Twenty years after the UN adopted a treaty guaranteeing children’s rights, one billion are still deprived of food, shelter, and clean water, and nearly two hundred million are chronically malnourished, UNICEF reported on November 19th. The report, issued on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, said that more children are attending school and fewer are dying (Metro News, 20/Nov/09). UNICEF executive director, Ann Veneman said, “ … the challenge for the next twenty years is to build on the progress achieved, working together to reach those children who are still being denied their rights to survival, development, protection, and participation.”
Looking at the numbers, one may well ask, ‘what progress?’
One hundred and ninety three countries have ratified the treaty, so why are one billion still living in dire poverty? If the agreement is legally binding on all the countries who have ratified it, and only the US and Somalia have not, then shouldn’t we have seen more progress in twenty years? There is no reason to doubt the good intentions of UNICEF, but it will obviously need more than good intentions.
This is just another example of a reform not working, not fulfilling its promise. It doesn’t matter whether a reform is proposed by local, national or international governments, if it tries to make capitalism solve the problem, it will fail. Why? Because the problems are created by capitalism, are natural consequences of its normal operation. Capitalism is a system designed to produce surplus value, profit, that goes into the pockets of the investors, without regard to how, when, or where that is done, and it is very successful at doing that. Food, housing, medical care, clean water, etc., are only produced if there is a reasonable expectation of profit, and, if not, production does not occur, or, in some cases, unsold surpluses are destroyed. Thus anyone without the ability to pay must do without, even the necessities. That’s the way the system is. No amount of reforms, band-aid, or food-aid, is going to change that. Only COMMON OWNERSHIP of the production and distribution of wealth, where we all have control, can bring the obvious common sense reality of looking after our children properly.
