31 May - 6 June 2001
Issue No.536
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 31 May - 6 June 2001 Issue No.536 |
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Listening to the children
Delegates from African nations have gathered in Cairo to assess progress towards fulfilling the commitments to children their leaders made a decade ago and to set a future agenda. Dahlia Hammouda reports
Over the last 10 years, and thanks to the heightened awareness created by the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted at the 1990 World Summit for Children (WSC), a good deal of progress has been made to protect children around the world. Yet, the achievements made have fallen far short of the obligations, let alone the aspirations, of many countries, especially those in Africa. The social and economic situation of African children continues to show a marked regression, due mainly to poverty, conflict, gender discrimination and HIV/AIDS.
Mrs Suzanne Mubarak in a commemorative shot with the first ladies of African countries and other delegates
These were the sentiments voiced at the Pan African Forum on the Future of Children, held in Cairo between 28-31 May, under the auspices of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak and attended by 18 African first ladies, heads of delegations, representatives of humanitarian agencies, prominent child-rights activists and distinguished scholars. Billed as the first of its kind in Africa, the conference was jointly organised by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, with technical support provided by UNICEF. The forum aimed to evaluate accomplishments in the field of childhood welfare during the last decade and come up with a plan for the next decade. More pressing, participants wanted to forge a common African position on the needs of children ahead of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children scheduled to be held in September in New York.
"We are gathered here to reaffirm our unconditional political will to provide children throughout Africa with the best possible of all futures," Mrs Mubarak told the opening session of the gathering. "But our commitments must go beyond a message. And I believe they will. We have the capacity to create a contract for Africa's children that will guide leaders, communities and youth in setting goals and monitoring performance to meet our obligations to children's rights."
Mrs Mubarak said she remembers clearly participants' optimism at the WSC -- when the goals set forth at the summit seemed achievable by the year 2000 for most countries. Back then, nobody had expected the pandemic of HIV/AIDS, nor the continued existence of malaria as a major child killer in Africa.
"More than 12 million of our children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The disease is devouring our human and financial resources," Mrs Mubarak said.
The continent is plagued by a host of other woes. Education is chronically under-funded, both in terms of national investments and with regards to the stated goals and commitments of the major international organisations and forums during the last decade. Reports reveal that the numbers of children who do not attend school in Africa are rising and, in 2015, it is expected that up to three-quarters of the world's children who do not attend school will be in Africa.
The rights of children are also continuously being trampled over by the lack of peace in the continent. Armed conflict is subjecting children to violations ranging from murder, rape and mutilation to forced recruitment, displacement, injury and malnourishment, said Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, addressing the audience. "Yet no one -- not the UN and its agencies, not regional organisations, not governments or civil society groups -- has done enough to halt the criminal sacrifice of children in war," she said.
Conflicts, moreover, exact a huge economic cost, compounding Africa's poverty problem, which is widespread and deep in both rural and urban areas. The main obstacles to the welfare of children in the continent, whether exclusion from education, malnutrition, environmental degradation or child labour, are rooted in poverty.
Mrs Mubarak said, "Africa's leaders must acknowledge that their key enemies lie within their own borders as does their most valuable resource -- their youth."
Indeed, a practice of honest introspection on the part of African countries could well be the starting point for a better future for the continent. "We must show the world that we are aware of both our strengths and weaknesses. We must show them that we are determined to overcome our weaknesses," Mrs Mubarak said.
UNICEF has begun working with its partners to help mobilise a Global Movement for Children -- a worldwide campaign to build a shared sense of responsibility for the well-being of every child on earth. "To succeed, the movement will need to enlist not only established leaders, but people of influence representing every part of civil society -- and children themselves," said Bellamy.
Quite in tune with this new thinking, representatives of children and youth from African countries were invited not only to attend the forum, but also to voice their ideas and requests. A day before the conference proceedings began, they met with Mrs Mubarak for heart-to-heart exchanges. "They have entrusted me to carry their demands and dreams wherever I go. I will do my best to ensure that their voices are heard. I will spare no effort to ensure that the Global Movement for Children brings us much closer to their dreams," Mrs Mubarak pledged.
Salim Ahmed Salim, secretary-general of the OAU, told participants that the international community should put the plight of African children at the top of its agenda and provide more investment for health, education and security.
"We are asking the world to Say Yes for Children -- by pledging support for 10 actions and principles needed to improve the lives and protect the rights of children and young people everywhere," Bellamy announced at the conference.
And the principles? To leave no child out, put children first, care for every child, fight HIV/AIDS, stop harming and exploiting children, listen to their opinions, educate every child, protect children from war, protect the earth for children and fight poverty by investing in children.
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