Davos Open Forum 2004 – Children’s Rights

Children’s Rights, Public Service or Market Rules? The right to education and health are the most basic of children’s rights and should be a priority in public policies. All too often, however, the state fails to deliver on its obligations. 1) Is the degradation of public services an inevitable product of a globalized world? 2) Can privatization provide solutions that meet basic needs and do not exclude major sections of society? 3) What can be done to ensure that poor and marginalized groups benefit from economic and technological innovations? A session co-organized with the International Federation Terre des Hommes Enrique V. Iglesias, President, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington DC Ezra Mbogori, Executive Director, MWENGO, Zimbabwe Ignacio Packer, Programme Director, Terre des Hommes Foundation, Switzerland Mary Robinson, Executive Director, Ethical Globalization Initiative, USA A. Michael Spence, Philip H. Knight Professor Emeritus, Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA Moderated by Sally Bundock, News Presenter, World Business Report, BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation, United Kingdom