This page is background information, last updated in May 2002 and still available for reference. For the latest on the Special Session on Children, please go to the Special Session index.

World must protect its most vulnerable children

8 May 2002, NEW YORK - Two children orphaned by the years of war in Afghanistan today appealed to the world community to help children in their country.

Misbaulhaq, 14, described his life on the streets of Kabul after his parents were killed. "I'm a representative of a million orphaned children from my country," Misbaulhaq said through an interpreter. "We were the forgotten children for many years… Please don't forget us, because the future of Afghanistan is in our hands."

Nadia, 12, who lives in a Kabul orphanage, told the panel that she is happy to attend school again. Girls were barred from education under Taliban rule. She also said that children in Afghanistan "want peace, security and a good life just like children in the rest of the world."

Misbaulhaq and Nadia were speaking at a supporting event of the UN Special Session on Children entitled 'Children Deprived of Primary Care Givers.' The Governments of Romania and the Netherlands sponsored the event to examine the plight of children who are living without parental care because they are orphaned, abandoned, institutionalized or incarcerated. According to UN estimates, there are 1.5 million children living outside of family situations because they are orphans or refugees, and another 1 million living in detention for breaking the law.

The event focused primarily on children in prisons and youth detention centres and proposed alternatives, including youth courts and rehabilitation centers. It also addressed the problems of children living and working on the street and children institutionalized because of disabilities.

The panel opened with a presentation by Lois Whitman, Executive Director of the Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, who urged the UN to address the problem of children in detention in its next report on violence against children. She gave examples from countries where juveniles are executed for crimes, children are tortured in interrogation and children are locked up in adult prisons.

Ms. Whitman delivered a clear and emphatic message. "Too many children are locked up in very bad places," she said, "and a lot of them don't belong there at all."

Eveline Herfkens, Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands urged states to institute legal reform for juvenile offenders. "Children have special needs in detention," Ms. Herfkens said. "They should not be held with adults."

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