STQARRIJA MILL-MINISTERU TAL-BIEDJA U SAJD DWAR L-IMPORTAZZJONI TAZ-ZWIEMEL MINN FRANZA

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As an immediate backdrop to this Seminar on the Rights of the Child, we have been hearing of the tragic news about the cargo of some two hundred and fifty children, suspected of being sold for a few dollars each as slave labour, stranded aboard a ship off the coast of Western Africa.

Theirs is a tragedy born of poverty, of desperation, of disregard to human dignity.Their odyssey of slavery, their denied childhood, is not an uncommon occurrence.

On the dawn of the third Millennium, considering the fact that children in many parts of the world are still being denied their basic right to human dignity, the fate of these children at the hands of unscrupulous adults assumes particular impact and significance. We have to ask ourselves if such acts of human degradation can ever be halted, and in what way.

Poverty as the root cause of human indignity is just one of the many answers. Living as we are in the promise of a global village, it is in our interest and within our responsibility, to ensure that appropriate action to avert similar circumstances be taken. In this global village, denying the rights to these children as well as to those many others, will definitely land us with huge problems in the future.

The issue of the rights of children, both in the context of developed and developing countries, is a subject that requires discussion and reflection, action and reaction. Today, as yesterday, as tomorrow, children require special attention, assistance and support. They have particular needs that have to be addressed if we are to guarantee a decent future, not only for them, but also to all future generations.

In far too many cases, adults have failed their progeny. Our meeting today is a clear message and commitment to the care and welfare of our children, in Malta and beyond our shores.

During this Seminar, distinguished speakers will be focusing on children's rights and on the legal and moral obligations towards them, on issues regarding education and equal opportunities, caring, special cases, and situations of improper treatment, as well as the landmark United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is an area of study that has undergone great development during the last century. Putting into practice what are perceived and accepted as just policies and rights often is a more difficult question.

In opening this seminar, I want to share with you some thoughts and experiences.

Last year, I visited the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Of all artifacts, recollections, memories and pictures, what struck me most was the photo of a little child in the Warsaw ghetto, with fear in his eyes and in his expression, held at gunpoint, helplessly disoriented and lost in the midst of the general confusion. This is the image of innocence facing the senselessness of war. This is an example of the body of traumatic and scarring experiences that many face during childhood. I do not believe that such scars of memory can ever be put behind by anyone, anywhere.

That was Europe sixty years ago or so. Over half a century down the line, similar and worse atrocities against children have been committed in diverse places as Sierra Leone and during the inter-ethnic conflicts in the Balkans and in Rwanda.

I recall my visit to the Palestinian Hospital in Gaza, in January, 1991, seeing children of the first Intifada, in great pain some with their bowels protruding.

Today, ten years after, we are again seeing the children of the second Intifada dying in their hundreds.

Today, the images of distant conflicts that are directly zoomed into our living rooms represent a reality which has to be taken account of. It is the backdrop reality of our lives and of our children's upbringing.

However, the situation of children in conflict is not the only concern that needs to be addressed.

As far back as 1924, in recognizing the need to address the rights of every human being and especially the most vulnerable, the international community, through the League of Nations, endorsed the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. Other morally and legally binding instruments of international law such as the United Nations Charter (1945) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) signified a commitment by the international community at large at respecting the fundamental human rights and dignity of each and every member of the human family.

The climax of a long process towards the adoption of the most comprehensive international legal guarantee for the welfare of children came with the unanimous adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. On behalf of my country, I had the privilege and pleasure of signing this Convention on 30 September 1990.

I had also the privilege as President of the 45^th United Nations General Assembly of receiving on behalf of the Assembly the Convention of the Rights of the Child, a pledge of "we the peoples" to observe and maintain the rights of the child.

This Convention underscores the specific and special needs of the child, as a unique individual having particular rights and requiring specific support and protection. Since the Convention defines as children "every human being below the age of eighteen years" (Article 1), under this definition, we are talking about a significant portion of the world population that needs our special support and protection.

