UN Council

-- Where young and old in the Philippines and abroad support and recognize each other as important members of society

September 5, 2005

Lauro L. Baja, Jr

Ambassador and Permanent Representative to UN Security Council

Philippine Center Building

556 5th Avenue

New York, NY 10036

Dear Ambassador Baja:

In September 2005, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will be presiding over a summit meeting of the Security Council, and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo is also scheduled to preside over a thematic debate in the Security Council on "The Role of Civil Society in Conflict Prevention and the Pacific Settlement of Dispute."

As a member of the Security Council (http://www.un.int/philippines/security_council/), the Philippines will focus its attention and energy on the following objectives:

Strengthen the collective security mechanism established under the U.N. Charter.
Emphasize the importance of the rule of law in the maintenance of international peace and security. (including, among others: the prevention of impunity by violators of human rights and international humanitarian law; and protection of civilians, their rights and freedoms
Provide a strong basis for a multilateral consensus in pursuing the Security Council’s primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

This month’s Summit provides a unique opportunity to have an open, frank and constructive dialogue with the members of UN Security Council, and to address a number of critical issues that threaten the international security and protection of human rights.

We are referring to the CNN-ITN documentary aired on August 9, 2005 entitled “UNICEF: Million Kids In Prison”. In the Philippines alone, the number of small children as young as 8 years old in the Philippines who are potential victims of sodomy, rape and abuse for being imprisoned with adult criminals has risen from 20,000 in 2003 to a soaring 52,000 in 2004 ! Similar problems have been documented in Pakistan, Albania, Brazil, Burundi and Indonesia.

Global outrage in response to the CNN documentary has resulted in the unified and intensified effort among both Filipinos and non-Filipinos throughout the world, to address this crucial human rights issue that further aggravates the already volatile political situation and conflict in the Philippines. In less than two weeks, a Petition to Save Philippine Children in Prison which was posted online on August 22 (http://www.petitiononline.com/FilChild), has elicited more than 4,000 signatures from around the world, urging the United Nations to hold the Philippine government responsible and accountable for its failure to protect the rights of Children in Conflict with the Law, as mandated by the UNICEF-sponsored Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The United Nations Human Rights Committee is also urged to take effective measures for immediate implementation of the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summery Executions, for the Philippine government to pass the Consolidated Juvenile Justice Act and provide appropriate funding to protect the human rights of Children in Conflict with the Law.

In his report entitled "In Larger freedom : Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All" that was presented on March 21, 2005 in preparation for the September Summit, the UN Secretary General stressed that these words from the UN Charter “convey the idea that development, security and human rights go hand in hand”. We therefore urge the President to address, discuss and resolve this crucial issue, among others, with the other members of the UN Security Council, for the sake of the millions of children whose international basic human rights are currently being violated.

As a corollary, we also would like to emphasize that the United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted by over 150 Heads of State in September 2000, resolved to halve the world’s poverty level by the year 2015. We urge the world leaders attending the United Nations Global Summit to consider various initiatives, including debt-for-equity proposals that would help to improve the poverty level of the most heavily indebted nations.

Sincerely,

Jocelyn H. Bruce, MD

Founding President & CEO, NANAY Inc

(On behalf of numerous national and international organizations concerned about the human rights of children in prison)

cc:

Ambassador Cesar F. Mayoral, Permanent Representative of Argentina (argentina@un.int)

UN Security Council Representative for Brazil (administrator@delbrasonu.org)

Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN (nycmis@um.dk)

Mr. Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, Permanent French Representative to UN Security Council - Press Office

(france@un.int)

Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN ( info@greeceun.org )

Ambassador Shinichi Kitaoka, Japan ’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN (mission@un-japan.org)

Secretariat, Permanent Mission of Romania to the United Nations (misiune@romaniaun.org; romania@un.int)

Leonid Skotnikov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (mission.russian@vtxnet.ch)

UK Mission to the United Nations (uk@un.int)

Ambassador John R. Bolton, Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations (usunpublicaffairs@state.gov)

Ambassador Abdallah Baali, The Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations (mission@algeria-un.org)

Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN (nycmis@um.dk)

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