GRACA MACHEL ACCEPTANCE SPEECH AT PRIZE GIVING

Issued by: Offce of the President

SPEECH BY GRACA MACHEL ON ACCEPTING THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE'S NORTH-SOUTH PRIZE.

Strasbourg, 28 January 1999

President of the Assembly;
President of the North-South Centre;
Secretary-General of the Council of Europe;
Distinguished Guests;

It is with deep appreciation that I have come from Africa to accept the honour of the North-South Prize.

The Award is a tribute to all those who have worked with me to focus international attention on the plight of the world's children.

It is an endorsement of all those who are taking steps to ensure that the world makes a priority of action to redress the plight of children.

Above all it gives recognition to the courage of the children themselves. They have taught us how painfully far we still are from according to the most vulnerable of humans the rights by which we define humanity.

I would also like to say how much I appreciate sharing the Prize with Lloyd Axworthy, who has made such an effective contribution to the campaign to rid the world of landmines.

THe honour is all the greater because the Council of Europe represents a great part of the industrialised world, and the Prize expresses a commitment to work with countries of the South for a new relationship. Central to that new relationship must be a partnership to correct the historic imbalances between the richer and the poorer parts of the world, the weaker and the more powerful.

By using this Prize to highlight the scourge of landmines and the state of the world's children, as well as the needs of development, you are encouraging concrete action to build this partnership.

You are declaring in the most practical way that Europe is part of the world's response to the greatest challenge facing humanity as the new millennium approaches.

When the Council of Europe was founded fifty years ago in defence of human rights and democracy, it formed part of a new international order aimed at preventing the repetition of the economic crises, destructive wards, and violation of human rights that Europe in particular had witnessed.

Today we are all challenged by the fact that millions across the globe live in impoverished and insecure conditions that prevent them from exercising the rights that have been proclaimed to be universal.

This is especially and shockingly true of children. Althou the problems are especially acute in the developing world, it is not only in the developing world that children are afflicted by the violence of poverty. The problem is a global one.

We have come to understand the scale of the horror better, thanks to the work of many international and national agencies. But the statistics still have the capacity to shock us, and rightly so. With your permission I will recall a few.

THe focus of my own work has brought home to me the impact of armed conflict on children. This includes:

2 Million children killed and 4,5 million have been wounded in wars in the past decade. Still more have been left homeless; orphaned; traumatised, not to speak of those who are raped;
Increasing numbers of children under 16, an estimated 300,000, have become involved in armed conflict as child soldiers.

When one looks more broadly at the condition of children one sees the justification of speaking of the violence of poverty:

The "Silent emergency" of malnutrition and preventable disease kills 12 million children each year.
Over 70 million children between 10 and 14 years are employed in child labour.
Millions have no home or family.

Today we are also becoming aware of the devastating impact that HIV/AIDS has on children. All too often we think of thie mainly as an adult problem. I must acknowledge that I myself have only recently understood the extent to which children are affected:

In sub-Saharan Africa, which had borne the brunt of this disease, AIDS has by now orphaned an estimated 8 million children.

I am aware that one of the criteria for receiving the North-South Prize is "the demonstration of clear hope for the future of human rights protection". But I think all of us will acknowledge that at times it is not easy to speak about the suffering of children without feeling tempted to despair.

What leads us in this direction is an apparent discrepancy between our principles and our practice where children are concerned.

After all, the modern world economy has the capacity to produce more than enough to meet their needs.

And the international community has developed an unprecedented array of institutions, policies and declarations that proclaim the rights of children and other vulnerable groups. There is a host of conventions, treaties and other instruments that guarantee those rights and entrench them.

And yet in many respects the situation of children has worsened. This is not to ignore or devalue the significant advances and improvements that have been made. Nor is it a counsel of despair. But we cannot escape the contradiction between what, as an international community, we have proclaimed ought to happen and the preventable wrongs taht happen in reality.

It is for that reason that we are led to speak of a moral crisis in humanity.

The recent world economic crisis has shown yet again taht although we are a single, interdependent, world in which none can escape the effects of such crises, the burden falls most heavily on the developing countries and on their peoples. And everything that we have learnt tells us that it is the children who will be feeling the harshest and the most permanent effects.

Can we therefore claim in all earnestness to love our children - the children of the North and the South - if we do not also give the most serious attention to preventing a world that has more than enough resources from dividing ever more deeply between rich and poor!

Can we speak sincerely of peace and allow the cynical exploitation of children as soldiers to continue! Whether it is facilitated by the spread in far away countries of light weapons mainly manufactured in the North, or by the failure of the international community to raise the age of recruitment to 18, we must bring it to an end!

Can we speak of effective international norms of justice until the International Criminal Court is fully empowered to deal with atrocities committed against children and women!

I believe that the Council of Europe does give us some reason to think that it is possible to hope for a better future for children.

In establishing a North-South Centre; in choosing to associate its fiftieth anniverary celebrations with action for global solidarity and the eradication of poverty; in choosing Africa as the principal focus of its relations with the South, the Council bears witness to a mobilisation in Europe to help realise our shared vision of a beter world.

We also take note that it was under the Portuguese Presidency of the Security Council that the relevance of the violantions of child rights for international peace and security gained new recognition. This has created important opportunities to improve standards for the protection of children, to strengthen humanitarian assistance and to mobilise resources towards these ends.

However hopes have too often been confounded for us to be complacement. Too often, resolution to redress distant wrongs has been blunted by the urgency of more immediate interests.

What is required is determined, concerted and sustained action by the nations of the world in a partnership of industrialised and developing countries, and between governments and their peoples.

By paying tribute to those who work to make the world a better place for our children, you are helping to put these issues high on the agenda of one of the most powerful associations of nations as it renews its relationship with the developing world.

In that spirit I gratefully accept the North-South Prize.

For our children's sake, led us carry our principles into action.

I thank you