Poste - Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children

C A N A D I A N C O A L I T I O N F O R T H E R I G H T S O F C H I L D R E N
Optional Protocol, which has not yet been adopted by the
United Nations. This protocol proposes to raise the age for
voluntary military recruitment. Meanwhile, Canada has
codified its practice of not deploying persons under the age
of 18 in hostilities. Canada hosted an international round
table on child soldiers in 1998 and has scheduled an
international meeting on the proposed Optional Protocol
for 2000. 50
Article 39: Physical and psychological
recovery and social reintegration of child
victims of armed conflict, etc.
In recent years, CIDA has supported a number of initiatives
to aid the recovery and reintegration of child victims of
armed conflict. Projects include:
• reintegration of demobilized child soldiers in Sierra
Leone, Angola and Rwanda;
• emergency relief and health care to young children
forced to flee their homes in Southern Lebanon;
• registration, reunification with families and rehabilitation
of unaccompanied Rwandan and Burundi children;
• health services, education and protection to children
in Haiti;
• counselling and shelter for physically or sexually abused
girls and provision of prostheses for handicapped
children in Liberia. 51
Conclusion
Despite Canada’s significant efforts over the last five
years to improve children’s lives and promote respect for
children’s rights internationally, three overriding concerns
have been identified about international development
assistance for children.
Political will without administrative action
The Canadian government has made a substantial
commitment in principle to the recognition of children’s
rights around the world. Practical demonstrations of this
commitment, however, tend not to be substantially or
enduringly supported at the administrative and operational
levels of government. For example, much more is said about
the needs and rights of the world’s children by the Minister
of Foreign Affairs and his Advisor for Children than by
senior government officials mandated to do this work
internationally.
In the 1990s, the two substantial funds dedicated to
international assistance for marginalized children (CIDA’s
Children in Difficult Circumstances Fund and Health
Canada’s Partners for Children Fund) appear to have
24
emerged from political initiatives and not from strategic and
policy-making deliberations within departments. These two
short-term programs ended, with no follow-through or plans
to build upon the work already accomplished.
A human development aid strategy focused
on children
There is an urgent need for CIDA to develop a
comprehensive policy and strategy for development
assistance to children. The framework for this strategy
should be the principles and provisions of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child. Also needed is
a multi-year implementation plan, with specific and
appropriate child-focused human development objectives,
and outcome indicators. Ideally, CIDA would develop
these objectives, outcomes and assessment measures in
cooperation with its NGO and other implementing partners.
Funding for sustainable child development
and protection of children’s rights
A healthy and motivated population of children and youth
is essential to the sustainable development of vibrant
societies (and economies) worldwide. In many developing
countries, almost half the population is under 18 years of
age. Children’s well-being is dependent on their care and
development in families, schools, workplaces and streets
and on the protection and recognition of their rights.
Canadian ODA is less than 0.3 percent of GNP and only
about 11 percent of CIDA’s development assistance funds
are specifically targeted towards children.
Endnotes
1. Hodgkin and Newell, pp. 51-74
2. Department of Foreign Affairs, Canada and the World, p. 42
3. Ibid, p. 42
4. Cited in Hodgkin and Newell, p. 72 and UNICEF, www.unicef.org/2020/
20right.htm
5. Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development
6. Canadian Council for International Co-operation
7. CIDA, April 1997, p. 6
8. Ibid, p.1; CIDA, September 1998, p. 1
9. Quoted in Christopher Lowry, p. 9
10. Ibid, p. 23
11. Denise Conway, p. 164
12. Martha Nelems
13. CIDA, December 1998, p. iii
14. Ibid, p. iii; CIDA November 1997,p. v
15. CIDA, December 1998, p. iii
16. Ibid
17. Ibid, pp. 17-18
18. Canadian Partnership Branch supports a wide range of Canadian
organizations including national and international NGOs, universities,
unions, professional organizations and private companies
19. CIDA Annual Report, CIDA’s Programming in Support of Children, Fiscal
Year 1996-97, p. iii
20. Ellen Ericson Kupp, pp. 8-9
21. Landon Pearson, “International Child Abductions: A Manual for Parents”
in Children & the Hill, Winter 1998
22. Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, November 6, 1998, p. 2
23. House of Commons, April 1998, pp. 2-4