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A promise to all children ' everywhere
Twenty-five years ago, on Nov
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wenty-five years ago, on Nov. 20, 1989, world leaders made a big commitment: by adopting the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) they promised to do everything in their power to promote and protect the rights of all children, everywhere.
The CRC led to a fundamentally new view of children: rather than being seen as objects of care and charity, it made them subjects in their own right.
Indonesia became one of the first countries to sign the CRC. Since then, the country has initiated a comprehensive legal reform to bring its legislative framework in line with the CRC. The most recent attempt was Law No. 11/2012 on the Juvenile Justice System.
Indonesia's commitment to implementing the CRC has led to strong improvements in children's opportunities to grow up healthy and develop their potential. The mortality rate of children under five years of age has declined by more than half, from 84 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 29 in 2013. This has saved more than 5 million Indonesian children who would have died if the under-five-mortality rate had remained at the 1990 level.
But challenges abound that continue to hamper the effort to ensure that every Indonesian child is enjoying the rights enshrined in the CRC. Indonesia's rapid economic development has left many children behind, particularly in rural communities and in urban slums. Disparities between rich and poor are also on the rise.
The Gini index, which measures the distribution of income and consumption expenditure between households, increased from 29.2 in 1990 to 38.1 in 2013, with zero being defined as perfect equality and 100 as absolute inequality.
At 37 percent, the national prevalence of stunted growth is alarmingly high, and in some provinces, like East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) , it surpasses 50 percent. This is particularly concerning given that malnutrition contributes to almost half of all cases of child mortality.
Close to half of childhood deaths occur in the first four weeks of life and in recent years, there has been hardly any reduction in neo-natal deaths.
Addressing this problem requires high-quality and readily accessible around-the-clock services, but up to 58 percent of districts in eastern Indonesia lack the capacity to manage obstetric and neo-natal complications.
A disease like diarrhea, which can be easily prevented and treated, remains a major child-killer in Indonesia, claiming 30,000 lives every year.
Poor sanitation, with around 55 million people still practicing open defecation, as well as weak hygiene practices and a lack of safe water contributes to diarrhea-related childhood death, illness and malnutrition.
Around 25 percent of girls in Indonesia are married before their 18th birthday, one of the highest levels in East Asia or the Asia-Pacific region. This exposes them to health risks, including early pregnancies, and deprives them of their childhood and education. Child marriage also leaves girls at risk of violence and abuse.
The 25th anniversary of the CRC provides an outstanding opportunity for the new Indonesian government to recommit and reconfirm its commitment to children's rights and to renew its global leadership in driving progress for children.
Overcoming these and other challenges requires a new way of thinking and a new way of acting.
In 2010, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) initiated an ambitious network of 'Innovation Labs' to come up with viable, scalable and sustainable solutions to persistent development challenges, involving local communities and building collaborative networks within countries.
The 'Innovation Labs' aim to facilitate and support local adaptation and use of new technologies and approaches to identifying and solving problems.
Globally, this has led to a number of outstanding innovations that are already improving lives in countries around the globe.
They range from the world's first solar-power rechargeable hearing aid battery charger, floating schools that provide year-round access to education for children living in flood-prone regions of Bangladesh, to community-based management of acute malnutrition.
UNICEF's flagship report, 'The State of the World's Children 2015 ' Re-imagine the future: Innovation for every child', which was launched on Nov. 20, provides a fascinating overview of such initiatives.
Many of these innovations were actually invented by teenagers. Indeed, UNICEF believes that youth must be a driving force for innovation to address long-standing development challenges in Indonesia.
Such innovations can drive economic growth and progress. They can also be a powerful tool to revitalize and strengthen the public sector, address poverty and inequities and promote civil society engagement in governance.
UNICEF Indonesia is supporting these developments, including through its initiative 'U Report Indonesia', a social media platform (using Twitter) that promotes adolescent and youth engagement in social development through opinion poll questions and knowledge-sharing for action.
The platform has a huge potential to promote youth participation and can be an important tool for engagement.
The government's support for this initiative is crucial.
The vision of the CRC can only be achieved if everyone works together to realize children's rights. Acknowledging the urgency and fostering a climate of innovation will strengthen our efforts to make sure that no child is left behind.
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The writer is UNICEF's Indonesia representative in Jakarta
