Landmark summit concludes with call for binding child protection agreements

AMMAN — The Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit 2018 concluded on Tuesday at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre in the Dead Sea, with participants stressing the need for more international efforts to ensure to education, protection, nutrition and physical and mental health for children.

“You're meeting today at the lowest point on earth and the only way to go is up," said HRH Prince Ali during the closing session of the summit, thanking the Laureates and Leaders for Children movement for their unwavering efforts to deliver a brighter future for children around the world. The Prince also called upon all attendees to continue in their march for children’s rights.  

Participants had called on the international community and the United Nations to reinforce efforts to secure peace and reduce global military expenditures by 10 per cent annually in order to allocate more funding towards sustainable development and services geared towards children, according to a statement from Prince Ali office.

Participants also called urged governments and international organisations to continue safeguarding children’s rights, particularly refugees, and to continue working toward safeguarding their access to education, protection, nutrition and physical and mental health.  

Laureates and children movements' leaders also stressed the importance of expanding the global database at Interpol to monitor child trafficking more effectively and to continue developing policies governing child labour. They also called for signing of a binding agreement against the sexual exploitation of children on the internet in order to better combat child pornography and other forms of online exploitation, the statement said.

A focal issue during the event was the establishment of a framework to guarantee that governments and international organisations honour their commitments towards child protection and ensure the prosecution of crimes against children. 

Participants also demanded more expedited decision making when tackling child protection given that 152 million children today are enslaved by child labour so that others can profit at the expense of their freedom, education and childhood. "Two hundred three million children have no access to formal education and 50 million around the globe are displaced due to war, violence, climate change and lack of opportunities. Annually, 3 million children die by the age of five due to malnutrition, while 7500 die daily due to preventable diseases."

"The summit had made history, while Jordanians have won the hearts of all by generously hosting refugees," Nobel Laureate and Founder of the Laureates and Leaders for Children movement, Kailash Satyarthi, was quoted in the statement as saying.