Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-11-15-Speech-1-076"
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"en.19991115.6.1-076"2
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"Mr President, I would agree with much of what we have heard already in the debate this evening. I, like many others here, will remember the enthusiasm and political excitement with which this convention was adopted, how many world leaders were keen to be seen with young people and to talk in glowing terms of the future they were offering. I reflect with considerable sorrow at the dying-away of many of those fine words.
One of the main concerns of that convention is the right for children to live in peace. People have already referred to some 300,000 under-18 year olds recruited as soldiers throughout the world. Some of them are in our own Member States where they have no right to vote for the governments which decide their futures. We see many children working in conditions of slavery and forced labour and we would urge all European Union states to ratify the ILO Convention dealing with these issues. We would also urge Members States at the next IGC, to adopt a legal base to promote and protect the rights of the child as defined in the United Nations Convention.
We also need to take responsibility for the state of the world in which those children are growing up, not least the environmental conditions under which many of them have to suffer. It is essential that we meet and surpass the targets that we have set ourselves to combat such things as climate change. For far too many children, clean water, safe food and adequate shelter are still a dream, even for many in the so-called developing world.
We would also argue that we need to change the priorities of our international financial institutions so that priority may be given to safeguarding the environment and providing health care and education rather than open markets. Lastly, cancelling the debt of the world’s poorest countries would also help the young people of those nations considerably."@en1
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