Welcome to the United Nations
Addressee: UNICEF
Full Text
UNICEF should consider developing projects to benefit indigenous children in developed countries as required, taking into consideration that many indigenous children in such countries, mainly those living in rural areas, face the same problems as indigenous children in developing countries.
Responses
UNICEF is exploring the possibility of collaborating with interested UNICEF National Committees on an analytical report on the world’s indigenous and minority children, which will address the situation of indigenous children in both developed and developing countries. UNICEF National Committees continue to increase their efforts to promote and protect the rights of indigenous children. UNICEF Canada advocates for solutions to the root causes of inequities for Aboriginal children, focusing on the duty of governments at all levels, to ensure their rights through effective child policy, programmes and other actions. To influence good public policy for Aboriginal children, UNICEF Canada provides research to enhance
understanding (e.g., in reports, publications and media stories); works in partnerships with Aboriginal organizations and others on specific projects; undertakes public action campaigns; and advocates with government. For example, as a board member of a new organization, Mamow-Sha-Way-Gi-Gay-Win (North-South Partnership for Children in Remote First Nation Communities), UNICEF Canada contributes to building capacity to foster respectful relationships between First Nations communities and the voluntary and corporate sectors. UNICEF Canada is also working closely with the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) to see how an environment can be created where First Nations children on reservations receive fair and equitable services. UNICEF Australia is committed to working towards reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians to help build a nation where the rights of all children in Australia are respected and realized. Indigenous child rights are identified as an issue where UNICEF can add value through technical expertise. For example, UNICEF Australia co-chairs together with the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre, the Australian Child Rights Task Force, which compiled the 2011 “Listen to Children” report. The 2011 report showed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are among three groups of children who are being left behind in Australia, as they have child mortality rates that are three times those of their non-aboriginal peers and are the least consulted in policy processes. In 2011, UNICEF Australia also focused on building awareness and understanding of indigenous issues amongst all its staff, and engaged with several notable research organisations and children’s advocates in the area of indigenous disadvantage. As part of its advocacy efforts, UNICEF New Zealand is collaborating with other child-focused organizations in an initiative known as Every Child Counts, through which it has been engaged in generating information and creating awareness about the wide disparities between Maori and other children in New Zealand. The report He Ara Hou – Getting it Right for New Zealand’s
Maori and Pasifika Children, commissioned by Every Child Counts, confirms that Maori (and Pasifika) children and families do not share in the prosperity enjoyed by other groups of New Zealanders. UNICEF New Zealand supported the publication, launch, dissemination and promulgation of the report and was engaged through Every Child Counts in a major campaign to highlight child poverty in New Zealand. In 2011 (coinciding with the anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child) UNICEF New Zealand also launched a new children’s picture book For Each and Every Child/ He Taonga Tonu te Tamariki, to celebrate and champion the rights of all children in New Zealand. The book features Maori text alongside the English, which enables it to be introduced to, and used by, Maori language pre-schools and total immersion primary schools.
Final Report of UNPFII Session 10 (2011)
Area of Work
