INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE CHILD CELEBRATED AT THE JHARNA-KALA GALLERY

The evening of 14 August 1979, the Mission of the Republic of Panama to the United Nations and the Meditation Group at the United Nations sponsored a reception in commemoration of the International Year of the Child, which was held at the Jharna-Kala Gallery on Madison Avenue.

Distinguished speakers from varied Permanent Missions offered brief remarks on the spirit behind the Year of the Child as well as expressions of solidarity and their commitment to the world's children. The Jhama-Kala Galler was at the time displaying among its collection the painting created as a special tribute to the Year of the Child by Sri Chinmoy. The programme also included the performance of Sri Chinmoy's song. "This Is My Year, " b)' a children's choir and the Meditation Group Singers. Excerpts from the programme follow.

His Excellency Dr. Jorge E. Illueca, Permanent Representatiue of the Republic of Panama to the United Nations:

Ladies and gentlemen; it gives me great pleasure in the name of the sponsors of this event to greet all of you and to express how much we appreciate your participation in this programme to commemorate the International Year of the Child.

I also wish to express our appreciation to the Jharna-Kala Foundation for the generous hospitality extended to us in the inspiring atmosphere of this art gallery, illuminated by the light of candor and joy of childhood that comes from the beautiful painting of Sri Chinmoy. as a supreme manifestation of mankind's oneness with the cause of the International Year of the Child.

The purpose which guides us today is to promote during the International Year of the Child and in the years ahead programmes of action to supply basic services for children at the national. regional and international levels. and to stimulate the world community to renew and reaffirm its determination to meet children's needs and to secure their fundamental rights. The adherence and dedication to the ideals of the International Year of the Child by UNICEF. by the International Year of the Child Secretariat. by the Interagency Advisory Group and by the organisaions of the United Nla tions system as well as many non-governmental organisations, constitute the greatest force for their achievement and deserve our recognition and gratitude.

It is indeed very fortunate that the thirty-fourth session of the General Assembly meeting next month will include in its agenda the item entitled "Internat ional Year of the Child: Plans and actions to improve the situation in the world, particularly in the developing countries." That item will be considered by the Assembly in a plenary meeting, in observance of the Year, and all Heads of State or  Government have been invited to issue special messages in connection with the Year.

I must conclude quoting from the message of the President of Panama. Dr. Aristides Royo, to the General Assembly: "1979. which is also dedicated to commemorate the twentieth Anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, shall be a Year dedicated by the national community to drive an exceptional effort to give full implementation to the fundamental rights of the child. so that he shall enjoy living in a society full of hopes with the benefit of a family providing the atmosphere of affection for the harmonious development of his personality. In this manner society shall endeavor to provide childhood with special care and protection which are essential to form the ideal man, the capable citizen, responsible for building the great future of mankind."

---

His Excellency Dr. Francisco Cuevas Cancino, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations:

Ambassador IIlueca, ladies and gentlemen; since I live in the neighbourhood, it is a great privilege to see that this building has now been transformed in a search for things of the spirit. And I hope that it is not merely a welcome addition to Madison Avenue, but also a beginning of something which might become a general practice.

Ambassador IIIueca has been kind enough to ask me to give you some thoughts on the matter of the International Year of the Child. Indeed, it was not an easy matter for the United Nations to decide on a Year of the Child . Childhood is one of those things in today's world which it is very easy to be for. Nobody is against children. But the idea was that this would be an opportunity to do something
for children . And since other years dedicated to certain ideas or subjects had already been observed by the United Nations, vast experience enabled the United Nations to make sure that this would be something positive and something different. So, instead of the Uni ted Nations just issuing a succession of pious declarations about how good it is to be a child and how respecta ble it is for society to care for chi ldren, the idea was to do something positive for children, to have a good hard look at what each country is doing fo r children - and what the country has done to improve their lot - and then to see where we have failed and how to make sure that those fai lings will not continue.

