SPECIAL SESSION 'IN JEOPARDY'
After almost two years of lobbying to secure a strong
rights-based approach in A World Fit for Children, the Child Rights Caucus -
a coalition of more than 100 organisations - yesterday voiced disappointment
with the results. A Caucus spokesperson said they believed the United States
was largely to blame and they had sent a letter of protest to the US
delegation:
Open Letter to the Honorable Tommy Thompson, US
Secretary of Health and Human Services and the United States delegation to
the UN Special Session on Children:
As non-governmental organizations from the U.S. and around the world that are
devoted to promoting and protecting the rights of children, we are deeply
disappointed in the position that the United States has taken during the
negotiations on the outcome document for the Special Session related to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, sexual and reproductive health
education and services, and the death penalty. These positions neither
reflect the reality of children's lives, nor the international framework of
children's rights that has developed over the last twelve years. By rigidly
maintaining its positions on these issues, the United States is putting the
success of this Special Session in jeopardy.
We welcome the United States' support of the Optional Protocols to the
Convention, and its ratification of ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of
Child Labor. However, the US' attempt to sideline the Convention on the
Rights of the Child in the outcome document is an attack against the global
consensus on the human rights of children that has built over the last
twelve years. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is not only the most
comprehensive international legal standard for children, but also the most
rapidly and widely ratified treaty in history. It is the logical starting
point and centerpiece of any international plan of action for children.
Although not a state party, the United States should acknowledge the
Convention's international significance as the global standard for
children's rights.
The US' position of promoting abstinence as the primary strategy for dealing
with adolescent sexuality is both naïve and inappropriate. For the millions
of girls who marry before age 18 or who are forced into sexual
relationships, abstinence is not an option, and lack of access to
appropriate education and services can be life-threatening. At previous
international conferences, governments including the United States agreed
that adolescents have the right to sexual and reproductive health education,
information and services. This right should be reaffirmed.
We regret that the United States is one of a very few countries that continues
to use the death penalty for offenses committed before the age of eighteen.
We welcome the fact that some US states are ending this practice, as have
the vast majority of countries around the world. The international community
has nearly universally condemned the use of capital punishment against
juvenile offenders. This norm should be acknowledged in the outcome
document.
The Outcome Document of this U. N. Special Session on children has the
potential to have strong influence on government policies and children's
lives worldwide. Like all other countries, the United States may register
reservations on particular paragraphs of the outcome document. We implore
the United States government to use the recognized U.N. process for
reservations and not to further impede progress of nations on the Outcome
Document.
The Child Rights Caucus encompasses hundreds of national and international
non-governmental organizations from around the world that are committed to
promoting and protecting the rights of children.
««««« Somalia yesterday became the last country in the world to sign the
Convention on the Rights of the Child. East Timor has said that after the
country's independence on 20 May, the Convention will be the first
international agreement to be signed by the new government. «««««
