No longer the distant subject.

• Author: Bologna, Michelle

In 1990, the world came to the United Nations to talk about its children. It was an unprecedented act.

Never before had so many leaders gathered to discuss such an issue, no matter how pressing or egregious.

It was a compassionate act.

Those with greatest power reached to take the hand of the defenceless and the innocent.

It was a necessary act.

Just over eleven years ago, those with age and authority publicly recognized that lasting peace depends on the wellbeing of the generations to come and embraced their duty to ensure full health, safety and education for all young people, no matter where or to whom they were born.

And now, from 8 to 10 May 2002, UN Member States will reconvene in New York to discuss the current state of children. Although the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children (UNGASS) will loosely mirror the 1990 World Summit for Children, its focus appropriately has been altered to reflect both the character and zeitgeist of today's world. The health and education issues that dominated the 1990 Summit, for instance, will still enjoy thorough consideration and debate, but will be done with the specific aim of discerning the inroads made on the goals set in the Plan of Action more than a decade ago. Heads of State, non-governmental organizations and children's advocates, among others, will work to construct strategic solutions to the stalwart health challenges young people still face around the globe.

Indeed, there are many obstacles still to overcome. For instance, while 63 countries have reduced the mortality rate of children under five by the targeted 33 per cent, more than 10 million in this age group die each year from preventable diseases and/or malnutrition. The progression in education has been equally mixed since 1990. While more children are attending school than ever before, 100 million are still left out, 60 per cent of whom are little girls. The draft outcome document of the Special Session--"A World Fit for Children"--is set to reaffirm the world community's commitment to the goals of the 1990 Summit and, through the construction of benchmarks, recommit Member States to the gradual achievement of those objectives remaining to be met.

The primary focus of UNGASS, however, is the child's integral role in maintaining global peace and stability. Given the recent terrorist attacks, this is hardly surprising. But it is also indicative of the growing global concern with children's rights--a trend that commenced...