Sommaire: 13 December, New York- Statement by H.E. Fernando M. Valenzuela, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the United Nations, on behalf of the European Community at the United Nations Commemorative High-Level Plenary Meeting devoted to the follow-up to the outcome of the Special Session on Children
Mr President, Excellencies, Distinguished Child Delegates,
In addition to the statement made by Portugal on behalf of the EU, it is a great honour for me to address the High-Level Plenary Meeting on behalf of the European Community. The participation of child delegates at this event reflects the same enthusiastic contribution of children and adolescents to the 2002 Special Session. Indeed, this is a strong reminder of the necessity to involve children and adolescents in all discussions, both global and national, that relate to their empowerment, the
protection of their rights and the satisfaction of their specific needs.
Today's debate takes place a couple of weeks after the celebration of the 18th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child - a date that has renewed reflection on the status of the implementation of the Convention, and on the authoritative role played by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in developing international standards of promotion and protection of children's rights. Recently, we also welcomed the presentation of the UN Report on the progress achieved since the
1996 study on children in armed conflict by Graça Machel. Finally, one of the key achievements of this year's General Assembly Third Committee has been the adoption of a resolution requesting the establishment, for a period of three years, of a mandate for a new Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on violence against children, to continue the groundbreaking work undertaken by the Independent Expert, Prof. Pinheiro, in his 2006 Global Study on Violence against Children. These
initiatives are instrumental to the empowerment of the UN machinery, to promote and protect the rights of the child, which the European Commission is fully committed to supporting.
However, despite these positive developments, it is clear that much remains to be done and that the international community must redouble its efforts to advance the situation of children worldwide. Boys and girls continue to be among the most affected in situations of crises and emergencies; the injustices that they suffer - such as those related to the worst forms of child labour or the unequal access to basic services and opportunities - affect our societies as a whole. It is clear that gross
and persistent violations of children's rights are not only an affront to human dignity, but are also a threat to human security and seriously undermine the economic and social development of the globalised world.
Mr President,
With this in mind, the European Commission works towards mainstreaming children's rights in all its key policies and programmes, both within the EU and in its external action. A specific policy initiative, entitled "Towards an EU strategy on the Rights of the Child", was adopted by the Commission in July 2006, to enhance internal coordination, consultation and communication and allow for thorough analysis, leading to the development of a long-term strategy for the promotion and protection of
children's rights. One of the clear objectives of the initiative is the establishment of the EU Forum on the Rights of the Child, bringing together actors involved in children's rights both in the EU and globally, including children, Ombudspersons for children, UN agencies, civil society, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the European Commission.
Besides strengthening the EC capacities to increase our impact on the promotion of children's rights, the EU policy identifies key areas that require urgent action.
Child poverty is an area of concern within the EU and a number of activities are currently being developed with the aim of preventing poverty and social exclusion of children. The EU asylum policy contains specific provisions protecting the rights of children, and in particular unaccompanied minors. Concerning young people's active participation in society, the Commission has established a genuine dialogue between policy makers and young people through regular meetings and events, from the
local to the European level.
Children's rights form part of the human rights issues which must be respected by candidate countries, as an integral element of the common European values referred to in the Treaty on European Union. Besides, the Commission is actively exploring global and regional opportunities to support partner countries in the fight against trafficking of children, another key area of concern in the EU.
Furthermore, the Commission contributes to the overall EU policy on children's rights in multilateral fora and vis-à-vis third, countries through numerous specific initiatives. For instance, the Commission is involved in the implementation of the EU Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict, inter alia, through reporting and monitoring initiatives undertaken by its delegations in third countries, which is also a way of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1612. The European Commission is
also determined to ensure the effective implementation of the new EU Guidelines on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child, and their implementation strategy, defining the elimination of "all forms of violence against children" as a priority issue, and also providing criteria for the future selection of priority countries.
In addition to these policy initiatives, the European Commission supports projects undertaken by UN agencies, international and regional organisations, as well as civil society organisations, through its financial programmes in the field of the promotion of children's rights. For example, the Commission has provided support to UNICEF to develop a toolkit on mainstreaming children's rights in development cooperation and policy programming, and to the ILO International Programme on the
Elimination of Child Labour.
The promotion of a coherent approach in our work to protect children's rights, and to improve the situation of children worldwide, is a major challenge for the European Commission. In this regard, an upcoming Action Plan on Children's Rights in External Relations identifies the policy framework, the priority areas at country, regional and global levels, the programming tools and the guiding principles for the European Commission's actions during the period of 2007-2013. This action plan is
designed to ensure progress on the comprehensive implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Action Plan's integrated approach will represent a change from previous initiatives relating to children, which were mainly limited to specific sectors.
Mr President,
In line with the commitments made in the "World Fit for Children", and with reference to the subjects discussed during the roundtables of this Session, the European Commission intends to increase its activities in relation to global health issues announced in the new EU Health Strategy adopted in October. The areas of child health, HIV/AIDs prevention and treatment and diseases of poverty will continue to be central areas of importance for our work in the future. In the field of child health,
the Commission will work on strengthening health systems through more aligned and predictable financial support, linked with a closer dialogue on health strategies and delivery of basic health services. The Commission will also continue to provide additional resources to key areas such as malaria and immunization. In relation to HIV/AIDS, the Commission is concerned that the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child remains inadequate in different regions. We need to strengthen our
efforts in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in Africa, and other parts of the world, as well as to redouble our efforts to improve access to treatment for HIV/AIDS to affected children and to take care of the growing number of HIV/AIDS orphans. In the area of education, the European Commission will maintain its commitment to support partner countries in their efforts to ensure that all girls and boys reap the benefits of quality primary education, including in situations of crises and
emergencies, as key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
Mr President,
We welcome the Declaration of the Commemorative High-Level Plenary Meeting devoted to the follow-up to the outcome of the Special Session on Children and we reaffirm the principles, goals, strategies and actions of the Declaration and the Plan of Action contained in "A World Fit for Children" and our commitment to their full implementation.
I thank you for your attention.
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