A/HRC/19/64 Beijing Declaration on South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in the Asia Pacific Region, November 2010 1. We, the delegations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of TimorLeste, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kiribati, Lao People‘s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Republic of Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vanuatu and Viet Nam, assembling to build strong cooperation and effective networking at the High Level Meeting for South-South cooperation for Child Rights in the Asia Pacific Region in Beijing, China, on 4-6 November 2010: Acknowledge with gratitude the excellent arrangements put in place for the consultations by the Government of the People‘s Republic of China as hosts, and the support of the United Nations Children‘s Fund (UNICEF); Note with satisfaction the positive engagement of the 28 participating governments at the High Level Meeting in exploring potential areas of future intra and inter-regional cooperation to advance, promote and protect the rights of child, within the framework of South-South cooperation; and Welcome the active participation of a number of partner organizations in Beijing with great interest in strengthening cooperation for the promotion of child rights in the Asia Pacific Region, namely the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP). 2. We reaffirm our commitment to the realization of all rights of all children within our respective national jurisdictions, as expressed in our universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and wide ratification of its two Optional Protocols: (i) on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and (ii) on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and other relevant human rights instruments. 3. We remain firmly committed to accelerate our ongoing efforts to achieve progress against internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, the Declaration and Plan of Action emerging from the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in 2002, and the World Fit for Children +5 Declaration agreed at the December 2007 Special Session on Children. Status of Children in Asia and the Pacific 4. We welcome the substantive progress that has been achieved by countries across the Asia Pacific Region in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and in advancing the situation of our children, in particular. We acknowledge, however, the challenges remaining for many countries over the next five years, as reflected in the 20-22 September 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals at the sixty-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly. We recognize that despite the development gains achieved in recent years, large numbers of children in Asia and the Pacific still do not have access to quality education and health care. We also recognize the urgent need to address issues of hunger, malnutrition, maternal and neo-natal mortality, child protection and income and social disparities, in particular. 59