From the Secretary-General
Refuting an Assertion

Kofi Annan, wearing a UNICEF tie, with Elmo while taping a segment of the television show “Sesame Street”. (UN Photo)

The desire for our children’s well-being has always been the most universally cherished aspiration of mankind. The United Nations General Assembly’s Special Session on Children … is a historic opportunity for world leaders to renew their commitment to creating a world fit for children. It is also a natural successor to the Millennium Summit, at which those leaders pledged to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, to reduce child and maternal mortality, to provide clean water and basic education for all, to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and to reach many other development goals that are vital for our children’s future.

It is sometimes said that at United Nations conferences goals are ever set but never met. This report refutes that assertion. It demonstrates, with facts and figures, how the 1990 World Summit for Children, at that time the largest gathering of world leaders in history, was indeed very systematically followed up and rigorously monitored and has resulted in many impressive achievements. Not least, it catalysed political commitment behind the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is now the world’s most widely embraced human rights instrument. The fact that not all the goals and targets of the World Summit were fully achieved should now serve as a spur for greater political support, increased resources and more dynamic social mobilization.

There is no task more important than building a world in which all of our children can grow up to realize their full potential, in health, peace and dignity.

Links:
We the Children: End-decade review of the follow-up to the World Summit for Children (Links to PDF file)