the formulation of national and subnational plans of action; the re-examination of existing national and international programmes, policies and budgets to see how higher priority could be given to children; the encouragement of families, communities, social and religious institutions, business and the mass media to support the Summit’s goals; the establishment of mechanisms for the regular collection and publication of data on children; and the promotion of efforts by government, industry and aca- demic institutions to achieve technological breakthroughs, more effective social mobi- lization and better delivery of services. The Summit, remarkable for its clear focus on achievable goals, was historic also for specifying systematic follow-up procedures and rigorous monitoring of progress towards them. Some 155 countries prepared national programmes of action (NPAs) aimed at implementing the Summit goals; many prepared subna- tional plans as well. Over 100 countries conducted monitoring surveys with the capacity-building support and active involvement of many UN agencies, multi- lateral and bilateral donors, universities, The world has seen more gains research institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Responding to the against poverty and more progress call of the Summit, a record 192 countries for children in the last 50 years have ratified or signed the Convention on than in the previous 500. the Rights of the Child. Those that have rati- fied are required to report on their progress in realizing these rights. Moreover, the Secretary-General has reported periodical- ly to the UN General Assembly on progress towards achieving the Summit goals, including a major mid-decade review in 1996. UNICEF has prepared progress reports on the implementation of Summit goals and disseminated them through its flagship publications, The Progress of Nations and The State of the World’s Children. In 2000, a wide-ranging, end-decade review process culminated in the prepara- tion of substantive national progress reports by nearly 150 countries, the largest single data collection effort ever for monitoring children’s rights and well-being, information that is presented in the accompanying ‘Statistical Review’. The breadth and quality of the follow-up response to the Summit have made it possible to objectively assess the decade’s achievements, its setbacks and the lessons learned for the future. The picture that emerges is mixed. Real and significant progress has been made in a number of areas – perhaps much more than is common- ly recognized. It is important to remember that the world has seen more gains against poverty and more progress for children in the last 50 years than in the previous 500. But there have also been setbacks, slippage and, on some fronts, real regression. On balance there has been net progress, laying a good foundation for completing the unfinished business of the World Summit and tackling new challenges. Real progress for children Some 63 countries, for example, achieved the Summit goal of reducing by one third the death rate of children under five, while over 100 countries cut such deaths by one fifth. Consequently, there are now 3 million fewer under-five deaths each year than at the beginning of the 1990s; one third of these young lives are saved just by achieving the Summit goal of reducing child deaths from diarrhoeal disease by 50 per cent. 200 s) 180 1990 Under-five h 172 t bir 2000 mortality rate, e 150 change over 0 liv 135 period 1990-2000 0 0 1, 101 r 100 94 pe 76 81 s h 62 at 57 53 e 50 44 d 38 40 34 R ( M 5 9 6 U 0 Sub-Saharan South Asia Middle East East Asia Latin CEE/CIS Industrialized World Africa and North and Pacific America and and Baltic countries Africa Caribbean States Source: UNICEF, 2000. The high levels of child immunization reached in the late 1980s in most regions of the world have been sustained. A global immunization partnership of governments, UN agencies, NGOs and diverse elements of civil society has brought polio to the brink of eradication – the number of reported polio cases in the world is now 88 per cent lower than a decade ago. National immunization campaigns in developing countries have made it possible to provide vitamin A supplements on a mass scale, reducing child deaths as well as cases of irreversible blindness. After decades of pre- cipitous decline, the life-sustaining practice of breastfeeding increased in the 1990s. Because 1.5 billion additional people now have access to iodized salt, there has been dramatic progress in preventing iodine deficiency disorders, the world’s major cause of preventable mental retardation, against which an estimated 90 million newborns are now protected every year. And worldwide, there are more children in school than ever before. Thanks to the far greater awareness of child rights spurred by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, egregious violations are being systematically exposed and actions taken to combat them. NGOs and the media are increasingly active in 3 drawing public attention to special protection issues, such as hazardous and exploitative child labour, the trafficking and sexual abuse and exploitation of children, the impact of armed conflict on children, and other forms of violence, much of it gender based. 4 Under-five mortality Under-fives underweight Progress in 250 50 developing 222 Deaths per Per cent of countries 1,000 live under-fives 200 births 40 who are underweight 37 166 32 150 30 28 132 102 100 90 20 50 10 0 0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 1980 1990 2000 Fertility rate Net primary school enrolment 6.0 6 100 Average Percentage of primary- 5.1 births per school-age children 82 5 woman enrolled 80 80 73 4 3.9 66 59 60 3.2 3 2.8 40 2 20 1 0 0 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 1960 1970 1980 1990 1998 Sources: UNICEF, ACC/SCN, UN Population Division and UNESCO, 1998 and 2000. Issues relevant to children are also higher on national and global political agendas. Planning for children has spurred the mainstreaming of children’s concerns into public policies and budgets. Numerous national constitutions now include explicit provisions on children. National and local election campaigns are often dominated by child-related issues. Decentralized plans for children have often helped bring development administration closer to communities. At the UN, the General Assembly has addressed children’s issues, and the Security Council has formally acknowledged the centrality of the rights and well-being of children and women in the pursuit of international peace and security. Unfulfilled commitments But for all the millions of young lives that have been saved or enhanced, many of the survival and development goals set by the World Summit remain unfulfilled. Nearly 11 million children still die each year before their fifth birthday, often from