The Millennium Development Goals and Children’s Rights

The Millennium Development Goals —which included eight objectives, 18 goals and 48 indicators- are defined as a system for following up the commitments embodied in the «Millennium Declaration». But these could only be achieved if children’s rights to health, education, protection and equality could be guaranteed. Most of these goals corresponded to the commitments established by the international community regarding compliance with many of the rights set out in the «Convention on Children’s Rights», in particular those established in the A suitable world for children Plan of Action which arose from the Special Session of the UN General Assembly in Favour of Children, held in 2002. This document set out the steps to be taken at the world level between 2000-2010 for designing public policies for children aimed at promoting child health, access to quality education, protecting children from all kinds of abuse and exploitation, and fighting HIV/AIDS, always giving priority to the child’s best interest. At the same time, the emphasis was placed on ensuring their participation as citizens with full rights in all decisions which affect them because, to a large extent, the possibility of making a better world depends on them. It also established the commitment to allocating additional personal and material resources to meet the needs of children, given their gravity and urgency.