Twelve years later, a review

As a follow-up to the historic 1990 World Summit for Children, a special session of the General Assembly was held 8-10 May 2002.

The special session's purpose was to review the progress made since the 1990 World Summit for Children and to renew the international commitment to children's rights. A reference document, We the Children: Meeting the Promises of the World Summit for Children, prepared by the United Nations Secretary-General, was used as a basis for discussion, and the outcome document, A world fit for children, was adopted.

About 70 Heads of State and/or Government, prime ministers or their deputies, together with many high-ranking government delegations came to New York to take part in the Session. Four governments had youth representatives address the General Assembly on behalf of their respective countries (the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Togo).

In addition, the Special Session benefited greatly from an extraordinary array of leaders from civil society, including non-governmental organizations, cultural, academic, business and religious groups, and eminent personalities such as Nelson Mandela.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his opening statement to the General Assembly, addressed the children of the world. "We, the grown-ups, have failed you deplorably,…" he said, adding, "One in three of you has suffered from malnutrition before you turned five years old. One in four of you has not been immunized against any disease. Almost one in five of you is not attending school…. We, the grown-ups, must reverse this list of failures."