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President ‘regrets’ failure to endorse UN convention

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday expressed regret over the country’s failed attempts to become a signatory to the UN’s convention on children’s rights.

Ma said the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan had been making efforts to endorse the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, but that unfortunately the bids had been unsuccessful.

Despite the odds, Ma said, the ROC has been very cooperative in implementing the provisions of the convention.

Ma made the remarks at the Presidential Office yesterday morning when he addressed UN children ambassadors attending this year’s International UN Children’s Rights Summit.

The summit, convened yearly since 2000, is organized by the Children’s Rights Association of Taiwan to promote children’s rights and child welfare services, push for Taiwan’s membership in the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund and facilitate dialogue between children worldwide.

The theme of this year’s summit was the Internet.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child applies to children below the age of 18, was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989 and came into effect in 1990.

As of December 2002, the convention had 191 ratifications.

Its provisions oblige states to act in the best interests of children, to recognize that every child has the right to life and to ensure that children are not discriminated against or punished on the basis of the status, activities, opinions or beliefs of their parents, guardians or family members.

The convention also includes the rights of the child to freedom of expression, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, as well as the rights to healthcare and education.

To welcome the child ambassadors, Ma greeted them in Mandarin, English, Cantonese, French, German and Spanish.

Toward the end of his remarks he said he realized he’d forgotten to greet Taiwan’s Aboriginal representatives in their languages, which he then did.

Ma said that it was important that the government provided more resources to schools so that students could have access to computers and learn to use the Internet.

“Once they use the Internet and e-mail, instantly they are equal with the children of the rest of the world,” Ma said in English. “I always consider using the Internet a very important strategy to narrow the digital gap.”

“To protect more fully the rights of the children, it’s imperiative for the government to provide low-cost computers to students, particularly students from relatively economically disadvantaged areas so that only by doing that can we really shorten the distance between the rich and the poor,” he said.
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