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Introduction
Mr President, distinguished delegates and child and youth representatives.
Five years ago at the Special Session on Children we heard first-hand the hopes and aspirations of child representatives from our many nations. Their perspectives helped to forge the commitments we have collectively made to a better world for children and young people. I am particularly proud therefore to be accompanied by two young New Zealanders who were present at the inception of “A World Fit for Children” – Te Kerei Moka and Jessica Dewan.
We would like to thank the Secretary General for his report on progress towards a world fit for children. Its findings give us cause for hope that the health and wellbeing of children can be significantly improved when sustained efforts and investments are made. But the report also paints a stark picture of the unacceptable suffering and inequity that many children and young people continue to face.
We welcome the report’s strategies and proposals for addressing problems including in the critical domains of health, education and protection from violence and abuse. New Zealand is committed to doing all that it can domestically, and internationally.
We also welcome the report’s recognition of the broad contexts shaping the children’s rights agenda: the phenomena of climate change and rapid globalisation are reshaping our environments. We are reminded that we must act decisively and in concert if we are to ensure a positive and sustainable legacy for our children.
Involving and empowering our young people is vital to shaping that legacy. There can be no better call to action than the voices of young people themselves. It is enormously encouraging to see highlighted in the Secretary General’s report the increasing opportunities young people now have to participate in decision-making in their schools, communities and in national politics.
Key New Zealand initiatives
New Zealand is committed to ensuring that young people have a say in the decisions that affect them. Through our support for national youth networks and advisory groups, we are improving the channels through which children and young people can engage with decision-makers. We expect to see an increase in young people’s voices being heard by our Parliament in key government reviews and in our legislative process.
We strongly support the Secretary General’s recommendations for countering abuse and exploitation, particularly the need to create a ‘protective environment’ for children.
It is fundamentally important to guarantee children the same protection from violence as adults. Earlier this year, New Zealand abolished the legal use of parental force for the purposes of correction. We consider this to be a milestone that will help to better engender in our society a culture of respect towards children, which over time is the best insurance against violence and abuse. The Office of the New Zealand Children’s Commissioner has made a strong contribution to raising public awareness of children’s issues, particularly as they relate to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. We support similar human rights institutions for children around the world and note the evolving regional and global structures to support these institutions. This change in New Zealand’s law aligns with the recommendations made by Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro’s recent Study on Violence against Children, and the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child’s 2006 General Comment on Corporal Punishment.
In respect of the health goals and targets set out in “A World Fit for Children”, we have strived to ensure that healthcare is as accessible as possible for children and young people, especially those growing up in our poorest families. Among other initiatives, this has meant the introduction of free or very low-cost doctors visits for children under six. It has also meant increased support for refugee healthcare and innovative health care approaches for high needs communities, particularly indigenous and minority communities.
We welcome the emphasis on the importance of early childhood development and pre-primary education in the Secretary General’s report. Since 2002, New Zealand has improved access through the provision of 20 hours free early childhood education per week. This measure sits alongside our 10-year plan for early childhood development, which has involved significant increases in funding and the employment of many more teachers.
The Secretary General’s report makes it clear that many governments have made significant progress towards the goal of building ‘a World Fit for Children’, especially in the areas of primary school education and gender parity, and on preventable diseases/illness. New Zealand applauds these developments. We value this event and the Children’s Forum to share strategies and to improve the wellbeing of our children.
We welcome the recent adoption by the General Assembly of the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as well as the encouragingly high number of States that have already signed it. We call upon all member States to work towards signing and ratifying this new treaty as soon as possible. This Convention promises to provide an important tool for preventing discrimination so that the human rights of some of the most vulnerable children are understood and ensured.
It is clear that we must all do more if we are to meet the goals that were set five years ago at the Special Session on children. It is our hope that this event will not only galvanise our collective efforts to build a world fit for children, but inspire our young people with the belief that this ambition can be realised.
