EDITORIAL - A framework for children

As the economy teeters on the brink of disaster, among the worst to be hit are the poor. An economic downturn means higher consumer prices, rising unemployment, deterioration of public services. The current crisis is not a pleasant backdrop as the First National Summit for Children is held today at Malacañang. During the summit, "Child 21" – a 25-year national strategic framework for the development of programs related to children – will be launched. "Child 21" provides an outline for the government, non-government organizations and the private sector to promote the rights of children. The framework, which is expected to be signed by President Estrada, will serve as a model for the international community.

The summit will also reaffirm the government’s commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Some of the commitments made by signatories to the convention have been fulfilled in the past decade. The Philippines’ modest gains will be presented to the UN Ge-neral Assembly’s Special Session on Children in September next year.

But many of the commitments made by world leaders remain unfulfilled. Poverty poses daunting problems for children. In this country, a third of Filipino children are considered malnou-rished. The United Nations Children’s Fund reports that despite free primary and secondary education, only 77 percent of school-age children are enrolled; about five million children don’t go to school. Nearly 20 percent of students from grades one to six drop out, with the enrollment rate declining in the higher grades. Apart from the cost of education, one problem is that children seem to lack interest in going to school, Unicef reported.

Poverty has also driven children to work. Unicef reports that out of the country’s 32 million children, nearly 3.7 million aged 5 to 17 are working, two thirds of them from the rural areas. Approximately 65 percent of the workers are females; 409,849 live and work away from home. Unicef reports that 60 percent of these children are exposed to hazardous or cruel working conditions in such areas as commercial sex, mining or quarrying, deep-sea fishing and plantations. In urban areas, three percent of the child population are street children, with up to 70,000 of them in Metro Manila. Many of these children are malnourished, stunted physically and intellectually, and often suffer from sexually transmitted diseases.

"Child 21" is an ambitious project that will require substantial resources and cooperation from the government and the private sector. Children are the nation’s future, and all sectors must provide full support for the success of this framework for children.