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Mr. Chairman,
I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this important agenda item.
We appreciate the Secretary General’s reports on the subject under discussion, which set the direction for our efforts to protect and promote the rights of children in our countries and worldwide.
Mr. Chairman,
Pakistan attaches utmost importance to protecting and prompting the rights of children, which is both smart economics and a moral obligation. Pakistan was one of the co-initiators of the 1990 World Summit for Children, which led to the adoption of the landmark Convention on Rights of Child. We were one of the earliest signatories of the CRC. Since then, we ratified its Protocol on Sale of Children, Prostitution and Pornography and signed the Protocol on Children in Armed Conflict. Pakistan has also ratified all core ILO conventions on child labour, and the regional SAARC Convention on Prevention and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution.
We have established a National Commission for Child Welfare and Development, which works in close collaboration with UNICEF to assess and promote child rights in the country. A comprehensive Child Protection Bill is currently under consideration to provide legal basis for protection of children from all kinds of abuse and exploitation.
Mr. Chairman,
Our deliberations this year assume special significance as we meet on the eve of a new phase in global developmental and financing processes. The just-adopted Post 2015 Development Agenda has focused attention on meeting the needs of children as a central and key development priority for the coming 15 years. The SDGs have mainstreamed child-related issues across a number of goals and included ambitious targets on improving child health and education, addressing malnutrition, ending violence against children, eradicating poverty and reducing inequality among children both within and among the countries of the world.
Earlier in Addis Ababa, the Financing for Development Conference for the first time recognized that investing in children and youth was critical to achieving sustainable development for the present and future generations. The Conference reaffirmed the vital importance of investing in children as a strategic consideration and pledged support to countries that face particular challenges in this area.
The success in the SDGs and FFD processes was made possible due to the effective advocacy work by the Group of Friends on Children and SDGs, with the institutional support of UNICEF Secretariat. As President of UNICEF Executive Board for 2015, the Permanent Representative of Pakistan had the honour to establish and lead this Group, which played a critical role in mustering the requisite support in this regard.
With this positive outcome, the SDGs and FFD have created a favorable environment and a momentous opportunity to realize the ultimate dream of shaping a world which is fit for all children without any discrimination.
Mr. Chairman,
For Pakistan, the child-related targets in SDGs complement some of our own developmental priorities for the coming decade. The Vision 2025 of Pakistan has included child health and child education in its pillar one, as a top national development priority. Vision 2025 aims at reducing infant mortality from 74 to less than 40 and reducing maternal mortality from 276 to less than 140. In the education sector, we have set ourselves the targets of increasing Primary school enrolment and completion rate to 100%; and increasing the overall literacy rate to 90% within the next ten years. The Government is also according high priority to eradicating Polio and to save our children from this scourge forever.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, let me reassure that Pakistan would not spare any efforts to fully promote and protect the rights of children in accordance with our national and international obligations.
I thank you.