Senior government ministers and officials from 28 countries across Asia and the Pacific gathered in Beijing on November 4 for the high level meeting on co-operation for child rights in the Asia-Pacific area.
Economic progress in many Asia-Pacific countries has been remarkable, with hundreds of millions of people emerging from dollar-a-day poverty over the past few decades. Yet, at the same time, economic and social inequalities have been increasing, affecting the lives of millions of children. To help address these disparities, officials from across the region are having in-depth discussions on the promotion of children's rights to health, education and protection.
“These consultations represent the start of something that has great potential to help build a better future for the children of this region. It is my hope this meeting will not only foster closer and stronger cooperation among the region’s nations, but also help strengthen political commitment to address disparities in advancing children’s rights”, said Mr Anthony Lake, UNICEF’s executive director.
Officials will focus their discussion around three key themes: namely achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with equity; enhancing children’s lives through improved disaster risk reduction; and child protection and welfare. The three themes were selected as issues of growing significance and common concern for countries across the Asia Pacific region.
To ensure the MDGs are achieved with equity, greater efforts are required to reach and empower the poorest and most vulnerable communities. By sharing knowledge and experiences in dealing with issues of disparity and inequity, particularly in public resource allocation, countries will greatly enhance their ability to tackle these issues and accelerate progress towards the achievement of the MDG targets.
This event will look at how countries can work together more effectively for the benefit of all children and provide opportunities to strengthen cooperation.
“Vietnam highly appreciates the initiative of UNICEF and the Chinese Government in organizing this high level meeting. This will help to further promote the cooperation among countries in Asia and the Pacific region in realizing children’s rights”, stressed Mr. Nguyen Trong Dam, Vice Vietnamese Minister of Labor, War Invalid and Social Affairs.
Children in the Asia-Pacific area continue to face serious child protection challenges, varying by country, but including sex selection, early marriage, violence and abuse, and trafficking. Through greater cooperation considerable gains can also be made in child-centred disaster reduction strategies.
Addressing, and preventing, these problems requires a comprehensive and effective child protection and child welfare system, which is not an easy task for any government. This reinforces the need for greater exchange of experiences and cooperation between countries.
“This 3 - day meeting is a good opportunity for my country to learn experiences of other countries in developing an effective child protection and child welfare system and better mitigate the affect of natural disaster on children”, added Vice Minister Nguyen Trong Dam from the Vietnamese delegation.
The participating countries represent one billion children, accounting for 53 % of the world’s total child population.
(CPV)
