Governments, and that international cooperation to enhance social development would facilitate the provision of
basic services for all,
Calling for the further mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all policies and programmes relating to
children,
Reaffirming the fundamental principle set forth in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and
in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted in September 1995 by the Fourth World Conference
on Women (A/CONF.177/20, chap. I) that the human rights of women and girls are an inalienable, integral and
indivisible part of universal human rights,
Welcoming the adoption, on 26 April 2000, of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights
of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (resolution 2000/59, annex B) and
of a draft optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed
conflicts (ibid., annex A), which develop the principles and provisions of the Convention and represent an
important step towards improving the standards of protection accorded to children,
Welcoming also the unanimous adoption in June 1999 of International Labour Organization Convention
No. 182 the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and
reaffirming the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that
is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or
physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development, in accordance with obligations under the Convention on
the Rights of the Child and the aim of effective abolition of child labour contrary to accepted international
standards, giving priority to immediate and concrete action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour
and to the rehabilitation and social reintegration of the children concerned, as well as to the search for
alternatives to child labour and for a better socio-economic environment to prevent child labour,
Reaffirming the need for States to ensure that every child alleged to have or recognized as having
infringed the penal law is treated with dignity in accordance with their obligations under the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and other relevant international human rights instruments, including the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and expressing deep concern, inter alia, about cases of children
prosecuted without account being taken of their special needs, kept in arbitrary detention, subjected to torture or
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or subjected to punishment, contrary to accepted
international standards,
Reaffirming also the obligation of States to protect children from torture, other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment and other forms of abuse and welcoming the decision of the Committee on
the Rights of the Child to devote a theme day during its twenty-fifth session to State violence against children,
Noting with appreciation the commemorative meeting on the tenth anniversary of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child held jointly by the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and taking note of the decision of the Committee to adopt a
general comment on child participation as envisaged in the Convention, bearing in mind that participation
includes, but is not limited to, consultation and proactive initiatives by children and youth themselves,
Welcoming the proclamation by the General Assembly of the International Decade for a Culture of
Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) and the Declaration and Programme of
Action on a Culture of Peace, which serve as the basis for the International Decade,
Welcoming also the ongoing implementation by the United Nations Children’s Fund of the human
rights-based approach in fulfilling its mandate to promote the rights of the child, including through its mediumterm plan, and encouraging the organization to continue to derive lessons and identify best practices from this
process,
Welcoming further the development of a global strategic framework on young people and human
immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome, based on a human rights approach, initiated by
the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS working in partnership with Joint Programme co-sponsors
and in consultation with relevant parts of the United Nations system,
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