Battle over Children's rights at the United Nations Special Session on Children

Abstract

The 10-year review of the 1990 World Summit for Children was held at United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, May 8 to 10, 2002. The two objectives of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children were to review the progress made in the welfare of children since the 1990 World Summit, and to review the progress made in child welfare since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989. More than 60 heads of state and governments, 250 parliamentarians, 700 nongovernmental organizations, and hundreds of children came together to chart a course for the future well-being of children, including adolescents. Deputy Prime Minister John Manley led the Canadian delegation. To be sure, there were many successes. To begin with, the level of youth participation was unprecedented. For the first time, young people — more than 350 of them — attended a UN conference as participating delegates. Children and youth were everywhere throughout the Session — chairing meetings, questioning their leaders, and speaking loudly and clearly about the realities of their lives. The Special Session resulted in an outcome document, A World fit for Children (1), which sets the direction for international policy with respect to children for the next decade. This document is quite strong around several issues, including child protection, indigenous rights, education, disability and the sexual exploitation of children. References to the importance of youth participation in the final outcome document were also a step forward. Senator Landon Pearson states about the final document, “most of the text…is positive, forward-looking and useful” (1).