*EPF413 05/09/2002
U.S. Is Optimistic for Agreement on Plan of Action for Children
(U.S. delegates discuss concerns over sex education, pornography) (1080)

By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The United States is optimistic that the General Assembly Special Session on Children will be able to adopt by consensus a plan of action for improving the lives of children though negotiations underway are difficult.

At a press conference on the opening day of the special session May 8, U.S. delegates discussed some of the concerns they have with the plan of action. Titled "A World Fit for Children," the plan is dedicated to helping youngsters around the world over the next ten years.

The United States has not ratified the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is referred to frequently in the plan and which many children's advocates say should provide the basis for standards. The U.S. has not ratified the convention because of legal and political concerns held by both the Clinton and Bush administrations. Many of the provisions of the convention address matters of health, education and parental controls. Under the U.S. Constitution, legal jurisdiction in these areas is reserved for state and local governments, and the national government does not have the power to override state authority.

The U.S. position on the convention should not be a problem in achieving consensus on the plan of action at the special session, according to the delegation members.

Washington wants to make sure that the final document does not indicate that the convention is binding on the U.S., Mike Dennis, the U.S. negotiator, said, "because we're not a party to it and we don't have any legal obligations to it."

"The draft (plan of action) talks of the historical significance of the convention and the fact it is the most widely ratified human rights instrument in history," Dennis noted. "And we're willing to agree to that and (the fact) that it contains a set of legal norms concerning the protection of children and promoting their well-being. But the United States is not willing to allow this conference in any way to indicate that the convention is binding on the United States."

Irrespective of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the U.S. agenda for improving child well-being has produced demonstrable results, said Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). "Over the last five years we have seen the largest drop in child poverty in any five-year period in U.S. history; the child poverty rate among African-American children in America is now at its lowest level ever recorded; we have seen increasing progress on an already very good performance when it comes to childhood immunization; (and) we've seen drops in the number of children who have been abused or neglected over the last five years," he said.

In the current legislative debate on the reauthorization of the major 1996 welfare legislation, the Bush Administration has proposed that the well-being of children be the central theme and overarching purpose of the welfare system in the United States, Horn pointed out.

The sexual education of youth is also a matter addressed in the plan of action. In his presentation to the special session May 8, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said, "As President Bush has said, abstinence is the only sure way of avoiding sexually transmitted disease, premature pregnancy, and the social and personal difficulties attendant to non-marital sexual activity."

Strengthening close parent-child relations, encouraging the delay of sexual activity, and supporting abstinence education programs are among the U.S. initiatives, Thompson outlined.

The U.S. delegation wants abstinence included in the sexual education section of the plan, maintaining that "a document on children should not be focusing on abortion and things like that," said Dennis, who is attorney advisor, Department of State Office of Human Rights and Refugee Affairs. "We should be focusing on positive things as far as children are concerned."

Dr. Ann Peterson, assistant administrator, Bureau for Global Health, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said that both U.S. and international efforts to prevent diseases and teenage pregnancy have provided "very clear evidence that abstinence (and) delayed onset of sexual activity can be done and are an integral portion of successful programs."

"In Uganda's AIDS epidemic (abstinence) is one of the factors that has really turned that country around," Dr. Peterson said. "It is not the only answer and it is not the answer for every youth, but it is clearly a very strong protective factor that many youth are willing to accept and it really does make a difference."

Dennis said that the United States delegation is disappointed that the final document will not advance protection of children in a number of areas, especially regarding children in armed conflict, trafficking in children, child prostitution and pornography.

While it will not ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the U.S. Senate is expected to ratify the convention's two optional protocols - one on children in armed conflict, and the other on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The United States had hoped that there would be strong emphasis and forward-looking recommendations on the issues covered by the optional protocols, Dennis said.

The optional protocol requires the criminalization of prostitution and child pornography involving youth under 18. In many countries, Dennis said, criminalization is linked to the age of sexual consent which may be 13, 14, or 15 years old.

"It is really a priority concern for us to raise that standard consistent with the protocol," Dennis said.

"Our laws with respect to the protection of children are the strongest in the world and we've tried to bring other countries' laws up to those standards so children aren't involved in prostitution, pornography, illicit activities, and hazardous work," Dennis said.

Another obligation of the protocol is for governments to provide free basic education for any children rescued from worst forms of child labor -- which includes sex work, pornography, slavery, and illicit activities such as drug trafficking, he said. The United States was hoping to have the final document address generally various ways to rehabilitate children.

On the issue of armed conflict, the U.S. wanted an international norm set that would prohibit armed groups, distinct from armed forces of a state, from recruiting below the age of 18 and discuss ways the international community could cooperate to do that, Dennis said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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