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RIGHTS: Groups Push for Special Protector of Children at U.N.

Anuradha Kher

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 19 2007 (IPS) - In a move to improve the lives of millions of children around the world, more than 1,000 non-governmental organisations from 134 countries called on the U.N. General Assembly Friday to establish the post of a special representative to the secretary-general on violence against children.

The NGOs called on the U.N. to establish the high-level post as recommended in a global U.N. study on violence against children that was completed last year. The study documented widespread violence against children in the home, schools, care and justice institutions, the workplace and the community. The report was prepared by Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, who is an independent expert appointed in 2003 by the secretary-general for this purpose. It was presented to the General Assembly in October 2006.

Last year, governments failed to reach an agreement on the study’s recommendation to establish a special representative to the secretary-general on violence against children. This year again the U.N. member states are considering it as part of negotiations on the General Assembly’s resolution on the rights of the child.

In a push to garner support for and attention to the recommendation, NGO representatives from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa gathered for a meeting at the U.N. Friday afternoon to present the statement and list of endorsing organisations.

Staging a special performance for the event, Sarah Jones, a Tony award-winning actress and UNICEF spokesperson on violence against children, transformed herself into an old Jewish woman, an Indian NGO worker, a Dominican immigrant in the United States, a Somali girl championing against female genital mutilation, and a Jordanian woman as she talked about issues concerning children in various parts of the world.

“Violence is a global epidemic of scandalous proportions, violating every child’s right to a safe and healthy environment,” the NGOs collectively said. “The study established clearly the urgent need for immediate action to prevent and respond to violence against children in all of its forms.”

The position of special representative to the secretary-general on children in armed conflict was created in 1996. There is also a committee on the rights of the child as well as a special rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

But NGOs and activists believe that creating the post of a special representative on violence against children would address the violence that children suffer in contexts outside of armed conflict as well as some of the other specific problems. For example, the violence faced by boys and against children at home, schools or at work.

According to the NGOs, “each of these mechanisms has addressed some forms of violence against children and should be encouraged to give more emphasis to children within their limited mandates. But they only provided a piecemeal approach to violence against children, lacking overall coherence.”

The U.N. study includes a range of recommendations to U.N. member states to prevent violence against children and take more effective measures to respond to violence.

“Violence is a daily reality for millions of children around the world,” said the NGO statement. “In every part of their lives – their homes and families, schools, institutions, workplaces and communities – children may be beaten, sexually assaulted, tortured and even killed.”

The NGOs called for a special representative working as a high-level global advocate to ensure concrete action to end violence against children and ensure effective follow-up to the study’s recommendations, in cooperation with the U.N. system, its member states, NGOs, children and youth.

The statement was signed by national and regional NGOs from every region of the world, as well as dozens of international groups, including Human Rights Watch, Save the Children, the Global Initiative to End all Corporal Punishment of Children, the Child Rights Information Network, Defence for Children International, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes), World Organisation Against Torture, Plan International, and World Vision.