| Date | 11 December 2007 |
|---|---|
| Started | 10:00 |
| Ended | 13:15 |
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Commemorative High-level Plenary Meeting Devoted to the Follow-up to the Outcome of the Special Session on Children
Agenda item 66
(b) Follow-up to the outcome of the special session on children
Report of the Secretary-General (A/62/259)
Draft resolution (A/62/L.31)
The President
As members are aware, the Commemorative High-level Meeting will evaluate the progress made in the implementation of the Declaration and the Plan of Action contained in the final document of the special session of the General Assembly on children, entitled "A World Fit for Children" (resolution S-27/2, annex).
Ladies and gentlemen, and children from across the world, I welcome you all to this High-level Commemorative Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the follow-up to the special session on children. I was a delegate myself at that special session in 2002. When I returned this year, as President of the General Assembly, the session began with a video message from the children of my country. Why? Because there is nothing more important that the future of our children and young people. They are the next generations of leaders.
It gives me great confidence in this Organization when we tackle issues that cut to the core of that for which we stand, when we evaluate how well we have done, once declarations and plans of action are adopted and delegates return to their capitals.
We have a responsibility to set an example and stand up for what we believe in so as to ensure that we pass on to our children a better world, a safer, cleaner and more equal world.
Climate change draws these strands together. If we do not address this growing threat, instability will increase and the environment will deteriorate; the world's poor will be left struggling to build a better life for themselves and their children. Overcoming climate change requires a unique and continuous commitment. It means thinking ahead, and, at the same time, acting now. It requires an international resolve that captures the essence of the United Nations global mission.
We are already committed to these goals. At the 1990 Summit for Children, world leaders endorsed the principle that States should always act in the best interests of the child and that children should have a first call on resources. Again, in 2000, they committed to achieving specific targets by 2015 on children's education and health as part of the Millennium Development Goals. And in May 2002, at the General Assembly's special session on children, Governments promised to create a world fit for children as a bridge to a world fit for all of us. The General Assembly also devoted considerable attention to reviewing progress made in eliminating violence against children at its sixty-first and sixty-second sessions.
The year 2007 is a milestone for the world's children. It marks a rite of passage for the Convention on the Rights of the Child -- its 18th birthday. Today and tomorrow, we have an opportunity to celebrate the important progress that has been made, but we also have a responsibility to achieve the goals we set for ourselves.
The Secretary-General's report offers a mixture of hope and concern about the situation of children around the world. I would like to commend all Member States -- over 140 so far -- that have submitted national reports on their progress towards the goals of the special session. These reports provide an assessment of the situation of children in each country, as well as future commitments to overcome the challenges that remain.
I would also like to commend the many regional bodies and civil society and private sector organisations, in particular, UNICEF and other United Nations agencies that have implemented initiatives to make the world fit for children. Unless the long-term investment in children is made, humanity's most fundamental long-term problems will remain unresolved. If we are serious about our collective promises, then we have a great responsibility to deliver on them for our children. As every parent knows, the worst crime is to mislead your child. Empty promises lead to empty souls.
I am optimistic that this plenary meeting, the round tables and the many side events will deepen our inter-generational dialogue as well as further our commitment to make the world a better place for all our children.
The Assembly will now hear a message, via video, by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon.
The Secretary-General
I am sorry I could not be with members for this meeting on the rights and well-being of children. I am in Bali for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, where we will also be addressing the needs of succeeding generations.
The special session on children in 2002 was truly special in many ways. It was the first devoted exclusively to children. It was the first to be attended by both children and heads of State or Government. It culminated in the adoption of a landmark document entitled "A World Fit for Children".
This new agenda was written for, and with, the world's children. It included 21 specific goals and targets for promoting healthy lives, providing quality education for all boys and girls, and protecting children from abuse, exploitation and HIV/AIDS.
At this year's Commemorative Meeting, I have the honour of presenting a new document entitled "Children and the Millennium Development Goals". It is my first comprehensive report on the MDGs as they relate specifically to children.
I am delighted that, once again, children and young people are joining the General Assembly. Some of them were involved five years ago, others are from a new generation helping to ensure that the nations of the world live up to the promises they made in 2002.
May these young people's engagement inspire you in your deliberations. Together, in Bali and in New York, let us work to make a lasting difference for succeeding generations.
The President
I now give the floor to Mr. Dalius Cekuolis, President of the Economic and Social Council.
Mr. Cekuolis (Lithuania)
--> -->
| <type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'> | Python 2.6.6: /usr/bin/python Tue Jun 18 07:00:07 2013 |
A problem occurred in a Python script. Here is the sequence of function calls leading up to the error, in the order they occurred.
| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in |
| 194 if __name__ == "__main__": |
| 195 pathpart = os.getenv("PATH_INFO") |
| 196 maintrunk(pathpart) |
| 197 |
| 198 |
| maintrunk = <function maintrunk>, pathpart = '/generalassembly_62/meeting_66/highlight_A-45-625' |
| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in maintrunk(pathpart='/generalassembly_62/meeting_66/highlight_A-45-625') |
| 131 elif pagefunc == "gameeting": |
| 132 LogIncomingDB(hmap["docid"], hmap["gadice"] or "0", referrer, ipaddress, useragent, remadeurl) |
| 133 WriteHTML(hmap["htmlfile"], hmap["pdfinfo"], hmap["gadice"], hmap["highlightdoclink"]) |
| 134 elif pagefunc == "agendanumexpanded": |
| 135 LogIncomingDB(pagefunc, hmap["agendanum"], referrer, ipaddress, useragent, remadeurl) |
| global WriteHTML = <function WriteHTML>, hmap = {'docid': 'A-62-PV.66', 'gadice': '', 'gameeting': 66, 'gasession': 62, 'highlightdoclink': 'A-45-625', 'htmlfile': '/home/undemocracy/undata/html/A-62-PV.66.html', 'pagefunc': 'gameeting', 'pdfinfo': <pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>} |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteHTML(fhtml='/home/undemocracy/undata/html/A-62-PV.66.html', pdfinfo=<pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>, gadice='', highlightth='A-45-625') |
| 322 if dclass == "spoken": |
| 323 if not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice: |
| 324 WriteSpoken(gid, dtextmu, councilpresidentnation) |
| 325 elif dclass == "subheading": |
| 326 if agendagidcurrent and (not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice): |
| global WriteSpoken = <function WriteSpoken>, gid = u'pg002-bk03', dtextmu = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Mr. Ceku...ke the planet truly a world fit for children.</p>', councilpresidentnation = None |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteSpoken(gid=u'pg002-bk03', dtext=u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Mr. Ceku...ke the planet truly a world fit for children.</p>', councilpresidentnation=None) |
| 69 print '</cite>' |
| 70 |
| 71 print dtext[mspek.end(0):] |
| 72 |
| 73 print '</div>' |
| dtext = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Mr. Ceku...ke the planet truly a world fit for children.</p>', mspek = <_sre.SRE_Match object>, mspek.end = <built-in method end of _sre.SRE_Match object> |
<type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'>: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xe0' in position 2680: ordinal not in range(128)
args =
('ascii', u'\n\t<p id="pg002-bk03-pa01">I have the honour to a...ke the planet truly a world fit for children.</p>', 2680, 2681, 'ordinal not in range(128)')
encoding =
'ascii'
end =
2681
message =
''
object =
u'\n\t<p id="pg002-bk03-pa01">I have the honour to a...ke the planet truly a world fit for children.</p>'
reason =
'ordinal not in range(128)'
start =
2680