EU Presidency Statement - Rights of the Child

Mr./Mme Chairperson,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

During the UNGA Special Session on Children, held in May 2002, children pointed out the harsh reality of the lives of millions of children in the world. They showed us that the situation has not changed substantially since the World Summit of Children, called together fourteen years ago. They demanded urgent action to make 'this world more fit for children'.

Undoubtedly, the almost universal ratification of the Convention of the Rights of the Child has led to significant progress in a number of areas during the past decade. However, for millions of children in the world, the rights set forth in this Convention remain nothing but a dream. New threats have emerged, creating additional obstacles for the full realisation of the child rights. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has left millions of children orphaned, abandoned and neglected. According to the report 'Children on the Brink' produced jointly by UNICEF, UNAIDS and USAID, in just two years time, from 2001-2003, the global number of orphans due to AIDS increased from 11.5 million to 15 million. About 30.000 children a day - die before reaching their fifth birthday. Countless numbers of them are stopped in their childhood development, deprived in one way or the other of the love, care, health, nutrition and protection they need to survive, grow and learn. Millions live in abject poverty, suffering from malnutrition, lack of access to health care and immunisation, safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and education and millions are extra deprived because of armed conflict and exploitation. Millions of others continue to suffer from discrimination on various grounds such as their ethnic origin, gender, religion or disability.

We all committed ourselves to implementing the Outcome Document 'A World fit for Children'. The European Union believes that we need to accelerate our efforts and to develop initiatives, which truly have an impact on the lives of children. We need to ensure that no children are left out and to make particular efforts to reach those who are already marginalised and disadvantaged by their poverty, disability, ethnic origin, gender and social status. Participation of children is vital. Children have the right to be taken into account in matters affecting their own life, and have the right to play an active role and express their opinions in the community and society. Because of our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, 'business as usual' is not an option and there is no choice than to step up initiatives to reach agreed goals and targets.

The EU wishes to highlight a few priorities in this connection.

Chairperson,

Convention on the rights of the Child

The EU underlines the importance it attaches to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, now ratified by 192 States. We believe that the Convention together with its optional protocols provides for a comprehensive normative framework for the protection children's rights.

We therefore call upon States that have not done so to sign and to ratify the Convention and its protocols, and urges States that have entered reservations to review these with a view to withdraw these reservations.

The EU recognises the important work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child in monitoring the situation of children and in making recommendations to state parties. The EU welcomes that the Committee has produced General Comments on a number of important themes, giving guidance to State parties as to the implementation of the provisions of the Convention and its Optional Protocols. The EU also acknowledges that the Committee is actively seeking new means to enhance awareness of the principles and the provisions of the Convention and we very much welcome the day of general discussions on 'Implementing child rights in early childhood' held on September 17. We believe that the thematic exchanges will contribute to assisting and encouraging states to formulate and implement child focussed policies.

We welcome the increased cooperation between the CRC, UNICEF and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in this regard. We note with satisfaction that this cooperation resulted in technical assistance to governments to adopt legislation and policies taking into account the concluding observations of the Committee. The EU also welcomes the UNDG initiatives to integrate a child-rights based approach in the UNDAF and PRSP-led country programs.

The European Union wishes to express its willingness to study the idea put forward by the Committee to start working in two chambers as a way to improve the Committee's efficiency and to help reduce the existing backlog in the examination of reports.

Chairperson,

Children in armed conflict

The EU attaches particular importance to improving the situation of children who are in any way affected by armed conflict. To illustrate the commitment of the EU to this issue, the EU last year adopted guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict, which have as objective to address the impact of armed conflict on children, making use of the variety of tools at its disposal, trying to contribute at the most practical level to improving the situation of these children. Another example of the European Union's commitment to improving the situation of children in armed conflict is the action of the European Commission in the field of humanitarian aid, through its Humanitarian Aid Office, ECHO. Children are particularly vulnerable in humanitarian crises. This is why for several years now, children have been a priority in ECHO's Annual Humanitarian Strategy. In 2003 projects focusing on child related activities such as therapeutic feeding, vaccination, primary education and reintegration of child soldiers were financed by ECHO for a total amount of EUR 85.7 million. In the past decade alone, armed conflicts are estimated to have claimed the lives of over two million children and physically maimed six million more. Conflicts affect children in many aspects of their lives. It deprives them of parents, basic social services, health care and education. There are some twenty million displaced and refugee children, while others are held hostage, have been abducted, sexually abused or exploited or have fallen victim to traffickers in human beings. At any given time, it is estimated that at least three hundred thousand child soldiers are participating in armed conflicts all over the world.

