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United Nations Special Session on Children

World leaders will gather today in New York for a Special United Nations Session focused on global progress for children and the key role that investment in children can play in building global peace and security.

The Special Session bears significant for Sri Lanka and the rest of the world as it will review what has been achieved for children since the World Summit for Children held in 1990 and what is yet to be achieved. The conference, which will be held from May 8 to 10 is expected to focus on how investment in children's education, health, and protection contributes to global stability and peace.

The General Assembly of the UN formally meets to consider the situation of children and young people under the age of 18. The Special Session also represents the first time that young people will be part of Government delegations and will present their case themselves to the General Assembly. Many young people will also be participating in the supporting events.

The UN Session for Children will conclude with the adoption of a new set of global goals focused on children and an action plan to guide initiatives for children during the next decade. The Plan of Action will address four major areas of concern - health, education, child protection and HIV/AIDS - and contains provisions for fostering partnerships, mobilizing resources and monitoring implementation.

In June last year United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a progress report detailing what had been done toward the goals set in 1990 and what had been left undone. Entitled "We the Children", the report contains information from 135 national-level reviews, comprising the most comprehensive picture ever assembled of the global child. It has since been updated to reflect even more recent data.

"The world has fallen short of achieving most of the goals of the World Summit for Children," wrote the Secretary-General, "not because they were too ambitious or were technically beyond reach. It has fallen short largely because of insufficient investment."

The Special Session will be one of UN's most highly attended conferences.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga will be heading the Sri Lanka delegation and several NGOs and child delegates will also be attending.

More than 60 heads of State or Government, 170 high-level delegations, Religious leaders, over 200 parliamentarians from 77 countries, plus 2,000 delegates representing NGOs will fill the meeting rooms. Leaders of private foundations and businesses are expected to commit to new educational and health care initiatives for children and young people.

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