Though not much time has elapsed since we joined our forces in the endeavor common to all mankind, that as to carve “A World Fit for Children” as it was decided at the Special Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on Children, we have alr

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SIXTY-FOURTH SESSION OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

THIRD COMMITTEE

16 OCTOBER 2009

NEW YORK

STATEMENT BY MRS. ONON SODOV

DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS,

MINISTRY OF FOREING AFFAIRS AND TRADE OF MONGOLIA

ON AGENDA ITEM 65 – PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Mr. Chairman

I wish to begin my statement by thanking the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict and the Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of the Child for their comprehensive oral statements. My delegation also warmly welcomes recent appointment of Ms. Marta Santos Pais as Special Representative of the Secretary General on Violence against Children and wishes her every success in future endeavors.

Mongolia aligns itself with the statement made by Sudan on behalf of the Group 77 and China.

Mr.Chairman,

The impacts of global financial, fuel and food crises have most seriously endangered the fates of children. Achieving the goals to promote healthy lives, provide quality education and protect children against abuse, exploitation and violence set out in the document entitled “World fit for children” is now under a real doubt.

The Secretary-General’s report on Follow-up to the Special session of the GA on children notes that around 75 million children are still out of primary school and 182 million children have no access to secondary school. Children are still subject to violence, exploitation and abuse as well as to inequity and discrimination in particular against the girl child.

Thus, it poses enough alert for Member States to realize their commitments to fulfill “World fit for children” goals of improving policies and programs for children and promoting and protecting children against violence and against being victims of human trafficking.

This year marks the 20^th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It provides us a valuable opportunity to evaluate the status and progress achieved towards the realization of the rights of the child and to identify priorities for the future.

Mongolia spares no effort to fully implement the Declaration and Plan of Action contained in the “World fit for children” document. Our commitment is once again demonstrated by adopting and implementing the National Program of Action for the Protection and Development of Children for the period 2002-2010.

Mongolia is taking significant measures aimed at protection of the rights of children, increasing family income and expanding the support for children left out of parental care. In this context, the Parliament of Mongolia has adopted a number of legislative acts including Law against Domestic Violence, Law on Social Welfare and Law on Monetary Provisions for Children and Families. The provisions of the Criminal Code related to human trafficking were also amended in 2008.

The programs such as the Child Money and Allowance for Newly Married Young Couples are being implemented by the Government of Mongolia nation-wide.

Under the health related targets, the infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births declined from 64.4 in 1990 to 19.4 in 2008, and under-5 mortality rate - from 88.8 to 21.7 in 2007. However, the latter reversed to 23.2 in 2008 due to an economic slowdown.

In order to achieve the MDGs on infant mortality rates by 2015, the Government has developed and launched a National Strategy of Infant Feeding (2008-2015) in line with international standards. As of 2008 the immunization coverage of infants reached 99 percent resulting in the reduced incidences of infectious diseases.

As a result of the implementation of the Education Development Master Plan of Educational Sector for 2006-2015, enrollment rate in pre-school and in kindergarten has increased to 14.2 and 13.2 percent respectively in 2008.

With the objective of contributing to the elimination and prevention of the worst forms of child labour a project for the period 2005-2009 is being implemented in collaboration with the International Labour Organization- International Program on Elimination of Child Labour /IPEC/ and the US Labour Department. The aim of this project is to increase awareness of the worst forms of child labour, create national data, provide training for staff members of the governmental and non-governmental organizations as well as trade unions, and examine the provisions of relevant legislations and policies related to child labour.

In international arena, Mongolia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 and its two Optional Protocols, ILO Convention 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and the Minimum Age Convention 138. Ratification of these instruments has created favorable conditions for reflecting international norms initiatives to protect the rights of the child and protect against sexual abuse and exploitation of children into the national legal system.

In December 2007, the Government of Mongolia submitted its combined Third and Fourth Reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child under Article 44, paragraph 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This report was prepared with wide participation and effective consultations between governmental and non-governmental organizations and representatives of children from urban and rural areas across the country.

Despite the above-mentioned achievements challenges related to development of appropriate child protection mechanisms and services for children, in particular lack of reliable data on child protection and lack of the capacity of service providers to respond effectively to abused and neglected children at the national level still remain and need to be addressed.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would like to reiterate my Government’s strong commitment to work along with other Member States, the United Nations, in particular the UNICEF, Special Representatives’ Office as well as the international and national NGOs to achieve fully the internationally agreed development goals to protect the rights of the child.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.