Asia-Pacific countries meet and discuss child rights

[News_Editor]

Asia-Pacific countries meet and discuss child rights

2010-11-04 20:23:48 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIJING, CHINA (BNO NEWS) -- A High Level Meeting on Co-operation for Child Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region is gathering senior government ministers and officials from 28 countries across Asia and the Pacific in Beijing, the United Nations (UN) said on Thursday.

With the participating countries representing one billion children in total, which is more than half of the world's total child population, three central themes were selected as issues of growing significance and common concern for countries across the Asia Pacific region.

The discussions will focus on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with equity, enhancing children's lives through improved disaster risk reduction, and child protection and welfare.

The participants are looking to share knowledge and experiences in dealing with issues of disparity and inequity, particularly in public resource allocation. Children in the Asia-Pacific region continue to face serious child protection challenges, varying by country, but include sex selection, early marriage, violence and abuse, and trafficking.

Addressing and preventing these problems requires a comprehensive and effective child protection and child welfare system, which has not been an easy task for any government.

Officials will also be reviewing child-centered disaster reduction strategies as the recent floods in Pakistan and China have shown extreme vulnerability to disasters in the region.

Economic progress in many Asia-Pacific countries has been remarkable, with hundreds of millions of people emerging from a dollar-a-day poverty over the past few decades.

However, at the same time, economic and social inequalities have been increasing, affecting the lives of millions of children. To help address these disparities, officials from across the region will also have in-depth discussions on the promotion of children's rights to health, education and protection.

The meeting, held from Thursday to Saturday, is being hosted by the All China Women's Federation, the National Working Committee for Children and Women under the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China with support from the UN Children' s Fund (UNICEF).

Senior delegates from a number of Chinese government ministries as well as regional representatives from UNICEF will also attend.

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