Apart from situations of children in conflict, the international community has recognized the need to address comprehensively the issues concerning the welfare of the child, such as the need to be protected against all forms of discrimination (Article 2:2). Its text recognizes the central role of parents and of the family in their upbringing; the importance of the child's right to a name, to an identity (Article 7:1); the special needs of mentally or physically disabled children (Article 23) so that they can enjoy and sustain a decent life in dignity; the right to enjoy high standards of health and health facilities (Article 24); the right to education (Article 28) and opportunity; the right to play (Article 31); the right to be protected against economic exploitation (Article 32); the right to humane treatment and protection from torture (Article 37).

Like all parents and grandparents, I believe that this subject and its problems as well as its satisfactions are boundless, and definitely more complex than simplistic explanations could ever illustrate. It actually highlights the difficult task of parents in raising children, irrespective of the prevailing social, economic and political circumstances. Parents have the onus of developing the potential of their children and in making of them responsible individuals; they have the responsibility of providing decent standards of living; they also carry the responsibility of imparting to their children a comprehensive education based on the values of "peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity." (Preamble of the Convention)

The family is "the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children" (Preamble). The family is the basic nucleus of our community, of our society. It is within this environment that children should be granted the necessary physical and mental protection to be able to develop into responsible adults.

Allow me here to thank all those involved in voluntary work for the benefit of less fortunate children. Theirs is a difficult task, a mission of love for children in need and for the benefit of society.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The proclamation of a set of rights for children should not stop there. The detailing of such rights is a victory in itself. However the real test remains the extent to which the related responsibilities which emanate from the Convention are effected in the interest of the child.

In speaking of the rights of the child I want to render specific reference to the rights of the unborn child.

We have the responsibility to protect the feeblest of all children, the unborn child, his fundamental right to be born, to live.

Governments, politicians and statesmen, all have the responsibility of leading and

directing their respective societies towards common goals of peace and prosperity. In respect to children, it is of the essence that all children be guaranteed, in equal measure as much as possible, with the right to education, and an environment conducive to a balanced and safe upbringing.

In Malta, I believe that we have attained substantial results in the fields of education, social welfare, health, as well as decent standards of living. It is also my belief that we still have a long way to go towards ensuring that our children will continue to enjoy and build in a constructive manner upon our and our forefathers' achievements in the political, social and economic fields.

Ours is an inter-generation solidarity and cooperation – a state of fact and a state of mind – and this is what we have to bequeath to future generations.

Yesterday, I went to see at first hand, the wanton destruction that criminal vandals wrecked upon our unique heritage at the Mnajdra Temples. This was not simply a criminal act. It is more of a criminal act towards our children, denied as they are the privilege of enjoying that which is the common heritage of mankind.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

When I was a child, I witnessed the cruelty of war, the famine of the siege, living in shelters, seeing our home destroyed and the many who lost their life, as a result of living in one of the most heavily bombarded places in the world. Many struggled to make ends meet and living standards were much lower. However, smiles on children's faces lighted the hearts of families and friends, though the burden of war did not spare anyone on these islands.

My generation wanted to ensure that our children would not face the hardships that we had to endure.

In today's world, in Malta and beyond, children are facing different challenges but nonetheless difficult to overcome.

What has not changed, what will not change, then, as now, as in the future, is the need to grow up in a family environment, "in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding" as the most important and constant factor in the life of children.

For the challenges that face the child in today's world are not only compounded by poverty or underdevelopment, since these are challenges that need to be addressed even in the most advanced of societies. We have to speak also in terms of problems such as the breakdown of families, or the need to address a healthy socialization process for children. Undoubtedly, there remains much to be done by many.

In holding in trust for future generations areas such as the environment and the common heritage, we must not forget that ours is the generation that guarantees the interests and well-being of the generations that will take humanity into the centuries to come.

In the serene expression of a helpless baby lies our hope and our future.

We can and we must rededicate ourselves to preserving our future by caring for the child – our child and our destiny.