A/RES/70/137
Rights of the child
neglect, illiteracy, hunger, intolerance, discrimination, racism, xenophobia, gender
inequality, disability and inadequate legal protection, and convinced that urgent and
effective national and international action is called for,
Expressing deep concern that, despite the recognition of the right of the child
to express his or her views freely on all matters affecting him or her, with his or her
views given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child,
children are still seldom seriously consulted and involved in such matters owing to a
variety of constraints and impediments and that the full implementation of this right
has yet to be fully realized,
Deeply concerned that children disproportionately suffer the consequences of
discrimination, exclusion, inequality and poverty,
Deeply concerned also that approximately 6 million children under the age of
5 die each year, mostly from preventable and treatable causes, owing to inadequate
or lack of access to integrated and quality maternal, newborn and child health care
and services, to early childbearing, as well as lack of access to health determinants,
such as safe drinking water and sanitation, safe and adequate food and nutrition,
including breastfeeding, and that mortality remains highest among children
belonging to the poorest and most marginalized communities,
Recognizing that a strong focus is needed on poverty, deprivation and
inequality to prevent and protect children from all forms of violence and to promote
the resilience of children, their families and communities,
Recognizing also the large and growing number of migrant children, including
those unaccompanied or separated from their parents or primary caregivers, and
especially those who find themselves in a vulnerable situation by attempting to cross
international borders without the required travel documents,
Taking into special consideration the situation of child refugees, internally
displaced children and child asylum seekers, in particular those unaccompanied or
separated from their parents,
I
Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
and the Optional Protocols thereto
1.
Reaffirms paragraphs 1 to 10 of its resolution 68/147 of 18 December
2013, and welcomes the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of the Optional
Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography and on the involvement of children in armed
conflict; 28
2.
Welcomes the increasing number of ratifications of the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 1 and urges States that have not yet done so to consider acceding
to it and to the Optional Protocols thereto 2 as a matter of priority and to implement
them effectively and fully, and encourages further efforts by the Secretary-General
in this regard;
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United Nations, Treaty Series, vols. 2171 and 2173, No. 27531.