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NGOs working on 'A World Fit for Children'

Special Session on Children | NGOs lobby for change | Further reading

"The greatest challenge for the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children and UN Member States in this new millennium is to develop practical and sustainable ways to fully implement the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as rapidly as possible world-wide. This needs to be achieved by making the Convention's provisions ever-more binding for Member States,by reinforcing its monitoring and implementation capabilities,by selecting a new set of comprehensive and measurable goals on which to focus for the next decade, and by mustering the political will to achieve them."

'A Child Rights Agenda for the Coming Decade', Child Rights Caucus, 2000

NGOs lobby for change

Non-governmental organisations have played a vital role in the Prepcom process. They were active at all levels (local, national,
regional and international) carrying out their grassroots work on child rights, and also lobbying for change. A number of NGO caucuses were involved in the Prepcom process. Created in early 2000, the Child Rights Caucus was formed to serve as an NGO lobby group pressing for a strong child rights-based approach to the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children. The document 'A Child Rights Agenda for the Coming Decade' outlines priority areas for child rights in the coming decade.

The Child Rights Caucus, in consultation with other caucuses, prepared an alternative text of the outcome document, in the form of a line-by-line edit of the draft outcome document. This text, which was revised as the Prepcom process continued, was intended to provide specific and detailed text to strengthen the outcome document.

The NGO Alternative Text:

substantially expanded the goals of the document.
identified five priority goals: eradication of child poverty, education, health and HIV/AIDS, protection from violence, and
participation.
added issues that had not been adequately addressed by the initial draft.
proposed language to strengthen monitoring mechanisms.
stressed the importance of linking the monitoring of Special Session commitments with the monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Documents and statements made by the caucuses were taken seriously by UNICEF and by government delegations and used in negotiations and preparing the new drafts of the outcome document. The Child Rights Caucus served as the main NGO lobbying group, but there were many other very active groups and caucuses. The NGO Committee on UNICEF ensured the participation of NGOs in the Prepcoms and the Special Session. They concentrated particularly on the logistical arrangements of the meeting.

Among the other caucuses were those on: Children and Armed Conflict, Girls,Violence against Children, Health, Education, Sexual Abuse and Exploitation,Working Group on Girls, Religion and Disabilities and regional caucuses. The regional caucuses include: Asia, Central and Eastern Europe/Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic States (CEE/CIS), Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, the Africa Regional Caucus, and the Western Europe and North America Regional Caucus.

The thematic and regional caucuses played an integral role in the Prepcom process. The caucuses held regional consultations, prepared reports for the Prepcoms, and lobbied governments on the outcome document. The regional consultations organised by NGOs also had an input into the regional meetings held by governments. These consultations allowed NGOs and civil society to focus on issues specific to their regions. Similarly the focused nature of the thematic caucuses allowed each group to be very specific in their lobbying.

For example, the Children and Violence Caucus, representing over forty NGOs,lobbied governments on the outcome document, notably on protection. Among the issues they addressed were: the prohibition of corporal punishment, the death penalty, life imprisonment for crimes committed by those under 18, and the as well as treatment of children as adults in a court of law.

Similarly the Children in Armed Conflict Caucus also lobbied governments for changes in the outcome document. Part of its focus was on the need to listen to and work with war-affected children and youth and address their needs after as well as during conflicts. Members of the Children in Armed Conflict Caucus discussed the ways they could to work with others at the Special Session and beyond. They discussed the role of children in the criminal tribunal in Sierra Leone, and organised a session for youth and adults to speak to Olara Otunnu, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Children in Armed Conflict.

The position papers and the NGO alternative text can be downloaded from CRIN's website. Various other NGO resources are also available. For further information on the NGO Committee on UNICEF go to: www.ngosatunicef.org and for the Child Rights
Caucus go to:www.crin.org/specialsession/child-rights-caucus.

Further reading

'A Child Rights Agenda for the Coming Decade,' Child Rights Caucus for the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on Children (dated October 2000) [ pdf ]

'A World Fit for Children - NGO Alternative text'. [ html ]

'Report on NGO Participation at the Third Substantive Session of the Preparatory Committee of the Special Session of the General Assembly on Children', NGO Committee on UNICEF. [ pdf or word format ]