Pakistan calls for boosting investment in children as UN marks 25th anniversary of child rights convention

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations marked the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by holding a special meeting of the General Assembly Friday to assess its progress, with Pakistan making a strong case for more investment in children to help them fully realize their human rights.

"Children are the most precious asset of mankind and the builders of its future," Ambassador Masood Khan, Pakistan permanent representative to the UN, said, speaking in his capacity as chairman of the Asia-Pacific Regional Group.

"Investment in children is not just smart economics, but a compelling moral obligation and a global common good," he added.

Masood Khan paid tributes Nobel Laureates Malala Yousafzai and Kaylash Satyarthi for their outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of children's rights. "At age 17, the courageous and committed Malala has become the youngest recipient of Nobel Peace Prize and a global icon for the right to education," he told the 193-member Assembly. In his remarks, Masood Khan said that the rights of the child were at the centre of the intense process to craft the post-2015 development agenda, based on sustainable development goals.

The Convention and its two Protocols, he said, had stimulated significant progress in the normative structure and practical outcomes to improve the quality of children's lives.

In this connection, he listed successes of the past 25 years, including a decrease in child labour. Yet approximately 57 million children were not enrolled in primary schools, and under-nutrition remained a major challenge causing stunting, disease and death of children living in developing countries, the Pakistani envoy said.

Children constituted more than half of the global refugee population and the Member States of the Asia-Pacific Group, he said, underscored the need for "a determined push" to overcome those and other challenges over the next 15 years.

"We should start early and accelerate our speed to achieve our objectives," he said. "Priorities should be elimination of poverty, promotion of education ad health, and holistic development of children."