My Government was interested from the beginning in doing something for this Year. I had the privilege of inviting the Secretary-General to have the May meeting of the UNICEF Board in Mexico, and we also took advantage of that fact to convene a meeting about children by the Latin American Region. The result was that delegates came forward and said, "The fact is we have now  provided  for a number of our children's necessities. If you consider the situation twenty years ago, we have improved, but what is still to be done is immense."  Therefore, the delegates put together what is called the "Declaration of Mexico ," regarding the situation of children and childhood in Latin America . Many great truths are given there. And it is important that Governments recognise their failings. They realise that not enough has been done. For example, in education, that the efforts should be  redoubled, and that the situation of childhood and children around the big cities is very poor indeed. The rural child has great difficulty obtaining a primary education. As public education now exists in all our countries, it is very difficult for an individual to go from primary to secondary and then to university education - even with great personal will. I think this declara tion is proof of a general concern of Governments all over the world to make sure that 1979 would not bring merely an idle approval of principles, but would result in real action. In the beginning the concern about children was in some ways a means of assuring the propagation of the species. We have transcended that. The human species is not in danger. Therefore, we have to care about something beyond this: that the children of today, who are the men of tomorrow, will be able to achieve what we are not able to do; that they should be spiritually better; that they should be educationally more qualified; that their outlook should be more universal; and that, in spite of our present failings in this organisation, they should be able to go ahead and to do all those things that we are dreaming of. Your presence here is added proof that we are thinking along those lines, and it gives me great pleasure to thank you for the opportunity of addressing you. 

---

His Excellency Mr. Alejandro D. Yango, Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations:

1 am delighted and honoured to be present at this programme in celebration of the International Year of the Child at the kind invitation and initiative of His Excellency Mr. Jorge E. Illueca , the distinguished Permanent Representative of Panama to the United Nations, and the Meditation Group of the United Nations. The painting by Sri Chinmoy is indeed a fitting tribute to the International Year of the Child.

I have welcomed the opportunity to make a few remarks at this programme because of a deep and abiding conviction that the children of the world are the leaders of tomorrow and therefore, they should be reared with all the love, affection and protection we could give them under the best conditions so that they can mature into happy, healthy and responsible men and women . I was therefore very happy when the Philippines supported resolution 184 (XXXI) of the General Assembly proclaiming the year 1979 as the "International Year of the Child. "

Financially the Philippine Government has contributed one hundred thousand U.S. dollars to the IYC Secretariat to assist the Secretariat in implementing the lofty goals of the International Year of the Child. The Philippine Mission to the United Nations, for its part. has been engaged in fund raising campaigns in the City of New York on behalf of the International Year of the Child  In September 1979, the Philippine Communities Executive Council, a federation of Filipino communities in the tri-state area, will sponsor an exhibition of arts and crafts in Manhattan , the proceeds from which will be for the benefit of the International Year of the Child.

We hope we will be forgiven if we say we take pride in the fact that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the IYC Secretariat, is Dr. Estefania Aldaba Lim, the former Minister for Social Welfare of the Philippines. Needless to state, Dr. Lim has been vigorously dedicating her time and effort and contributing her creative energies towards helping make the International Year of the Child a big success.

Children are a great national asset. No one will gainsay that they are also our resource in promoting fellowship, international understanding and cooperation. If our children are raised with love and righ teo usness, we can look forward to a world of peace and harmony in which their creative energies are who lly devoted to peaceful pursu its. 

It is cultural and civic programmes such as this one which remind us, parents and adults, of our solemn duties and obligations to our children and to the children of the world, particularly to the less fortunate children of the Third World, who need the help of national governments, the international communty and the United Nations. I therefore take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation to Ambassador Illueca and to the Meditation Group for their initiative in sponsoring this worthwhie programme we are witnessing tonight.

---

His Excellency Dr. Emmanuel Esquea-Guerrero, Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations:

Ladies and gentlemen: I am deeply honoured by the opportunity which has been offered to me by the distinguished Representative Illueca to participate in this programme in commemoration of the International Year of the Child.

My coun try has shown solidarity with the cause of the children of the world, and this year, which has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of the Child, we have not hesitated to incorporate ourselves in the struggle launched by the Committee in charge of the activities of this year. For this reason we invite Dr. Etefania Aldaba- Lim to visit our country and she honoured us with her presence. I must be brief and in closing I wish to congratulate the distinguished Mission of Panama in the person of its Am bassador Illueca and the Group of Meditation at the United Nations, who have made his programme possible, as well as Sri Chinmoy, who created a painting in a special tribute to the Year of the Child. Thank you.

---

Mrs. Maryanne Nsubuga, Charge d 'Affaires (has since become Permanent Representative of the Seychelles to the United Nations):

Mr. Ambassador, distinguished ladies and gentlemen  Sri Chinmoy. it is indeed a great honour for me on behalf of my Government, the Republic of Seychelles , to join you in your contribution towards the commemoration of the International Year of the Child.

