GLOBAL OVERVIEW Changing the world: with children and for children By Ximena de la Barra The developing world is experiencing the largest ever generation of children and youth. Around 1 billion people _ one out of every six on the planet _ are between 10 and 19 years of age, 85% of them in developing countries. Because of the considerable drop in fertility rates, the children of today will constitute the largest-ever generation of active people. This is perhaps the greatest development opportunity the world cannot afford to miss. The Convention of the Rights of the Child consolidates the position of children and adolescents as subjects of rights rather than objects of compassion. It also places families and states in a position of responsibility towards them, and gears adults to visualize children in relation to their potential, rather than to the demands they pose on society. They are the main source of inspiration, innovation, creative strength, new values, and of new dreams with which to build a prosperous and humane society. The current neo-liberal, growth and export oriented development model is missing this opportunity. It is not eradicating poverty, but increasingly exacerbating the political, economic and social exclusion of the majority of the population. It fosters poverty, disparities, environmental degradation, violence, social disintegration and loss of governability as cheap labor, the absence of social benefits, the destruction of labor organizations and the relinquishment of environmental management are instrumental to this model. Currently, the richest 1 per cent of the world's population holds as much income as 57 per cent of the poorest people. An estimated 2.8 billion people _ almost half of humanity _ live on less than US$2 a day, while 1.2 billion survive on less than US$1 a day. More than half of the poor are children, and more than half of them are urban. More than 30,000 children die daily of preventable causes and so do over 500,000 women yearly of pregnancies or child-birth related causes. Working to eat - a teenage child labourer toils at a Moroccan tannery. Photo: © UN-HABITAT Recent improvements in child well-being have mainly benefited the middle and high-income groups, whereas disadvantaged groups have benefited less and less or have deteriorated. Foreign debt of developing countries, initially acquired to escape from poverty, continues to spiral and is limiting the ability to invest in children. Investment in basic services including primary health care, reproductive health, nutrition, water and sanitation, are crucial if child rights to survival and development are going to be complied with, if poverty is going to be eradicated, and if disparities are going to be reversed. Cities are the physical expression of societies which build them and the political, social and economic interactions of their inhabitants. They reflect prevailing inequalities and manifest themselves as segregated cities, which only serve the few, excluding the many from the benefits of citizenship. Human and child rights-based urban policies, going way beyond sound urban design, are the perfect tool to balance society and reverse disparities, guaranteeing citizens' rights of equal access to urban space and services, to decision-making processes and equal living conditions. The richest 1 per cent of the world's population holds as much income as 57 per cent of the poorest people. More than half of the poor are children, and more than half of them are urban. In order to achieve it, it is necessary to address the profound causes impeding it, that is to say, the economic, social, political and environmental circumstances that violate citizens' rights and especially those of children and adolescents. The challenge is to establish participatory national and urban governance systems that will promote economic security, social justice, and environmental respect, which are those essential elements for communities, families and individuals, especially children and adolescents, to develop fully. A child rights based city is a city where adults place children's rights as the main objective for its development and where children and adolescents' opinions are taken into account. The result will be an environmentally healthy city, socially safe, where the principle of solidarity and social responsibility as well as the feeling of belonging prevails, where play is stimulated, and where it is fun to live. Trends keeping the majority of the children in poverty and limiting their development are not irreversible since there is enough information, technology and financial resources to defeat these trends. Moreover, it has been proven that it is possible to achieve high levels of social development even without thriving economies if the right priorities are set and the political will is strong. What is lacking is the collective will to do so. Rather than passively witnessing the destruction of the future, should we decide to defeat the current negative trends, the active population of tomorrow would be placed in a position to fulfil their own aspirations and see compliance with their human rights. They would also be able to provide humanity with their imagination, creative energy and skills to ensure the basis for future development. But for this potential to materialise, rather than keeping children in poverty and deprived of opportunities, public policies need to be reoriented so that we have healthy, educated, happy and productive citizens of the near future. If negative trends have been disregarded before, this is the single most important moment in history to wake up, to give up our share of power and collectively take advantage of this window of development opportunity, while fulfilling child rights. Ximena de la Barra is UNICEF's Regional Policy Adviser for Latin America and the Caribbean.