Arab-African ministerial conference holds first plenary session
The conference of Arab and African finance ministers --convening in Marrakesh May 21-23 to prepare for the World Child Summit, due next September 19-21 at the United Nations headquarters in New York-held a first plenary session Monday afternoon.
Representatives of several international organizations took the floor to stress the need to protect the Arab and African children's rights, mainly the rights to education, healthy nutrition, and health, and to ban children's exploitation under all its forms.
They noted that despite the progress made in some sectors such as lowering infant mortality rates, and bridging gaps at the level of the schooling of boys and girls, problems are still affecting children in Arab and African countries. These problems are caused by poverty, political instability, bad governance, lack of political will and armed conflicts.
Participants pleaded for a new approach to protect children's rights both in the Arab world whose population is expected to be 550 million strong by 2050 and in Africa which is still prey to political instability, armed conflicts and indebtedness. They insisted on the need to earmark the necessary resources to promote the sectors of health and education.
The conference, held under the topic "resources and financing of the child's cause," will hold two other plenary sessions, one will examine funding problems and assess public budgets earmarked for children, while the other will study means to upgrade partnership between the various actors concerned by child promotion: state, local communities, NGOs, financial institutions and regional and international organizations.
A forum will identity institutional difficulties and financial constraints hampering the action of NGOs.
The encounter is attended by several Arab and African finance ministers and senior officials from several international organizations and specialized agencies active in child protection and promotion.
The participants were guest to a dinner banquet hosted Monday evening in their honor by King Mohammed VI. The sovereign was accompanied by his brother Prince Moulay Rachid and by his sister Princess Lalla Meryem.
