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Sixty-sixth General Assembly
Third Committee
13th & 14th Meetings (AM & PM)
?Too Many Children Are Being Left Behind? Simply Because They Are Born Female,
Have Disabilities, Live in World?s Poorest Places, Third Committee Told
Hears from UN Children?s Fund Head; UN Envoys on Violence against Children,
Sale of Children, Children in Armed Conflict; Chair of Child Rights Committee
Protection systems and monitoring mechanisms rarely addressed the special challenges facing girls, children with disabilities and the world?s most impoverished young people at great cost not just to them, but to their entire societies, the head of the United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.
?Too many children are being left behind, deprived of their right to thrive and grow simply because they were born female, or have a disability or live in one of the world?s poorest and most isolated places,? Anthony Lake said, as he launched the Committee?s three-day discussion on the promotion and protection of the rights of children.
Most development experts had long believed that it was simply too expensive to focus on those ?forgotten children,? but that was no longer true, he said. Advances in vaccines, technologies and micro-nutrients had improved the ability to reach them, and it was not only the right thing, but the smart thing to do because it was more effective ? and more cost-effective.
He said that, according to a UNICEF study released last year, every additional dollar invested in reaching the most vulnerable children in low-income, high-mortality countries could avert up to 60 per cent more child deaths than the current approach. Investing in the social sector was also vital to the long-term growth and future strength of societies.
He further stressed that Governments, international organizations, civil societies and communities must put the hardest to reach children at the centre of national plans, policies and programmes. They should better identify children with disabilities, mapping the areas of greatest need and looking beyond national averages that concealed pockets of deprivation and widening disparities. More investment was also needed in community-based ways to overcome cultural barriers and norms that excluded and even endangered girls.
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Third Committee
13th & 14th Meetings (AM & PM)
?Too Many Children Are Being Left Behind? Simply Because They Are Born Female,
Have Disabilities, Live in World?s Poorest Places, Third Committee Told
Hears from UN Children?s Fund Head; UN Envoys on Violence against Children,
Sale of Children, Children in Armed Conflict; Chair of Child Rights Committee
Protection systems and monitoring mechanisms rarely addressed the special challenges facing girls, children with disabilities and the world?s most impoverished young people at great cost not just to them, but to their entire societies, the head of the United Nations Children?s Fund (UNICEF) told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.
?Too many children are being left behind, deprived of their right to thrive and grow simply because they were born female, or have a disability or live in one of the world?s poorest and most isolated places,? Anthony Lake said, as he launched the Committee?s three-day discussion on the promotion and protection of the rights of children.
Most development experts had long believed that it was simply too expensive to focus on those ?forgotten children,? but that was no longer true, he said. Advances in vaccines, technologies and micro-nutrients had improved the ability to reach them, and it was not only the right thing, but the smart thing to do because it was more effective ? and more cost-effective.
He said that, according to a UNICEF study released last year, every additional dollar invested in reaching the most vulnerable children in low-income, high-mortality countries could avert up to 60 per cent more child deaths than the current approach. Investing in the social sector was also vital to the long-term growth and future strength of societies.
He further stressed that Governments, international organizations, civil societies and communities must put the hardest to reach children at the centre of national plans, policies and programmes. They should better identify children with disabilities, mapping the areas of greatest need and looking beyond national averages that concealed pockets of deprivation and widening disparities. More investment was also needed in community-based ways to overcome cultural barriers and norms that excluded and even endangered girls.
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