GMC Convening Committee meeting concluded

Barcelona, 9th December 2010 – The Global Movement for Children’s
Convening Committee held its second annual meeting in Barcelona last week
where it opened with a leave-taking letter from GMC’s Chair Dean Hirsch,
former President of World Vision International. Hirsh is leaving World Vision
after a 35-year career with the last 15 as CEO. He expressed his gratitude for
the decades-long work in World Vision International and pledged his ongoing
commitment to children and their rights. The representative of World Vision
International in the GMC and its chair will now be Corina Villacorta, Executive
Advisor on Child Rights.
Corina is from Peru and chaired the GMC Latin
American And Caribbean Chapter in 2009. 


The meeting was also attended by Bill Bell (Save the Children UK), Fabrizio
Terenzio (ENDA Tiers Monde), Jorge Freyre (REDLAMYC) and Miquel de
Paladella (Global Movement for Children). The two-day meeting devoted
the first half to discussing the challenges the Movement faces in the years
to come. The issues raised were the weak accountability mechanisms
allowing governments to marginalise pro-child policies and investments; the
marginalisation of A World Fit for Children (WFFC) agenda, the outcome of the
UN Special Session on Children; and the progress in meeting the MDGs that
has not affected the poorest in most parts of the world, among others. The GMC
CC discussed possible ways of re-invigorating the Movement and putting child
rights in the centre of the political and public debates.

The discussion on child rights in the global context was followed by the
presentations of regional progress reports and the plans for the 2011. The
Committee noted the great progress in Latin America and the Caribbean
in coordinating actions in fighting violence against children and promoting
investment. It also congratulated the Child Mobility working Group in West and
Central Africa for the work done in the región, that inspired the Children on the
Move Conference.

The GMC Convening Committee agreed to focus the 2011 efforts on Children
on the Move and in promoting the Commitment to Children Initiative. The former
will be directed to jointly advocate for support and protection of children on the
move as a follow up to the International Conference organised in Barcelona
in October 2010. A coalition of four UN agencies (ILO, IOM, UNHCR and
UNICEF) and some international NGOs such as Plan, Save the Children,
Terre des Hommes and WVI among others will be leading this effort under the
GMC umbrela. The GMC will continue to develop the Commitment to Children
Index and a series of campaigning activities to strengthen the level of action for
children globally.

Finally, the GMC-CC debated the governance model of the Movement in an
effort to stregthen the visión of a united and more influential global movement,
able to mobilise and coordinate advocacy in the Global South and North. A
decision was taken to analyse alternatives in the next GMC-CC meeting in April
2011 in New York to be presented by the GMC Secretariat with the support of a
consultant.