Like yourselves, I want to assure you that my Government and the people of the Seychelles have considered this International Year of the Child very seriously, for we regard this as a building process
for the future. Whatever we do today, we are bearing in mind the children's future development, education and place in society and the international community.

My Government and the people of Seychelles have already celebrated and continue to celebrate this great occasion . And some of the practical means we have already employed are, for example,
a survey and register covering all children with physical and mental handicaps, and those who are undernourished or suffering from malnutrition and neglect. This has been set up in order to provide special assistance and care for our children's well being.

In addition, a seminar to identify programmes for children will be held in October 1979. Also a National Commission under the patronage of Mrs . Geva Rene , the wife of the President of our Republic, will coordinate various activities.

On 11 June 1979 the Seychelles International Year of Children's Playground was officially opened by the President , Mr. France Albert Rene, and a creche was opened on West Mahe . The International Chi ldren's Day was celebrated by a Grand Children 's Parade and a Children of the World Show. As you can see, small as we are with our exiguous resources, we are seriously embarked on a programme to ensure the well being of all our present and future children.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, these are some humble contributions of the Seychelles, a nation ten thousand miles away in the Indian Ocean. And I thank the Ambassador and the people of Panama, the Meditation Group at the United Nations, and Sri Chinmoy, under whose auspices this event for the International Year of the Child is being held.

---

Ms. Nina Sibal, First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations:

I would like to convey the regrets of my Ambassador, who would have very much liked to be here but unfortunately could not join us to night. In any case, I am delighted to have this opportunity. I remember distinctly an occasion a few months ago when Sri Chinmoy presented one of his beautiful  paintings to Dr. Estafania Lim as a contribution to the International Year of the Child. At that time I said to myself, "I wish I could have the opportunity to see more of his works." Now I do and, as I said, I am delighted . There is in them such a beautiful, childlike quality that immediately strikes one - the lovely colours, the marvelous designs-and one remembers that in every genius there is definitely something of the child, just as in every child there  is something of the genius.

Sri Chinmoy represents in many ways what is India today and what has been India in the past. One of the ways you see here today in his strong advocacy of the rights of the child and of the cause of children. This has long been a tradition in India, and it is very much a living tradition today. In fact, the needs of children and the duties of adults to children form a part of our Constitution. Keeping that in mind, and inspired also by the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1974, the Indian Government evolved a national policy for children. Then came the United Nations proclamation of the International Year of the Child, and we evolved from our national policy a national plan of action for this year. It is a plan of action which concentrates on problem areas which are common to most developing countries: health, nutrition, sanitation . education, social welfare, good legislation, publicity and fund raising. We are concentrating on children of the age group from birth to 14 years, with special emphasis on children between birth and 6 years, as well as pregnant and nursing mothers. We look upon this programme as just a springboard, a starting point toward what is to be an evolving and ever-growing programme of action.

This is also the view of the international community, as I can personally testify from my experience in Mexico Ci ty, where the meeting of the UNICEF Executive Board took place just a few months ago and where the International Year of the Child was discussed at great length. It was not assessed, because we have not yet finished the Year of the Child, but it was discussed , and it was recognised that this is only the starting point. So, may I then express the wish that all of us together can do something to continue the effects of the Year of the Child far beyond 1979. Thank you.

---

Honoured guests at a reception for !YC sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Panama to the U.N. at the Jharna-Kala Gallery (left to right); Ms. Nina Sibal, First Secretary. Permanent Mission of  lndia to the U.N.; H.E. Mr. Alejandro D. Yango. Permanent Representattive of the Philippines; Sra. Emilia Castro de Barish, Alternate Permanent Representatiue of Costa Rica; H.E. Ms. Ana Esther de la Maza Vasquez, Alternate Representative of the Dominican Republic; H. E. Dr. J. E. lllueca, Permanent Representative of Panama; Sri Chinmoy; Mr. Seigfeld Wemers, Permanent Mission of Surinam (in background); Dr. Omar Jaen, Delegation of Panama; Lic. Pedro Briln Martinez, Delegation of Panama; Ms. Maryanne
Nsubuga, Charge d 'Affaires . a.i., Permanent Mission of Seycelles; Mr. Williams, Delegation of Panama; and H.E. Mr. E. Esquea-Guerrero, Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the U.N.

---

to add: link or reproduction of coverage of event in Diplomatic World Bulletin. (printed with Photo of Children singing in front of painting?)