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China Reviews Accomplishments in Child Protection
"I'm very happy to see China's remarkable achievements in protecting children's rights and promoting child development in recent years," said a representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Friday.
Edwin Joseph Judd, UNICEF area representative for China and Mongolia, made the remark at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office to sum up China's achievements in children development in the 1990s.
China has so far achieved 21 out of 24 global goals for child development since it implemented the "National Program of Action for Child Development in China in the 1990s" (NPA) in 1992, said Xu Shaoshi, deputy secretary-general of the State Council.
During the period, the status of and environment for children development were improved significantly, and their right of survival, development, protection and participation were effectively guaranteed, said Xu. Therefore, the overall quality of children has made further improvement.
Official statistics show that the mortality rate of infants and children under the age of five dropped to 3.22 percent and 3.97 percent by 2000, from 5.02 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, in 1990.
The nine-year compulsory education drive is practiced in about 85 percent of China's territory, and over 190 million people have so far received education since the campaign started some 15 years ago.
Large numbers of child welfare institutes, SOS villages, rehabilitation centers and street children protection stations all over China, along with Project Hope and the Spring Bud Program, have given special care and assistance to distressed children.
China signed two international documents in 1991, namely the " World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children" and the "Plan of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s", and subsequently formulated the "National Program of Action for Child Development in China in the 1990s" ( NPA) in 1992.
Xu pointed out that although China has made great progress in promoting child development, there are still many difficulties left, as China is a populous developing country which is still struggling to modernize.
The Chinese government will manage to realize the three global goals, namely, the reduction of mortality rate of women in childbirth, elimination of tetanus of newborn babies and control of HIV/AIDS, said Xu.
China will give priority to several major issues involving children in its future agenda, including narrowing the disparities in child development among different regions, creating a more favorable environment for child development, ensuring health care, education and child protection among the floating population and restraining the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among children.
The State Council has recently approved a new NPA for child development for the period 2001-2010, which will become the guideline for national action in child development, to further promote healthy and sustainable child development, Xu stated.
Blueprint for Child Development The 2001-2010 National Program of Action for the Development of Children (NPA) has been approved by the State Council, and will take effect soon, according to a press conference held by the State Council Information Office Friday.
The new NPA, with the theme of promoting children development, focuses on building children's overall qualities to provide talented personnel for China's modernization drive in the 21st century, according to Xu Shaoshi, deputy secretary-general of the State Council.
There are four main subjects in the new NPA -- children and health, children and education, children and the environment, and children and legal protection. The NPA has put forward 18 major goals, 55 supportive indicators for the next ten years for the survival, protection, development and participation of children, and 66 strategies and measures for realizing the goals.
In 1991, the Chinese government signed two internationally acknowledged documents, namely the "World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children" and the "Plan of Action for Implementing the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Development of Children in the 1990s", and subsequently formulated the "National Program of Action for Child Development in China in the 1990s" in 1992.
China has achieved great progress in protecting children's rights and improving the conditions for child development, said Xu.
The new NPA will serve as the guidelines for national action for children development in the early part of the new century, to further promote healthy and sustainable children development, Xu said.
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