Chinese-version Report on State of Children Issued

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Xinhua News Agency Friday launched in Beijing the Chinese-version Report on the State of World's Children to mark the Universal Children's Day and the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

The launch was also part of Friday's Global News Day for Children aiming at raising public awareness on children's living environments and their development.

The CRC, adopted on November 20, 1989, was the first legally binding international agreement on the protection of children's rights. Its core principles are non-discrimination, devotion to the best interests of the child, the right to life, survival and development, and respect for the views of the child.

At the launch Friday, a video of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's interview with Xinhua was played, in which Ban said, "The well-being of our children is of utmost importance to the United Nations and to the whole world."

Ban said more than 8.8 million children were still dying every year from preventable diseases, like pneumonia, diarrhea and malnutrition.

"Too many children, they do not have access to even primary education. Too many children, they are exploited and abused. And still too many children are recruited as child soldiers. This is totally unacceptable," he said.

Xinhua President Li Congjun said in a video played at the ceremony that it should be human nature to protect and care for children.

"However, it is an affront to our humanity that today, in the 21st Century, children in many parts of the world still live in the shadows of war, violence, poverty, exploitation, violation, fear and discrimination," Li said.

"It is children who are most prone to the harm of natural and man-made disasters."

The report, a Chinese-version special edition of the UNICEF series on "The State of the World's Children," details worldwide progress in protecting children's rights in the past two decades and the challenges that still exist, including the global economic downturn, humanitarian crises and climate change.

It gives a general picture of children's rights protection in both developed and developing countries, including China, Egypt, India, Mexico and South Africa.

Ann M. Veneman, executive director of UNICEF, wrote in the preface of the report that "much has been achieved during the past 20 years," but "the agenda for children's rights is far from complete."

The annual number of under-5 deaths had fallen from around 12.5 million in 1990 to below 9 million in 2008, she said.

"Globally, around 84 percent of primary-school-age children are attending school, and gender gaps in primary-school enrolment are shrinking across the developing world."

However, she said, the continued effort in the next 20 years was to build on the progress achieved and work together to reach children who were still being denied their rights to survival, development, protection and participation.

The report states that the CRC, adopted by the UN on November 20, 1989, has changed the way people look at and treat children worldwide, and widely affected international and national legislation, policies, public institutions, families, communities and individuals.

It also includes opinions from 13 representative figures related to children rights as to what the CRC means to them and the key problems facing the CRC in the 21st Century.

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2009)