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Rerneia PRo-TNlPoRE DEL GRUPO DE RIO

ASAMBLE,A GE,NE,fuTL DE LAS NACIONE,SUNIDAS

TE,RCERA COMISION Tema 68: Derechos del nif,o Intervenci6ndel Embajador Enriquillo A. del RosarioC. Representante Permanente Alterno de la Misi6n Permanentede la RepriblicaDominican^ ^nte las Naciones Unidas E,N NOMBRE, DEL GRUPO DE RIO

Nueva York. 19 de Octubre de 2007 Sirvase verificar contra lectura

UNITED NATIONS GE,NE,RAL ASSEMBLY THIRD COMMITTE,E

Item 68: Rights of children

Statement AmbassadorEnriquillo A. del Rosario C. by AltetnatePermanentRepresentative the of PermanentMission of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations ON BE,HALF'OF'THE RIO GROUP

New York, October 19,2007 Check agatnstdelivery

Misi6n Permanente la Repiblica Dominicanaante las Naciones Unidas de

Mr. Chairman: I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Member States of The Rio Group, namely: Argentina, Belice, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, M6xico, Nicaragua, Panam6, Paraguay, Per[, Uruguay, Venezuelaand of my own country,The Dominican Republic. I would like to commend thru you the SecretaryGeneral for the preparation of the reports related "Promotion and Protectionof the rights of children". to agendaitem number.68: The Member Statesof the Rio Group reaffirm their commitment to the full implementation of in the Convention on the Rights of Child, the Plan of Action established the final documentof "A World Fit Assembly of 2002, containedin the document: the Special Sessionof the General for Children", as well as the Millennium DevelopmentGoals. Mr. Chairman: The Rio Group considers of great importance that strategiesfor the eradication of poverty and the social and economic development plans focused on childhood be supplementedwith programs for protection against violence, exploitation and discrimination and education programs that always stresseson the most vulnerable sectors and which integrate a gender perspectiveand a human rights perspective. Even though infant mortality have decreasedin Latin-America and the Caribbean, the region continuesfighting againstHIV/AIDS, and in this sensewe have propelled campaignsto create both in the preventionand in the elimination of the mother-child transmission and awareness, support children affected with this flagellum. that free the Educationis also an elementof great importance;therefore, Statesmust assure and a reality without discrimination primary and binding educationmust be a quality education to goal of universalaccess secondary to of any kind, and to endeavor advancetowards the of education. We are convincedthat the increasein schoolingmust be accompanied an programs, so that our children can obtain the improvement in the quality of the educational knowledse and skills to evolve in this twentv first centurv.

Mr. Chairman:

Expert for the The Group would like to expressits appreciationto Prof. Pinheiro, Independent United Nations Secretary-General's Study on Violence againstChildren,for the report N621209 which proposes a necessarystrategy to further promote the implementationof the study on violence againstchildren,and would like to reiterateits firm commitmentwith the eradicationof all forms of violence againstchildren. The Rio Group reaffirms its commitment to the right of indigenousfamilies and communitiesto retain shared responsibility for the upbringing, training, education and well-being of their children, consistentwith the rights of the child recognizedin the InternationalHuman Rights Law, and referredto in the United Nations Declarationon the Rights of the IndigenousPeoples. Mr. Chairman: Considering that the countries of the Rio Group are main sponsorstogether with the European Union, of the Draft Resolutionon the Rights of Children,we would like to make somecomments on it: The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adoptedby the General Assembly in November 1989,was the first specialized internationaltreaty to recognizehuman rights of all children and protection in favor of children that requires adolescents, using a framework of comprehensive Statesto respect,protect and ensurethe enjoyment of their civil, political, economic,social and cultural rights. The internationalrecognitionof ownershipof rights for children and the extentof that obligation acquiredby Statesto all membersof society and to the families implies a substantialchangein the hierarchy and discretion model that had traditionally characterized relations among adults and children. The Rio Group is proud to highlight, as UNICEF has done on many occasions,that with the rapid processof ratifications of the Convention and the national movementsdesignedto bring national laws, Latin America was the areawhere therewas greatersocialmobilization aroundthe implementationof the Convention. Eighteen years after the adoption of the Convention we can say that in Latin America the implementation process continues to be a dynamic process, live and with continuous improvement, not only in relation to the legal reforms and institutional models,but also on any new situation that could directly or indirectly affect the lives of children. In this regard,we call upon the Commissionso the project could be adoptedby consensus, at and the sametime that it implies an advancein the consideration issuesrelatedto children. of We thank you.