A coalition of over 40 international, regional and national NGOs and networks have issued a joint call to member States of the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) to focus the 2014 Resolution on the Rights of the Child on strengthening family care and providing appropriate alternative care for children. Since 2005, the UN General Assembly has highlighted one thematic area of children's rights in its annual resolution, but it has so far not addressed children without appropriate family care. The UN GA session in 2014 will be particularly key as it will be the 5th Anniversary of the adoption of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. The joint statement reminds member States that "as five years have passed since the adoption of the Guidelines, it is time to take stock of the progress made and how we have moved forward and look at the impact that the Guidelines have had on the lives of children."
2014 is also the 20th Anniversary of the International Year of the Family and a year of intense preparations and negotiations for the establishment of a new post 2015 development framework. The joint statement underlines that a thematic focus on children's care should also be linked with the current debate on the successor of the MDGs and how to include child protection and care in the post-2015 framework.
More organisations and networks are joining the call and an updated list of endorsing organizations will be published on a regular basis.
For more information about the joint statement, or if your organization would like to endorse it, please contact Florence Martin at: florence.martin@bettercarenetwork.org or Barbara Ammirati at: Barbara.Ammirati@sos-kd.org
