I think, Mr. Garneau, that the convention has had an extremely positive effect in terms of underscoring to member states, particularly those in a developing context, the need for them to undertake work to bring forward public policies that really put children at the centre of their agendas, whether it be in the health area or the education area. They understand clearly that their ability to progress as societies is intrinsically linked to their ability to ensure their children have the possibility of a future.
If children are dying under the age of five, they will never have the opportunity to be contributors to their society. The Convention on the Rights of the Child actually was the instrument, if you will, that put the issue that you must put children first, from the point of view of what you're doing in governance no matter what your context is, and that then exhorted countries such as ours and others in the developed world to provide the assistance, expertise, and capacity-building resources so that countries could up their game, as it were.
Certainly from what we see here on a daily basis from countries whose GDP per capita is extremely low is that they are as committed to wanting to do as much as they can for their children as we are. But the fact is that their systems, their programming, the ability to reach people in remote areas where they don't have roads or infrastructure, all work against their ability to deliver the kinds of services Madam Jacovella spoke of on maternal, newborn, and child health.
The sadness of children under five dying is that most of them die from things that are preventable, things such as water and sanitation, and nutritious food that they're not able to get because of where they happen to be or their economic circumstances.
UNICEF today is the UN's brand that is best known and appreciated around the world. I think as a catalyst to putting children at the focal point and really giving UNICEF...the convention certainly has served that purpose and is taken seriously by countries, notwithstanding, perhaps in some cases, very limited abilities to do the kinds of things that they know they ultimately must to ensure their children have a prosperous future possibility.