Canada failing its obligations to children: UNICEF

From EndCanadianPoverty.ca

• Date: November 20, 2007
• Source: CBC News
• Link to article: Canada failing its obligations to children: UNICEF

"High numbers of children living in poverty, poor health and state care suggest Canada is failing to meet its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, says a new report.

The UNICEF Canada report, which will be released Tuesday morning to coincide with National Child Day, recommends Canada create a children's commissioner and make the convention enforceable in court.

Canada ratified the international agreement in 1991 — as did all provinces by 1999 — but progress in implementation has been spotty, the report concludes.

"While there has been some progress for some children in some places, for too many children we've stalled or even regressed in some aspects of their health, development and protection," says the report.

"After 18 years, it's time to take our obligations seriously."Other findings of the report, based on earlier reports or from Statistics Canada, include:

• About one in six Canadian children live in poverty, a number unchanged in a generation.
• A child obesity rate of 26 per cent — one of the highest rates of obesity among children in developed countries.
• Infant mortality rates at five deaths per 1,000, a figure unchanged in five years.
• Canada has one of the highest rates of children in state care and in youth detention centres compared with other industrialized nations.
• Mental illness among children has risen, with only 20 per cent getting treatment."

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