King Mohammed deplores Iraqi and Palestinian children sufferings
Morocco-Regional, Culture, 5/11/2002

Morocco's King Mohammed VI deplored in a message to the ongoing UN special general assembly on children, the sufferings of Iraqi and Palestinian children who are living in exceptional circumstances of sanctions and armed conflicts.

In the message read out Thursday by Princess Lalla Meryem, the sovereign states "I deplore the sufferings of children living in exceptional circumstances due to sanctions imposed and to armed conflicts, as is the case with the children of Palestine and Iraq, whose basic rights to life are in jeopardy." The sovereign also stressed it is the international community's duty to address this tragedy, saying "the international community should shoulder its responsibility in finding suitable solutions to put an end to this tragedy."

The sovereign underscored that the holding of this session to ponder on the situation of children in the world, marks the triumph of hope over despair. "It points to the triumph of vision and constructive will over all forms of obscurantism and selfish inclinations for arrogance and selfishness."

The sovereign further underscored that children welfare and protection against social plagues require that governments, organizations, institutions, international agencies, the private sector and the civil society pool up efforts.

Touching on Morocco's efforts to fulfill objectives set forth by the first world summit and live up to the commitments contracted by the late King Hassan II who signed on February 3, 1992 the World Declaration on the preservation of child's life, protect children rights and improve their situation, the king stressed that Morocco created in 1995 the National Children Rights Observatory, entrusting its chairmanship to Princess Lalla Meryem, so that she can closely follow all issues pertaining to the promotion of child's situation in Morocco.

Listing drives taken to contribute to the preparation of the conference, the king recalled that Morocco hosted, in coordination with the UNICEF, a series of international meetings, especially the Arab Civil Society Forum, the African First Ladies Summit, the Arab-African Conference of Finance Ministers and the Regional Forum on Struggle against Sexual Exploitation of Children.

"These meetings concluded that none of these measures and recommendations can be translated into tangible reality and have a complete positive effect without vesting a human dimension on the globalization process in order to avert the worsening of the flaws which are currently marring inter-states economic and social balances," the sovereign insisted.

The king called for a most rational use of available resources, boosting south-south cooperation and promoting a fruitful international cooperation -especially so after the commitments made by the Leaders at the Monterrey Conference to earmark a substantial part of the resources to development financing by year 2006- and struggling against poverty. "We should bear in mind, in this connection, that the heavy burden of external debts is a major stumbling block standing on the way of sound, sustainable development," said the sovereign.

"Therefore, we, decision-makers, must devise policies, strategies and programs revolving basically on children, and grant priority to addressing these worrying problem that require on the part of the international community more efforts to find appropriate solutions."

The sovereign further pledged that Morocco will "implement the provisions of the declaration and of the action plan adopted by the second summit and to place them on top of its national priorities in order to preserve peace and security in the interest of the present generation and of the generations to come."

Previous Stories:
  Princess Lalla Meryem holds talks; king's presence evidence to interest in children issues   (5/10/2002)
  Morocco to host Euro-Mediterranean meeting on child's rights   (5/10/2002)
  Morocco to host Euro-Mediterranean meeting on child's rights   (5/10/2002)
  Mrs. Mubarak at UN children's session: Have we lost our conscience?   (5/9/2002)
  Morocco, an example in fight against child labor, ILO   (5/8/2002)
  Syria participates in UN General Assembly session on Children   (5/6/2002)
  Casablanca Hosts Arab Conference on Child Labor   (4/16/2002)
  Morocco takes part in Yokohama congress on sexual exploitation of children for commercial ends   (12/15/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search