Special Session on Children: Highlights

The UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children in May 2002 attracted 69 Summit-level participants and 190 high-level national delegations. When they finished their work they had committed their governments to a time-bound set of specific goals for children and young people, and to a basic framework for getting there.

The political leaders were not alone at this historic session. They were joined by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the top leadership of UN agencies, an extraordinary array of leading figures from business, religion, the arts, academia and civil society, five Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, more than 1,700 delegates representing NGOs from 117 countries, cultural and sport celebrities and - for the first time in the history of UN meetings - by more than 400 children who were there as delegates and active participants in every formal meeting and supporting session.

"The children in this room are witnesses to our words," the Secretary-General told the delegates at the opening plenary of the Special Session.

They were that and more, as children and young people turned business-as-usual into an extraordinary UN experience. They challenged us, informed us. The stories of their lives gave us pause. And throughout, their faith in our collective abilities to make change - and their hope - inspired us.

Click below for information on the following:

Special Session in numbers
General Assembly debate
Round Tables
End-decade review - Secretary General's report
Two years of intense preparations
Special Session in video
Special Session in pictures

For videos of the debates, text of statements, press briefings and UN press releases, see the official United Nations coverage of the Special Session.