The EU welcomes the efforts that the UN has undertaken to mainstream the focus on this issue throughout its system. The EU welcomes Resolution 1539, which was adopted by the Security Council on 22nd April of this year. We call upon all UN member States to reflect upon and build upon Resolution 1539. We look forward to the action plan for a systematic and comprehensive monitoring and reporting system, requested by the resolution. We also look forward to the early appointment of focal points at the country level, as called for in Resolution 1539, to engage with parties to armed conflict on compliance with resolutions calling for an end to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict. We would like to express our support to the important work of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for children and armed conflict in this regard, as well as for all those active in the field of affected children and their efforts to relieve the suffering of those children.

The EU furthermore urges member States to sign and ratify relevant international instruments aimed at the protection of children affected by armed conflict, in particular the Rome Statute of the ICC.

Chairperson,

Reproductive health and HIV/AIDS

The EU reaffirms its strong commitment to the agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994. We wish to underline our view that sexual and reproductive rights and health care is very essential for the fight against HIV/AIDS, poverty and maternal and child mortality, thereby contributing to reaching the Millennium Development Goals. We fully support General Comment number 3 of the Committee on the rights of the Child on 'HIV/AIDS and the rights of the child'. We must recognise the rights of young people concerning their own sexual and reproductive health, still too frequently ignored or overlooked. We acknowledge the important work carried out by UNFPA and UNICEF in creating awareness and increased access to information and services for young people and adolescents. Their work deserves our full support and we call upon governments to take their responsibility and to increase contributions so that these organisations can continue and expand their operations.

Protection against exploitation, abuse and violence

As stated before, millions of children live in poverty and have no access to education. Many of them are being forced into labour practices in which they are exploited and abused. Many children continue to suffer from the worst forms of child labour and other forms of exploitation, such as trafficking, prostitution, pornography, acts paedophilia, sexual abuse and harassment, which represent a risk, also in situations of armed conflict.

Education is a key element to poverty alleviation. The EU urges all States to take all necessary measures to eliminate obstacles to the full realisation of the right to education for boys and girls, with a special emphasis to the education of girls. Education should be included as an integral part of the response during emergency and conflict situations.

The protection of children's rights is the responsibility of States. We therefore call upon governments which have not done so to ratify and implement the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as well as the ILO Conventions 138 and 182, which deal with the problem of child labour and the protection of children against the worst forms of child labour, such as sexual exploitation. The EU attaches high priority to fighting these problems and will continue to do so through a range of programmes, including DAPHNE II and AGIS. The EU will continue, also in the framework of the OSCE, to combat trafficking in children. The European Union also welcomes the important work carried out by Mr. Juan Miguel Petit, the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and calls upon states to provide their full cooperation to him.

Violence

Unfortunately many more forms of violence against children exist. It is often children deprived of family protection who are most commonly victims of the worst forms of mistreatment and abuse. The State has a particular obligation to protect children who have been entrusted to its care. Physical and mental violence against children by their care takers in the domestic and family sphere must also be addressed by States in a more open and transparent manner. The European Union fully supports the work of independent expert Mr. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro in conducting an in-depth international study on violence against children and is convinced that the study will contribute to the development of innovative approaches to prevent and combat all forms of violence against children. The European Union appreciates that the independent expert has engaged a broad range of stakeholders in the preparatory process, and in particular the emphasis placed on the input of children into the study and their active involvement throughout the process. We look forward to receiving the results of the study and hope that it brings us new insights to combat violence against children.

Death penalty

It will remain our priority to work towards the abolition of death penalty. It is also prohibited in the Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, adopted by the ECOSOC as an annex to its resolution 1984/50 and endorsed by the GA without a vote. Both the ICCPR and the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibit imposing the death sentence for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age. We repeat our earlier calls to States, to act accordingly.

Thank you Mr/Mme Chairperson.

*Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process

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• Déclaration de la Présidence de l'Union européenne - Enfants et les conflits armés (23/2/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Children and Armed Conflict (20/1/2004)
• EU Presidency Statement - Protecting the rights of children (17/10/2003)
• Amb. Richardson's (2001-05) speech at UN Special Session on Children (10/5/2002)