UNITED NATIONS (AP) — More than 180 nations pledged to give the world’s two billion youngsters a healthier and more peaceful life at the end of the first UN children’s summit but US demands on the contentious issues of sex education, contraception and abortion disappointed its close allies in Europe and Canada.

At the end of two years of negotiations and a marathon 30-hour final blitz, the compromise deal that was reached and adopted by consensus just before midnight Friday didn’t seem to satisfy anyone — even the Americans.

Canadian envoy, Gilbert Laurin, said it “falls significantly short” of reaffirming the right to high-quality family planning as well as counselling and information for adolescents. Spain’s UN Ambassador Inocencio Arias, representing the European Union, regretted that it didn’t reflect past agreements that strongly supported sexual and reproductive health services.

The Child Rights Coalition, which represents more than 100 international non-profit organisations, called the deal “weak”. Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition, claimed “it was shoved down the throats of the rest of the world by the United States”.

Carol Bellamy, the executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund, was most enthusiastic about the new blueprint to improve the lives of children over the next 15 years, calling it “a strong, action-oriented document”.

It focuses on improving health, access to quality education, protection of children against abuse, violence and exploitation and fighting HIV/AIDS. It includes goals ranging from reducing malnutrition among children under five by at least one-third to increasing primary education to at least 90 per cent by 2010.

While US Ambassador Sichan Siv said the summit “will mean greater hope for children around the world”, the envoy to the UN Economic and Social Council outlined a host of US reservations to the final document.

The United States does not in any way view the final document as promoting “abortion or abortion-related services” or abortion as a method of family planning, he said. It also believes in the need “to practice abstinence, fidelity, and monogamy” and to support marriage between men and women and strong parental rights.

The US delegation had pushed the Bush administration’s agenda against abortion and in favour of sexual abstinence before marriage and of the traditional family — a stand backed by the Vatican and Islamic countries including Sudan, Syria and Iraq.

On the other side of the debate were the European Union and many Latin American and Western countries who support the successive agreements on reproductive and sexual health issues at five UN conferences in the last eight years and the programs they have generated — which they argue are crucial for young people.

Germain said the final document’s affirmation of the agreements at those conferences is very important, because it means “the progress in providing lifesaving health information and services for young people will continue” despite the Bush administration’s attempt to curtail them.

In a victory for the Bush administration, the document excludes the United States from a requirement barring the death penalty or life imprisonment for those under the age of 18.

Palestinian supporters also pushed for a reference to the plight of Palestinian children in the final document. But the issue was dropped when agreement was reached on the final document, called “A World Fit for Children”.

Early in the final negotiations, delegates settled a contentious issue between the United States and all other countries — how to refer to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was intended to be the global standard for children’s issues.

The convention has been ratified by 191 countries — all nations except Somalia and the United States. US President George W Bush’s administration opposed language saying the convention is “the standard” for children’s rights, because the United States is not a party, and diplomats said the text was reluctantly watered down.

“This is unacceptable,” Nobel Peace laureate, Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala, told The Associated Press. “All social organisations, but especially those focusing on children’s rights, have to repudiate this type of action.”

Former US President Bill Clinton’s administration signed the convention but never submitted it for Senate ratification because a number of groups argued that it infringed on the rights of parents and was inconsistent with state and local laws.

The Bush administration has also taken no action. Somalia signed the convention this week and is expected to ratify it, which will leave the United States as the lone holdout.

As delegates headed home, UNICEF’s Bellamy urged them to show commitment and “bold leadership”.

“If leaders keep the promises they have made, we can bring about enormous positive change in the world in less than a generation,” she said.