• Child Wellbeing

In May 2002, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a document entitled ‘A World Fit for Children’ – a world in which all children get the best possible start in life in their homes and have access to quality basic education, including primary education that is compulsory and free to all, and in which all children, including adolescents, have opportunities to develop their individual capacities in a safe and supportive environment. This implies the promotion of the physical, psychological, spiritual, social, emotional, cognitive and cultural development of children as a matter of national and global priority. The document was preceded by many seminal declarations, conventions and charters on behalf of children and their rights, notably the

• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989;
• African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1990;
• International Labour Organization Convention on the Minimum Age for Admission to

Employment, 1973 and Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination for Worst Forms for Child Labour, 1999;

• Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict; and
• Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography.

All these charters and conventions are reflected in the UN Millennium Declaration from which emerged the Millennium Development Goals (MDSs), 2000-2015. The MDGs consist of 8 goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators. They are based on the recognition of the urgent need for a road map with concrete and ambitious goals. The achievement of these goals requires determination at the national level and partnerships among the rich and developing countries to exit from human poverty.