UN SPECIAL SESSION ON CHILDREN: Commemorative event planned for December

**NEW** Nomination guidelines for children and young people’s participation in the roundtables are now available. The closing date for nominations is 24 September

A commemorative high-level plenary meeting will be held in New York from 11 - 12 December 2007, to evaluate progress in implementing the action plan set out in ‘A World Fit For Children’, the outcome document of the UN Special Session which took place in New York in 2002. 

The aim of the Special Session was to review progress made for children since 1990 specifically by reviewing the goals of the World Summit for Children, and to make a renewed commitment to children by developing a new global agenda for the coming decade.

Why was the Special Session important?

• It was the first time the General Assembly (GA) held a meeting entirely dedicated to children’s rights;
• Governments had a ‘second chance’ to take decisive action to achieve full implementation of the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
• It represented an important opportunity to review the successes and failures of achieving the World Summit goals;
• It was a chance for children, NGOs and civil society organisations at national, regional and international level to talk to governments about what needed to be done;
• It provided an additional mechanism for governments to be held accountable for their actions towards children, through the development and implementation of National Plans of Action.

The commemorative event will be organised as follows:

• The high-level plenary meeting will comprise plenary meetings and two thematic interactive round tables;
• The President of the GA will hold consultations with all Member States no later than 30 September 2007 to circulate a list of three speakers for the closing plenary meeting and a list of 20 children and 20 representatives of NGOs who will participate in the two round tables (ten children and ten representatives each);
• All Member States and Observers will be encouraged to address the GA at the meeting;
• A girl and a boy selected through a process led by UNICEF, and a representative of an NGO in consultative status with ECOSOC, will address the closing plenary meeting;
• Member States will be encouraged to include children and young people in their delegations;
• An outcome document will be adopted as a brief declaration reaffirming the commitment to the full implementation of the Declaration and the Plan of Action contained in the document ‘A World Fit For Children’.

Further information

*NEW* CRIN page on the UN Special Session on Children