by
Mr. Imre Szakács
State Secretary,
Ministry of Youth and Sports
at
the Twenty-seventh special session of
the General Assembly on children
Mr.
President,
A
modern childcare system is functioning well in Hungary, which comprises the
basic rights of children and the rights and responsibilities of the parents.
The core of the ten-year national health care project is the “Healthy Start of
Life” project, which provides a background from conception to adulthood for
healthy lifestyle, illness prevention facilities, and an integrated, healthy
adult and elderly age. This forms the basis for the civic right of free
pregnancy care, free infant and childhood medical attention, and free
vaccination. The fact that 99% of our children are vaccinated and no epidemic
contagious diseases have occurred for long years in Hungary is a major
achievement. This year is the 101st anniversary of national
childcare, and surveys reveal that infant death is practically non-existent in
the country.
The childcare system is an
integrative unit of two-fold function. On the one hand it guarantees certain
provisions to assist bringing up children in families through the basic
childcare system. On the other hand, it is supposed to offer a family-like
atmosphere through the specialised child protection system for children who
fall out of family care for one reason or another. The primary aim of the
modern Hungarian childcare system is to assist the family bringing-up of
children, the prevention, and termination of the endangerment of children.
Social and health care institutions working in co-operation with the child
welfare services operating in all cities and villages represent the elements of
this system, such as the infant nurse service, the pediatrician network, the
family care centres, the educational institutions, and the pedagogical
counsellors.
The
modification of the Child Protection Act in 2002 underlined the importance of
children being brought up in families, the child welfare services that act for
prevention, the assistant and foster parents network, and more emphasis was
given to adoption as a legal means of family replacement.
Mr. President,
A
major preoccupation of my Government for the past four years has been to become
the government for families. We have defined new principles for the support of
families and children in the last four years to achieve this aim:
My
Government prepared the National Family Policy Principle the aim of which was
the enhancement of the standard of living of families, the consolidation of the
security of family life, and the encouragement of the growth of the population.
The introduction of the scheme ensures that the right for the allowances does
not depend on the income of the family, but it is a civic right thus rewarding
the bringing up of children. The assistance given to families with children
involves, on the one hand, the general allowances for all families with
children, and on the other hand, additional special support to families in
unfavourable conditions. Support to those in unfavourable conditions aims at
helping children in families of poor financial background to catch up – the Childcare Act integrated the
supplementary family allowance replacing the regular childcare support into the
family support system, and it offers a single-time educational allowance to
children going to school.
The
Government of Hungary being concerned about the situation of children and youth
has set up a Ministry of Youth and Sport
in early 1999. The creation of
the posts of child’s right representatives, and family and child legal
commissioners helping the efficient safeguarding of children’s rights belongs
to one of the major modifications of the Childcare Act. These legal posts will
enter into force in 2003. In addition to that, we have established the youth
communication system, which primarily aims at involving the child and youth
organisations into the defining of governmental priorities, and the division of
resources as widely as possible. Particular attention was paid to work closely
with large families’ organizations and those of the disabled.
The Government launched several tenders supporting the creation and
operation of child and youth self-governments to encourage children’s
involvement.
Last
year, a campaign was initiated to counter media programmes overwhelmed with
aimless aggressiveness. Our long-term aim is to create a so-called “trademark”
that would cover all areas involving children and youngsters, and would serve
as a sign of “no aggressiveness” for the parents.
In
terms of the protection of children and youngsters we focus on the repression
of drug abuse: a drug strategy was worked out that was approved by the
Government and the opposition parties alike last year. New drug prevention
model projects were launched with the assistance of the Government, a part of
which is drug prevention in schools. In addition to that, my Government made
steps to keep young people away from drug abuse by supporting institutions
organising alternative leisure-time and sports programs.
In
November 2001, we were proud to host a successful European regional meeting on
actions against sexual harassment of children in co-operation with the Council
of Europe, UNICEF. It was an honour for us that the representative of the
Government of Hungary presented the conclusions of the meeting at the Yokohama
World Conference last December.
Mr. President,
In
the twelve years that have passed since the political changes in Hungary the
conditions to form a new vision of the future for the young generations have
surfaced. Information society has become a reality, and our joining the
European Union is at hand. It is not only the shaping up of a new vision of the
future that is important for the young generations, but a new basis has to be
found for the relationship between the state and its young citizens. Young
generations are exposed to several controversial influences in this dynamically
mobilised society. The new role of the state urges to offer guidance to young
people for that they can differentiate between the valuable and the invaluable
in our ever-changing world. Assistance in the self-definition of the young
citizen by any special means of the state is also an important factor in
legislation. The draft of the Youth Act is being drawn up in accordance with
the above, which aims at carrying out our goal to give local governments a
special allocation for youth affairs from the state budget, thus they can finance
children and youth facilities. The provision of the Youth Act provides free
Internet access to every young person is important to be mentioned as well.
Mr. President,
The
Government of the Republic of Hungary is strongly committed to the full implementation
of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This significant international
legal document provides an appropriate basis for the respect of children’s
rights. In this context, I would like to stress that Hungary is a party to
almost all human rights conventions, including instruments on children. My
Government has signed the two Optional Protocols of the Rights of the Child,
and the constitutional process of ratification is underway.
I
am fully convinced that children should be involved into the preparation of the
decision making process about their human rights and fundamental freedoms.
On
behalf of my Government I would like to express our gratitude to the the Preparatory Committee for its efforts
aimed at drawing up a consensus-based, coherent and forward-looking final
document for this Special Session. Hungary shares the concerns that there is a
significant gap between political intention and the achieved results. In
accordance with the above, I would like to emphasise that we will do our utmost
to have a final document that describes priorities and target-oriented aims in
terms of the full respect of the rights of the child.
Thank you, Mr. President