Bush Urges Full Effort for Children

NEW YORK —  President Bush Sunday urged the World Summit for Children to “strive together” so that “children can be saved” as his Administration insisted it would not sign an international convention protecting children because the treaty forbids execution of minors.

“Our children are a mirror, an honest reflection of their parents and their world,” Bush told the more than 70 heads of state and government gathered together at the United Nations for the summit.

Sometimes, “we simply don’t like what we see,” he added, but “we must never turn away.”

Although the unprecedented summit was called to focus world attention on the plight of children--tens of thousands of whom die each day of malnutrition and easily prevented diseases--the problems of adults heavily overshadowed its pageantry.

Bush, for example, cut short his speech so that he could return to Washington to announce agreement on a federal budget pact that will sharply limit his Administration’s spending on child welfare programs at home and foreign aid abroad.

And other world leaders sandwiched attendance at the summit between rounds of lavish dinners and meetings to discuss international trouble spots.

Bush, after returning here from Washington late in the afternoon, skipped the summit’s closing session Sunday evening to meet with a series of world leaders.

Illustrating the delicate choreography of international diplomatic scheduling, Bush’s staff arranged to fit six heads of government into less than three hours, devoting a half hour each to Latin American leaders Fernando Collor de Mello of Brazil, Carlos Salinas de Gortari of Mexico and Carlos Andres Perez of Venezuela but squeezing President Vaclav Havel of Czechoslovakia, Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez of Spain and King Baudouin I of Belgium to 15 minutes each.

Afterward, Bush dined and met for two hours with Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The twin highlights of the summit are a declaration of many parts, which outlines steps needed to improve the lot of the world’s children, and a binding international convention that would provide children with rights under international law.

The Administration agreed to the non-binding declaration but balked at the convention because it would forbid execution of anyone under the age of 18. The Supreme Court has held that the U.S. constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” forbids executions of children 15 and younger but allows execution of older minors. Although most states, including California, allow executions only of persons over 18, several have set a younger age.

So far, 126 nations have signed the U.N. convention on children and 49 have given it final ratification.

Although virtually all nations profess to support the goals of the summit--ending disease, hunger, poverty, illiteracy--Sunday’s speeches made clear that strong differences remain on how to achieve those ends.

Thatcher, for example, departed from her prepared text, she said, to “get some kind of debate going.” She stressed the importance of limiting population growth. “Family planning is absolutely vital; otherwise we will not be able to get at the problems we now have,” she said.

West German President Richard von Weizsaecker made a similar point. “In many places stemming the tide of population growth is literally a question of life or death of children,” he said.

Bush was once a strong proponent of international family planning programs, but he has carefully avoided the issue since becoming President because family planning programs are strongly opposed by anti-abortion groups. Sunday, he did not mention the question.

Similarly, Latin American and African presidents, many of whose nations face very high levels of population growth but whose people have often been resistant to family planning programs, generally avoided the issue, concentrating instead on the problems of poverty.

Under strict U.N. security, leaders were escorted to their seats in the emerald-carpeted General Assembly Hall by children in national costume holding miniature flags of their countries. Large portraits of children from every continent adorned the walls. A children’s chorus sang of peace.

Escorting Bush to his seat was 14-year-old Justin Lebo of Saddle River, N.J. Lebo said he was chosen because he was designated a “point of light” under Bush’s program to recognize volunteer service to others. Bush, however, was not aware of his award.

“He asked me how I was picked,” to be the escort, Lebo said, “and when I told him I was a ‘point of light,’ he asked me what number I was.” He was No. 197, recognized for having repaired bicycles to be given to underprivileged children.

The United Nations estimates that during the two-day summit, which began Saturday, 2,800 children worldwide will die of whooping cough, 8,000 more from measles, 4,000 from tetanus, 5,500 from malaria, 22,000 from diarrhea and 12,000 from pneumonia--all preventable.

Times staff writer Don Shannon contributed to this story.