Child Goals for the Year 2000

In the last half of the 1990s, UNICEF will be dedicated to achieving the Child Goals for the Year 2000, which were set at the United Nations' 1990 World Summit for Children. These goals include:

• reducing child malnutrition by 50%
• control of major childhood diseases, such as polio, tuberculosis, tetanus, diphtheria, measles, and whooping cough
• reducing by one-third the death rates of children under 5 year of age
• reducing the number of deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes (maternal mortality) by 50%
• provision of safe water to all communities
• basic education for all children

UNICEF will be working with national governments to help nations reach these important goals.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child

The Convention on the Rights of the Child entered into international law on September 2, 1990, nine months after its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly. The treaty obligates governments to protect young children from such intrusions as sexual exploitation and full-time jobs that can threaten their health, education, or development. The Convention also aims to ensure the development of the young child, to support families, to end the use of land-mines (which injures thousands of children every year), and to try to bring about a more equitable distribution of resources.

The Convention has been ratified by over 180 countries, making it the most widely ratified human rights convention in history. Ninety-six per cent of the world's children live in States that have ratified the Convention. However, two countries have not yet ratified the Convention: Somalia -- and the United States. In a recent interview, the Christian Science Monitor asked Carol Bellamy, the Executive Director of UNICEF, why the United States has not ratified the Convention. She said that the president has said he would sign it, but it is not before Congress. "Much of the language of the convention is based on civil rights legislation [from the US]. Historically, the US has been very reluctant to endorse treaties. If it is signed it would mean that advocates for children in the US, in government or the private sector, would have additional ammunition ... on behalf of children," said Ms. Bellamy.

What's the next step for ratification by the US? The Convention has been referred to the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate. So far, the Chair of the committee, Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), has prevented the Convention from being debated or voted on.

State of the World's Children report for 1997 - reducing exploitative child labor

In The State of the World's Children 1997, UNICEF's Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, stresses the progress the world has made in protecting children and ensuring their rights. But she also highlights exploitative child labor as one of the worst abuses of those rights and confronts the myth that such practices have been eliminated from the industrialized world.

The report points out that not all child labor is harmful. UNICEF believes that child labor is exploitative if it involves:

• full-time work at too early an age
• too many hours spent working
• work that exerts undue physical, social or psychological stress
• work and life on the streets in bad conditions
• inadequate pay
• too much responsibility
• work that hampers access to education
• work that undermines children's dignity and self-esteem, such as slavery or bonded labor and sexual exploitation
• work that is detrimental to full social and psychological development

The report advocates five key initiatives to reduce hazardous child labor:

• promoting and enhancing education, so that it will attract and retain children
• building on national and international legislation and improving enforcement
• empowering the poor
• mobilizing society
• campaigning for companies to take greater responsibility for their actions and those of their subcontractors

Meeting the Needs of Children -- a Contrast

The 1995 State of the World's Children report from UNICEF takes issue with the notion that the world cannot afford to meet the needs of all the world's children for adequate nutrition, basic health care, primary education, and clean water. The following table shows the estimated extra cost of meeting these worldwide needs:

To put this cost into perspective, the following table lists the amount of money that the world currently spends on other items:

Other Facts from UNICEF

Here are statistics that show some progress -- and also how far we have to go -- on meeting the needs of children:

• wars now kill more civilians than soldiers -- 2 million children have been killed in wars during the last decade
• 12.6 million children a year die of preventable causes
• education of the girl child: educated women have fewer children and take better care of them
• since the Child Goals for the Year 2000 were set at the World Summit for Children in 1990, 780 million more people have gained access to safe drinking water

How You Can Help

For more up-to-date information on these and other projects, you can visit the UNICEF website at http://www.unicef.org or send email to pubdoc@unicef.org.

Global Marketplace supports all of these projects. We also think the United States should ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child . If you agree, please email your thoughts to Senator Jesse Helms at jesse_helms@helms.senate.gov; his website is http://www.senate.gov/~helms.

UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary contributions to fund its efforts. Governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and individuals all help support UNICEF's programs and projects throughout the world. Another way that you can help is by purchasing cards and gifts from UNICEF. For the location of the UNICEF outlet nearest you, call 1-800-FOR-KIDS. Or visit the website of the US Committee for UNICEF at http://www.unicefusa.org. To receive their gift and card catalog, call 1-800-553-1200.