Second Quarter 2002

 Controversial UN Special Sessionon Children The World Federation for Mental Health sent four representatives to theSpecial Session of the General Assembly on Children which was held on8-10 May at UN Headquarters in New York. They were President Elect PattFranciosi, Main Representative Nancy Wallace, the Federation’sRepresentative to UNICEF, Carol Kessler, and a WFMH member, RichardDonahue. Another WFMH Representative, Ricki Kantrowitz, attended the NGOevents associated with the Special Session.

This major meeting included high-level government representation(together with 240 children in the official delegations), and 1,700 NGOrepresentatives. The official government conference involved manyprivate meetings and intense final negotiations among coalitiongroupings. The NGO delegates held many meetings of their own and cametogether in advocacy groups to press specific issues such as the rightto education, and opposition to child labor, the sexual exploitation ofchildren, and the recruitment of children in armies. Young people werevery visible in presenting their views.The Special Session was the culmination of a long process of priornegotiations among governments, and had been postponed from September2001. The much anticipated event proved in the end to be generallydisappointing, as the governments engaged in last-minute negotiations inwhich the Western powers took the outcome document in unexpecteddirections.The reproductive rights of young people (and the question ofabortion) became a central issue, polarizing the Session between thosewho favored empowering adolescent women through education andreproductive health services and those took a conservative view focusedon medical care during pregnancy. The United States took a strongconservative stand against the inclusion of abortion in reproductivecare, while the European Union finally reduced its backing forreproductive services in exchange for a somewhat limited reference tothe abolition of the death penalty for adolescents who have committedcrimes.Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General of the World HealthOrganization (right)and Patt Franciosi, President Elect of WFMH, at the WHO photo call inthe lobby of the UN Headquartersfollowing Dr. Brundtland’s address on “The Last Mile to End Polio” atthe Special Session on Children.The final document does not refer to reproductive health services foradolescents, but calls for “ready and affordable access to essentialobstetric care…post-partum care and family planning in order to, interalia, promote safe motherhood.” Critics considered the final documentwas a substantial step backwards from the UN Conference on Women inBeijing in 1995 and the follow-up conference “Beijing plus 5” in 2000.Government negotiations on child labor also led to compromises, whichresulted in failure to adopt the standards promoted by the InternationalLabor Organization. In the weakened final text, there was no mention ofa minimum age for child workers. It referred to “the worst forms ofchild labor” (that is, trafficking in children and the recruitment ofchild soldiers) rather than children who are pushed into the workforceby poverty, and have no chance of full-time education. A proposal tocompile new data on child labor was dropped. Even provisions related tohumanitarian aid for children in displaced families and in armedconflicts were dropped.Many NGOs were disappointed that the outcome document of theconference did not give a central place to the Convention on the Rightsof the Child, the most widely ratified UN Convention (though not signedby the United States). It has been used by many countries to strengthenchildren’s rights at the national level, and has valuable provisions forcollecting information. This year’s WFMH World Mental Health Dayplanning kit highlighted the importance of the Convention, and a numberof other issues on the Special Session’s agenda.[Source: “On the Record for Children” was a useful resource for thisreport. It is the newsletter of the NGO Committee for UNICEF, a networkof 125 NGOs that work closely with UNICEF. Past issues can be found atthe NGO Committee’s website: www.ngosatunicef.org]News from the Regions EuropeMental Health Europe has participated in a study on “Disability andSocial Exclusion in the European Union – time for change, tools forchange.” Seven organizations worked together to collect information onthe causes of social exclusion among disabled people, covering suchmatters as extra costs of disability, lack of access to a socialenvironment, unemployment, and the lack of specialized services. MHEcontributed information on specific difficulties faced by people withmental health problems. The research was carried out in 2001 and anevaluation meeting to close the project was held on 1-2 March 2002. Thefinal report is now available. Contact the MHE Secretariat at [email protected],or fax: 32 2 280 1604.Western PacificTaiwan Board member Chueh Chang, president of the Mental HealthAssociation in Taiwan, has started a weekly hour-long educational radioprogram on mental health topics which is heard throughout the island.She examines a different issue over four programs each month. The firstthree programs examine the topic from the viewpoint of publicperception, followed by contributions from people who have experiencedthe problem and their families, and then from teams of professionalsworking in mental health. The fourth program invites the public to callin for an open discussion.The Mental Health Association held a policy conference organized byDr. Chang in conjunction with its annual meeting in April. More than 200consumers, family members, physicians and other professionals attended aprogram on improving government policies which affect people with mentalillnesses. Afterwards they divided into discussion groups to considernational health insurance; the financing, quality and evaluation ofservices; legislation; and the reduction of discrimination and stigma. 

NGO World Forum and UN Second World Assembly on AgeingMadrid,April 2002

1. To gather relevant information concerning a) the impact ofanxiety and depression and related disorders on the public healthstatus of citizens, and b) mental health promotion, prevention,early detection and early management of these problems;
2. To identify and evaluate strategies, programs and models of bestpractice from different countries;
3. To develop Regional strategies for mental health promotion andprevention…based on the information acquired from differentcountries and from other sources;
4. To develop and carry out an integrated strategy forcommunication and dissemination of the aims, mechanisms andoutcomes, using appropriate media most likely to a) raise awarenessamong relevant professionals, policy makers and the general public;and b) encourage effective policy development and implementationwithin States.

The expected results of the program would be a strategy to combatanxiety, depression and related disorders in older people; reportsdescribing the burden on public health; a directory of best practicesand selected model programs; and broad dissemination and implementationof the results.