Resolute policies on children
UNICEF points out that progress to realise the objectives of the CRC has stalled due to diminishing aid flows in the wake of the financial crisis.
On the 25th anniversary this week of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), is the world a better place for children? It would be ill-advised to seek shelter behind a simplistic yes or no manner of response to the question, says a commemorative publication of UNICEF to mark this milestone. The reduction in mortality rates in the under-five age-group, by nearly 50 per cent, between 1990 and 2013 shows how much more can be achieved through resolute policies and concerted action. Greater recognition of the importance of investment in early childhood development over the lifespan and improvements in the general standard of living have been critical to this transformation. Yet, the proportion of children under five years who live in low-income regions has increased from 13 per cent in 1990 to 19 per cent in 2014. Clearly, countries have to aggressively expand the public provision of primary health-care services to promote maternal care and free more children from malnutrition and disease. Enrolment in early childhood education nearly doubled between 1990 and 2012. Even so, fewer than 50 per cent of those in the age group of 3-4 years in many low and middle-income states are said to have access to preschool programmes. Universal secondary education is still a far cry in many parts of the world.
Recent studies have shown that children and other vulnerable sections are hardest hit by macroeconomic imbalances. UNICEF points out that progress to realise the objectives of the CRC has stalled due to diminishing aid flows in the wake of the financial crisis. Governments must therefore constantly strive to counter persistent disparities by expanding the resource base for children’s welfare. Negotiations on the historic treaty, back in the 1980s, were animated by concerns over child abuse, adoption and the involvement of children in armed conflict. These are no less troubling questions today as nearly half the number of children in the primary school age group who are out of school reside in countries torn by civil strife. Moreover, says the United Nations, child trafficking represents 27 per cent of trafficking in humans and where two out of every three victims are girls. In countries such as India, recourse to the selective abortion of female foetuses represents the most brutal violation of basic human dignity. Indeed, human rights are inalienable and inviolable. However, the respect due to persons depends equally on their capacity to exercise and affirm their rights. The precarious situation of children is that they are not in a position to exert such a capacity and depend on the protection from positive laws and healthy parenting. Thus, the onus is on the state and society.
