Speaking at the opening session of the Seventh East Asia and the Pacific Ministerial Consultation on Children, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund's (UNICEF) Executive Director Carol Bellamy on Wednesday urged the region's countries to do more to tackle growing disparities by increasing investments in basic social services such as health and education, especially to reach the region's poorest and most vulnerable children.

Bellamy welcomed the enormous progress for children she had witnessed in the region during her 10 years as head of the UN children's agency. But she noted that certain groups, including those in remote geographic areas, ethnic minorities, rural and urban poor, people infected with HIV/ AIDS and the disabled, were no better off than they had been a decade ago.

"Many children are deprived of access to basic social services that are fundamental to the fulfillment of their rights," Bellamy said.

At the Sixth Ministerial Consultation in Bali, Indonesia, in 2003, ministers agreed to focus on four key areas: malnutrition, maternal mortality, HIV/ AIDS and the trafficking and commercial exploitation of children.

Building on these commitments, the seventh ministerial consultation will seek a consensus on how to better address disparity, which remains a relentless obstacle for many children and their families in accessing basic social services and the fulfillment of their rights.

Particular attention will also be paid to child survival, growth and development, where progress made in reducing child mortality has slowed from an annual reduction rate of 4.3 percent from 1960 to 1990 to 2.3 percent in the last decade.

With nearly 80 percent of all under-five child deaths occurring in the first year of life -- and in many cases the first month -- urgent focus needs to be paid to improving the health and nutrition of pregnant women and infants. Yet in many countries, those in most need of these basic and life saving interventions are not reached. 

In the keynote address, Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister of Thailand and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Thailand, urged for stronger partnerships on children between the private and public sector, as well as much greater involvement of civil society, in developing policy and programmes that ensure children's fundamental rights.

Citing some of the dangers of unregulated capitalism, such as child labor and trafficking, he argued that government regulation and protection could be further strengthened through working closely with the private sector to "inculcate the spirit of corporate responsibility across all of the private sector, as an essential ethic to belong to the club."

Ministers and senior government officials also attended the conclusion of a Children and Young People's Forum to hear what the region's adolescents believe should be done to better address the enormous challenges they face in reaching adulthood.

Representing young people from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Vietnam, the 40 participants, aged between 11 and 21, held their own three-day meeting and presented their ideas of what they themselves can do to address their problems to the ministers.

Adolescents, who form a growing segment of the region's population, also remain among the most marginalized and highly susceptible to economic and other forms of exploitation, and are most at risk of contracting HIV and AIDS.

With almost 600 million young people under the age of 18 in the region, delegates were urged to do more to create an empowering environment for young people's participation in decisions affecting them, as well as better protection and more opportunities for them to develop their capacity.

The delegates, representing 26 countries in the region, are expected to finalize a declaration outlining their commitments to children at the conclusion of the consultation Friday.

(China.org.cn March 25, 2005)