In its report, The State of the World's Children 2002, published last week, UNICEFsays that despite outstanding examples of progress in the past decade, most governments have not lived up to the promises made at the 1990 World Summit for Children. Even though the 1990s saw great technological advances, basic goals to improve children's education set at the 1990 summit have not been met.
According to the report, more than 100 million children worldwide, including 60 million girls, are still not in school. Most are being deprived of education by poverty, the need to work for their families, disability, HIV/AIDS, or armed conflicts. The report says 600 million children live in poverty, severely reducing their access to basic education.
However, the report says that the mortality rates for infants and under-fives have been significantly reduced, with a 14 per cent improvement over the past decade as three million more children a year are now surviving beyond their fifth birthday.
Another primary goal of the World Summit, to reduce malnutrition rates among children under five by half, has been more than achieved in South America, but the rate in developing countries overall has declined only 17 per cent.
UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy said, 'Our report not only looks at the state of the world's children but also at the state of the world's leadership. To a large degree, although they don't know it, the children of the 1990s were let down.
'Given the accumulation of resources and know-how in the world today, we have really fallen short of our collective potential. Some among us have achieved great things, but collectively among us we have under-achieved. The difference was leadership.'
She added, 'With our feet still fresh on the sand of a new century, let us make a sacred promise to deliver to the children who will be born into our world the health and nutrition, the education and protection, that is their birthright.'