Children: 'investments, not expenses'.

• Author: Katsigeorgis, John
• Position: United Nations Special Session on Children

Over 2,600 delegates from 119 countries attended the United Nations Special Session on Children, which was held in New York from 8 to 10 May, to review the follow-up to the 1990 World Summit for Children. It brought together government leaders, non-governmental organizations, children's advocates and children themselves to investigate enduring obstacles to young people's welfare and development.

The Session featured high-level participation of children in an unprecedented number and helped to demonstrate General Assembly President Han Seung-Soo's statement that "progress for children depends on partnership between many players and on the participation of children and many young people themselves". Youth representatives addressed the delegates and voiced their concerns on a world that all too often marginalizes the needs and wants of children.

Audrey Chenynut, one of the youths who spoke during the assembly, said: "We are not expenses; we are investments". This statement was supported by the United Nations Children's Fund, which called poverty the result of the world's failure to invest adequately in young people.

Upon the conclusion of the Special Session, the General Assembly adopted the document "A World Fit for Children" without a vote. Twelve countries also adopted the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, while ten countries, the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

"A World Fit for Children" sets out the following main goals, which hope to promote children's rights in the twenty-first century.

Promoting healthy lives: Nations plan...