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Children get little budgetary care

From S. Bari
COLOMBO, Sept 17: Most governments devote less than 10 per cent of their national ONP on basic human needs such as education, sanitation and health. This regret was expressed by delegates attending the SAARC ministerial conference on children in South Asia. Seven working groups, each chaired by a different member country, spent the day preparing report* on various sector* of child protection. The sectors were: child survival and safe motherhood, mother and child nutrition, basic education, safe water and
the environment, the convention on the rights of the child, socio-political strategies to reach set goals, and poverty reduction.
At a press conference this afternoon, UNICEF executive director James P. Grant expressed the hope that government of the region would readjust their budgets to allocate more money to social services essential to the protection and development of the 450 million children in South Asia.
When asked if pressure from the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund or other lending bodies forced developing national to accept interference in their budgets. Grant replied that govern-, ment* were not left completely without a say in the maiter.
He held both International financial institutions and Inept government machinery responsible for lack of funding available for children's affairs.
"We are not popular with the big banks," he joked during the press briefing, because we think more money should be dedicated to the child. Of the 50 billion dollars of foreign aid being given to developing countries, only 6.5 per cent goes to services such as health and education," Grat added.
UNICEF, bearing the brunt of the cost of the three-day gathering, recommends that some 20 per cent of a government’s budget be set aside for essential services.
In 1990. at the World Summit on Children, member countries promised to develop plans of action for the protection of the rights of the child. The Colombo conference brings together experts from various child-related fields to make more concrete proposals on how to reach the goals set In the national plans of action.
There Is a feeling among child rights workers In nongovernmental and state agencies that not enough action Is following the words spouted during years of conferences on the subject. It is hoped that the working groups on the separate sectors will produce reports with suggestions for strategies that can lead to faster results In the movement to improve the condition of children in the region.
Inaction, according to many delegates, comes from government lethargy and the bureaucracy. In a number of fields, non-government organizations have done a far better Job than government pro-
An example is the non-for-mal education system in Bangladesh, highly regarded around the world and enjoying a higher rate of success than the state programme.
Criticism of the Colombo conference is concentrated oh the meagre presence of NOOs. Though umbrella organizations are represented, on the whole this conference Is government-oriented. This may be an obstacle to more assertive action in terms of legislation, establishment of indicator and sheer efficiency.
The other major document that should emerge from the conference Is a declaration on the rights of the child to be drafted by the seven SAARC countries. The declaration will hopefully be ratified by the head of state due to congregate in Dhaka this December
The second day of discussions yielded draft reports to be finalised by the working groups Friday, before the declaration and the close of the conference.
Raiotsd story on po^«