United Nations Children's Fund

 

RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
United Nations Children's Fund

  The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 38/175 of 19 December 1983, Taking note of Economic and Social Council decision 1984/171 of 25 July 1984, Having considered the report of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children's Fund on its session held at Rome from 24 April to 4 May 1984, and having noted in particular in this context the Board's discussions on achieving the child survival and child development revolution and on the present emergency situation in Africa, Reaffirming the principles and guidelines for programme activities established by the Executive Board in its efforts to reach the most disadvantaged in order to bring about a major improvement in child survival and child development, taking special advantage of developments in primary health care techniques and communications, Noting the recommendations of the International Conference on Population, 1984 and the Mexico Declaration on Population and Development, which stated, inter alia, that those developments have the potential to achieve a virtual revolution in child survival, Acutely aware that the present global situation adversely affects vulnerable groups, such as children, and therefore makes the need for those efforts all the more critical,

1. Commends the policies and activities of the United Nations Children's Fund;

2. Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children's Fund on its

1984 session;

3. Urges the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund, within the context of the basic services and primary health care approach for children in the delivery of programmes, to continue and intensify his efforts on the basis of recent developments in the social and biological sciences that present a new opportunity to bring about a virtual revolution in child survival and child development, at a low cost and in a relatively short time, in accordance with the relevant decisions of the Executive Board of the Fund and in co-operation with other relevant bodies and organizations, in particular the World Health Organization;

4. Notes with satisfaction the important efforts made by the Executive Director of the Fund to respond to the present critical emergency situation of children and mothers in Africa and urges him to continue his efforts in this respect, as well as to continue to implement child survival and child development activities generally in Africa in accordance with the decisions of the Executive Board of the Fund;

5. Reaffirms the goals of the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade with reference to children, in particular the goals of ensuring children's immunization against major diseases by 1990 and of reducing the infant mortality rate to less than 50 per 1,000 live births in all countries by the year 2000, and notes the crucial role of the child survival and child development revolution in meeting those goals;

6. Reaffirms the role of the Fund as the lead agency in the United Nations system responsible for co-ordinating the follow-up activities of the International Year of the Child related to the goals and objectives concerning children set forth in the International Development Strategy;

7. Commends the Executive Director of the Fund for his continuing efforts to enlarge the resources of the Fund so that it can respond effectively to the needs of the developing countries, in continued pursuance of its mandate;

8. Expresses its appreciation to Governments that have responded to the needs of the Fund and expresses the hope that more States will come forward with positive responses;

9. Appeals to all Governments to increase their contributions so that, in the light of the current economic situation, the Fund may be able to strengthen its co-operation with developing countries and respond to the urgent needs of children in those countries.