I bring you greetings from Ghana and particularly from the Chief Justice of Ghana, Her Ladyship Chief Justice Georgina T. Wood whom I represent today.

Chairperson, Excellencies, Chief Justices, Children of the World, rapid globalization has created unprecedented political and economic changes in the last few decades.

ne of the major consequences of this has been not only an increase in opportunities for humanity but also an increase in the risks to humanity.

The special circumstances of Children means that their exposure to new hazardous conditions and substances, unsafe working conditions and exploitation and all the other deleterious consequences of globalization is particularly harmful to them.

The following recognition in the Bangkok Statement of March 2002 titled A pledge to promote the protection of Children's Environmental Health and made by scientists, doctors and public health professionals from various international organisations exemplifies the risks posed to children today:

"... a growing number of diseases in children have been linked to environmental exposures. These range from the traditional waterborne, foodborne and vector-borne diseases and acute respiratory infections to asthma, cancer ... certain birth dejects and developmental disabilities.

... environmental exposures are increasing in many countries ... new emerging risks are being identified; and ... more and more children are being exposed to unsafe environments where they are conceived and born, where they live, learn, play, work and grow. Unique and permanent adverse health effects can occur when the embryo, fetus, newborn, child and adolescent ... are exposed to environmental threats during early periods of special vulnerability.

... in developing countries ... environmental health problems affecting children are exacerbated by poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition, and include: indoor and outdoor air pollution, lack of access to safe water and sanitation, exposure to hazardous chemicals, accidents and injuries. Furthermore, as countries industrialize, children become exposed to toxicants commonly associated with the developed world, creating an additional environmental burden of disease.

That children have the right to safe, clean and supportive environments that ensure their survival, growth, development, healthy life and well-being is not disputed. This is especially because children are uniquely vulnerable to the effects of the threats in the world and must therefore be protected from injury, poisoning and hazards in the different environments where they arc born, live, learn, play, develop and grow.

There is arguably no better placed law to protect the rights of children than international law. First, all the major threats that children face today are international, not only in their real origin but also in their possible reach and impact. Second, insular national systems of law cannot always be trusted to have the last word in matters as critical as the well-being and welfare of children. And third, international law has already blazed a trail for the international protection of children that must be shored up and institutionalized.

The world is well aware of the singular capacity of international law to properly protect the world's children. For many decades several international instruments and treaties have been developed as the basis for the international protection of children. These include the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979 (CEDAW), The Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999, (ILO Convention 182) and several other ILO Conventions which make specific provision for the protection of children's rights. Others such as the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966 (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 (ICCPR) make general provision for the protection of human rights, and therefore the rights of children.

Chairperson, Excellencies, Chief Justices, Children of the World, the project of protecting the world's children, however, faces two principal challenges. The first challenge is that children have limited capacities and opportunities for influencing the ideologies, systems, structures and routines that order their daily lives. They particularly have limited abilities to vocalize their views on many of the issues that affect, them, and are dependent on adults and other interest groups to represent them in many aspects of their daily lives. While this phenomenon may be strength, it may also be a weakness. The risk is that the phenomenon of having others speak on behalf of children can consciously or unconsciously lead to the imposition of voicelessness on children, even in respect of matters which, experientially, are within the peculiar knowledge of children.

I am very glad that THE WORLD JUDICIARY SUMMIT is breaking this trend and providing a space for children to have an express voice on matters that affect them directly.
The second challenge that the protection of- children faces is the absence of an effective system for the enforcement of the elaborate systems for the international protection of children. In this regard, several other countries share the ideals of Article 51 of the Constitution of India. In the 1992 Constitution of Ghana for instance, Article 40 makes similar provisions requiring the Government of Ghana, in its dealings with other nations, "to promote respect for international law, treaty obligations and the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means". The Government of Ghana is also required to adhere to the aims and ideals of the United Nations and other international organisations of which Ghana is a member.

It is here that the role of the International Court of Justice (1CJ) becomes very relevant. As currently constituted, the 1CJ hears contentious cases only from states. It may also deliver advisory opinions at the instance of some international organizations.

I will like to use this forum to appeal to the international community to consider expanding the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice to cover the receipt of complaints at least from international NGOs who work for the benefit of the world's children.

Chairperson, Excellencies, Chief Justices, the domestic law on children and the international law on children are very appealing concepts. The international Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has 193 State Parties. My own country, Ghana, not only signed the Convention, but was the first to ratify it internationally. Comparatively, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has 160 State Parties while the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has 156 State Parties. While the Convention on the Rights of the Child came into force in September 1990, less than one year after it was adopted, the two Covenants came into force in 1976, ten years after they were adopted. The point I am trying to make is that it will not be too difficult to convince the world that the expansion of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice to cover the receipt of direct complaints from international organizations that work for the world's children must occur now.

Chairperson, Excellencies, Chief Justices, Children of the World, I will like to conclude this address by noting a relatively new phenomenon in the agenda for the protection of the world's children that we must name and confront.

The close of the last century and the beginning of this century have experienced events which have radically changed the global perception that children are perhaps the weakest and mentally lesser-developed segment of the human race and therefore need our protection and continuous superintendence. During this period, we have seen the role of children in war as child soldiers and in terrorist camps as recruits assume an increasing trend. This radical inversion of the traditional role of children from one of weakness, meekness and suppliance to one of dominator and even terrorist requires the re-envisioning and re-programming of the international law on children.

This new role of children cannot be adequately addressed by the isolated domestic legal systems of the many countries of the world. The international arms business, the conflicts that it fuels, and the role of children in those conflicts, is anything but national and domestic, it is international. And terrorism has always had international dimensions especially in the ways in which it has manifested itself in the last decade.

These global phenomena deserve global responses. In our world today, it is only international law that has the capacity to develop and effect a system of international governance for the common good of humanity, especially the good of the children of the world who are tomorrow's leaders.

Chairperson, Excellencies, Chief Justices, Children of the World, on behalf of the Chief Justice of Ghana, 1 would like to thank you for your attention.