Poverty, the spread of AIDS and the threat of armed conflict are the biggest challenges facing children in the 21st century, a press conference marking the 10th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child heard in Dublin yesterday.
While the convention, adopted 10 years ago tomorrow, had resulted in many advances for children in the areas of health, education and welfare, much remained to be done, according to Ms Maura Quinn of UNICEF.
She said that debt relief for Third World countries was a major challenge, given that each child in the developing world carried a personal debt of $417.
Young people continued to be affected by AIDS, she said, with 50 per cent of new cases occurring in 15- to 24-year-olds. By 2000, 18 million children will have been orphaned by AIDS.
There was a need to uphold a rights-based approach to refugee protection, including the protection of refugee children, according to Mr Michael Lindenbauer, senior liaison officer with the UNHCR in Dublin.
Armed conflicts had created 31 million refugees and displaced persons, mostly women and children. Each day 5,000 children became refugees, he said.
Mr Lindenbauer described the controversy concerning the Refugee Centre in Lower Mount Street in Dublin as "very unsatisfactory".
The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been signed by 191 countries.