State of The World’s Children report commemorates the Convention on the Rights of the Child
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NEW YORK (November 19, 2009) — A special edition issue of UNICEF's flagship The State of the World's Children report, tracking the impact of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the challenges that remain, was released today on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Convention’s adoption by the UN General Assembly.
"The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most ratified human rights treaty in human history," said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. "It has transformed the way children are viewed and treated throughout the world."
The Convention has 193 ratifications, the process by which countries decide to be bound by the articles of an international treaty. It articulates a set of universal children’s rights, such as the right to an identity, a name and a nationality, the right to an education, and rights to the highest possible standards of health and protection from abuse and exploitation.
Considerable progress has been made through the past twenty years:
- The annual number of deaths of children under five years of age has fallen from around 12.5 million in 1990 to an estimated 8.8 million in 2008, representing a 28 percent decline in the rate of under five mortality;
- Between 1990 and 2006, 1.6 billion people world-wide gained access to improved water sources;
- Globally, around 84 percent of primary-school-age children are in class today and the gender gap in primary school enrolment is narrowing;
- Children are no longer the missing face of the HIV and AIDS pandemic;
- Important steps have been taken to help protect children from serving as soldiers or trafficked into prostitution or domestic servitude; and
- The age of children getting married is rising in some countries and the number of girls subjected to genital cutting is gradually falling.
But children’s rights are still far from assured, according to UNICEF.
"It is unacceptable that children are still dying from preventable causes, like pneumonia, malaria, measles and malnutrition," said Veneman. "Many of the world’s children will never see the inside of a school room, and millions lack protection against violence, abuse, exploitation, discrimination and neglect."
